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PRODUCT SCORE
85%
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Product Name | Spyware Detector by Max Secure |
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System | Windows 98, Me, 2000, XP, Vista |
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Price | $29.95 / About £16 |
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Length of cover | 12 Months |
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What does this software do? | Spyware Detector scans your computer and hunts down any spyware that might be infecting it. After the initial scan it will show a full list of problems encountered, along with a full description of each threat and it's severity. You can then click a button to remove these problems. |
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Buying notes | The company who are handling the payment and delivery of this product are Plimus. Although I've only bought a few software products through this company, they are a giant in the industry and are very reliable. They also offer a money back guarantee. Buying the product was completely painless. (Well as painless as spending money can be!) |
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First impressions | Spyware Detector was a quick and painless install and the interface is easy to get to grips with. The clean button layout makes it easy to see what you need to press. Within a few moments I'd launched into a full scan. |
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Real time protection | One of the things that Spyware Detector does exceptionally well is it's real-time protection. The software resides in the system tray when you're not using it and provides a high level of live protection. There's a keylogger shield, browser hijack protection, toolbar monitor, bad website protection, tracking cookie protection, host file protection and so much more. I was very impressed by the level of realtime shielding on offer. |
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Product updates |
Spyware Detector is one of the most frequently updated spyware tools I've found. The team behind it release updates up to 4 times per day. And the live update system that this software uses is first class. It's easy to set notifications, automatic updates or simply download them when you want to with one click.
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Customer Support | You can get support for Spyware Detector via a toll free US number (if you're in the US) as well as email support. I had a few questions I needed answering that I couldn't find on their website. I sent the email and within about an hour I had a great response and more information than I could have hoped for. The support with this product is fantastic. |
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What I liked | Quick tips at startup
I normally turn program tip windows off straight away when I install a new tool but I think that when it comes to your PC's security, it pays to learn as much as you can. The tips window contains helpful information that can help keep your PC safe. Scans all drives, including network drives at once Spyware Detector does an excellent job of letting you choose the kind of scan you want to run, and select all or some of the drives to work with. This will save anyone with a network a lot of time. You can easily scan as many of your drives as you want. Built in scheduler With an alarming number of new spyware critters finding their way onto the web each day, it's more important than ever to keep scanning your computer and updating your spyware definitions. The built in scheduler is a simple way to set Spyware Detector to run a scan. Quick rollover description of each problem This took a little hand-eye co-ordination but it really pays off. Pointing the mouse cursor at a threat found during a scan brings up a simple - plain English - description of what each spyware problem is. Apart from having some morbid fascination with the monsters lurking on my PC, I like to know what I'm going to delete and why. Max shield offers a huge amount of protection There's a button at the top of the software called 'Max Shield'. This gives you access to the simply huge range of spyware protection you get with this software. It offers Homepage protection, tracking cookie protection, a toolbar monitor, a startup monitor, a host file monitor and that's just the beginning. There's currently 21 tools for extra protection. |
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What I didn't like |
No progress meter
When you run a scan with Spyware Detector, there's no indication how long the scan is going to take. All you get is a rather dated looking animation of a magnifying glass zooming around the screen. It does show elapsed time but this isn't much use. Less realtime protection than Spyware Doctor Running these two tools side by side (as these are the best two tools on the market at the moment) it's clear that Spyware Doctor offers a lot more in the way of protection. There's also a fair bit more depth to Spyware Doctor's protection, without it being complicated or difficult to use. |
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Strengths |
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Weaknesses |
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The verdict | There's no doubting that Spyware Detector is a great bit of kit. If you buy it, you'll be protected against many serious spyware threats. The scanning engine is solid and removes any spyware that's hiding away on your system. If I hadn't downloaded and bought Spyware Doctor, this tool would have definitely been my #1 choice. But there's no getting around the fact that Spyware Doctor offers just that little bit more in the way of polish, realtime protection and scanning power. |
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Refund details | This product comes with a complete 30 day money-back guarantee. |
Click Here To Order Spyware Detector
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