Security threats Toolkit

Microsoft AntiSpyware: Is it worth bothering with?

Tags:
Microsoft,
Ad-Aware,
Antispyware,
Anti-spyware

John McCormick Tech Republic

Published: 24 Jan 2005 14:15 GMT

Applicability
AntiSpyware runs on:

Windows 2000
2000 Advanced Server
2000 Professional Edition
2000 Server and 2000 SP2, 2000 SP3, 2000 SP4
Server 2003
XP, XP Home Edition, XP Media Center, XP Pro, XP SP1 and SP2, and XP Tablet PC Edition

Final word
For a beta, this new Microsoft offering seems to work well, although you need to be aware that it certainly doesn't detect some ad-tracking utilities.

The constant monitoring and protection are the most important options but are difficult features to evaluate over the short term. I really can't say how effective they may be. The code missed by the utility on my system was quite benign, although I didn't want it and wish AntiSpyware had reported it.

The additional system management tools add some much-needed features that Windows was sadly lacking. It's hard to believe that it took this long for Microsoft to provide an easy and obvious way to stop unwanted programs from loading at startup. Even a novice could manage them using AntiSpyware.

With some improvements AntiSpyware could become quite useful; already it looks as if it may provide significant protection against new spyware. Improvements are certain to come because part of the program is the option to allow it to share information with other computers and build new spyware definitions on the fly. I recommend you check it out and see if it should be added to your toolkit. If nothing else, AntiSpyware will be endorsed by Microsoft which means a lot of administrators will feel more comfortable installing it. Out of management and security concerns, many large companies (and especially government agencies) prohibit installation of third-party freeware such as Lavasoft.

You can also turn to CNET’s Help.com for an online class on combating spyware.

Also watch for …

Gmail, the free Google email service that has lots of nice features, apparently had a hole which let attackers who wrote a particular Perl script access portions of other users’ messages. The vulnerability has been patched. Remember that Gmail is still in beta -- I’ve used it for a couple months and really like it but for now you need to know someone with an account to get one.
Securiteam.com reports several serious vulnerabilities in the Netgear FVS318 small office router/firewall.
Oracle users should check out the possible impact of 23 vulnerabilities listed this week by Secunia.
Federal Computer Week reports that the Homeland Security Department is going to build a baseline security database by surveying 36,000 businesses this spring.
I’ve warned about Tsunami email scams and one alleged perpetrator has just been arrested by the FBI. Even better news is that out of 800K scam emails sent, Matthew Schmieder of Pittsburgh only collected $150 in the PayPal account he set up. As the penalties for being a spammer become more severe, it will require a bigger payoff to make the crime worthwhile. Perhaps we will see a drop in spam as more arrests are made and spammers generate less and less income. Perhaps Mr. Schmieder would have hesitated if he were more security savvy and knew that Pittsburgh’s FBI office is the home base of a special effort to combat spammers.