Muscled Up Spyware

As spyware and adware have become increasingly powerful and difficult to remove, developers of anti-spyware programs have added a wider range of functionality to their applications to give users more powerful tools as well as greater control over those tools.

Moreover, although anti-spyware applications have long resembled standard anti-virus applications in many ways, they have also started to acquire their own distinctive set of features in order to help users deal with the unique problems posed by spyware and adware. Given the bewildering array of programs and features available to users looking for anti-spyware applications, users may find it difficult to usefully compare anti-spyware programs and their feature sets.

For millions of PC users, the privacy-snatching programs known as spyware have been nothing but a headache as they swipe personal information, slow systems to a crawl and crash computers.
For Webroot Software Inc., the annoying programs have been the foundation of success. Thanks to its market-leading anti-spyware software, Spy Sweeper, sales have soared twentyfold since 2002, and last year the privately held company raised an eye-popping $108 million in venture capital.

Though there's little chance of spyware ever going away, Boulder-based Webroot is facing a significant challenge in the coming years: Microsoft Corp.'s upcoming Windows Vista operating system will include its own spyware- squashing tools.

Vista could put Webroot in the same shoes as RealNetworks Inc., Netscape Communications Corp. and others whose businesses have suffered after Microsoft bundled more features into its ubiquitous operating system.

Still, Webroot CEO David Moll seems unfazed.

"The taking of a second-best product in this space is akin to locking half the doors in your house," he said. "Vista will not solve the spyware problem. It may change the vector of attack, but it will not solve this problem. And I'll bet the company on it."

Some analysts say the company should broaden its focus - and Moll, without divulging details, said that's in the plans.

"Ultimately they need to offer more than just an anti-spyware package," Yankee Group senior analyst Andrew Jaquith said. "To do that, they need access to more money, or be part of a bigger company."

In other news...ScanSafe's Scandoo new site site allows visitors to perform queries on two major search engines and see if links returned on the search results are safe, questionable, or unsafe.

Scandoo supports Google and MSN Search currently, with Yahoo and Ask support coming soon. The site developed by security firm ScanSafe automatically scans search results to alert users to sites that contain malware, viruses, or potentially offensive content.

Unlike SiteAdvisor, Scandoo requires no software downloads. Instead a high-speed server infrastructure performs the scanning of each link in the search results. Next to each result, a Scandoo "security light" will appear.

A green check next to a result means the link is safe, while a red X indicates unsafe content. A yellow question mark indicates the link has not been defined. Each marker can be moused over to see Scandoo's scanning results, including the URL of the domain linked from the result, Scandoo's site definition by category, and the site rating.

Some search results may return a black spider with a red X. That marker represents what Scandoo considers a dangerous web threat, one that may deliver spyware, adware, or viruses to a visiting machine.

Users of Scandoo can modify the default security policy in place when they use Scandoo. A page of Security Preferences defaults to automatically tagging search results categorized as Hate and discrimination, Illegal activities, Sex/Nudity, and Weapons with the red X.

Clicking the Family Guardian button adds Dating and Gambling categories to that list. Users can save their settings for continued use, or switch back to the default settings by hitting another button.