G
Guest
I've been in tech support for years, so combating spyware is of special
interest to me. I have used Adaware, Spybot, Spysweeper, and even the
spyware tools present in Symantec AV version 10, and the Microsoft
Antispyware Beta was by far the most functional, feature-rich, and easiest to
use. I was very disappointed, then, when Windows Defender emerged with much
of that functionality stripped away, or at least obfuscated in the interest
of simplifying things for the user.
Don't get me wrong; for most users, this is probably a blessing. The MSASW
beta 1 product gave the user a lot of information, and users generally aren't
interested in becoming spyware experts. They want a big fat button to click,
and a big green flag to tell them everything is ok.
But for guys like me, the loss of the functionality present in MSASW beta 1
is a crippling blow. I used the System Explorer, Browser Hijack reset, and
Tracks Eraser a lot, and I don't find the new interface as intuitive as the
old one. Maybe this will seem less of an issue when the research links
actually work.
I think the final product should have a Basic Mode and Expert Mode. The
former for folks who are, shall we say, "mouse challenged", and the latter
for people who work in tech support and need the ability to gather and assess
information about a potentially infected workstation.
That isn't to say that the engine itself hasn't improved. On my own
workstation, the Beta 1 product never found anything unusual, but the WD Beta
2 alerted me to the fact that my HOSTS file was hijacked. I think the work
you are doing is great.
But please don't give us another mind-numbingly useless product like
OneCare, because when it comes to spyware, less is NOT more, and if I can't
use this tool, I'll have to move on to something else.
interest to me. I have used Adaware, Spybot, Spysweeper, and even the
spyware tools present in Symantec AV version 10, and the Microsoft
Antispyware Beta was by far the most functional, feature-rich, and easiest to
use. I was very disappointed, then, when Windows Defender emerged with much
of that functionality stripped away, or at least obfuscated in the interest
of simplifying things for the user.
Don't get me wrong; for most users, this is probably a blessing. The MSASW
beta 1 product gave the user a lot of information, and users generally aren't
interested in becoming spyware experts. They want a big fat button to click,
and a big green flag to tell them everything is ok.
But for guys like me, the loss of the functionality present in MSASW beta 1
is a crippling blow. I used the System Explorer, Browser Hijack reset, and
Tracks Eraser a lot, and I don't find the new interface as intuitive as the
old one. Maybe this will seem less of an issue when the research links
actually work.
I think the final product should have a Basic Mode and Expert Mode. The
former for folks who are, shall we say, "mouse challenged", and the latter
for people who work in tech support and need the ability to gather and assess
information about a potentially infected workstation.
That isn't to say that the engine itself hasn't improved. On my own
workstation, the Beta 1 product never found anything unusual, but the WD Beta
2 alerted me to the fact that my HOSTS file was hijacked. I think the work
you are doing is great.
But please don't give us another mind-numbingly useless product like
OneCare, because when it comes to spyware, less is NOT more, and if I can't
use this tool, I'll have to move on to something else.
