Manage updates with the Download AppWebroot Spy Sweeper with AntiVirus
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Good
Full user review
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"The program I LOVE to hate"
Pros
It kinda sorta does what it's supposed to do. Mostly it reports on benign cookies.
Cons
How much space do I have here?
1) If you elect to have it pull updates automatically, you cannot control when it will do that. It varies daily and almost ALWAYS manages to update at an inconvenient time. The folks at Webroot have not mastered scheduling (more under another index). When it is updating it uses SO many resources it grinds everything else to a halt.
2) Scheduling. One system has a scheduled event that works fine. Using the FAQs at Webroot.com it took SEVERAL attempts to set it up so that it "stuck". First few attempts it created an empty event. Even though I entered a time, the completed event showed next scheduled sweep "None". Could not overcome this on a notebook so created a ticket. Three weeks (approx) later and about 10 logins to Webroot to read their "advice" and they finally concluded this wa an "ongoing problem with the Microsoft operating system"! Yeah, they sluffed it off to Microsoft. My opinion, they have weak scheduling code and can't make scheduled events work on every system. They have a FAQ with convoluted steps to set up an event which leads me to believe I am not alone here.
3) IF you manage to get an event to run and it finds nothing you are STILL presented with a splash screen congratulating you for your good fortune. There is no way for it to run "quietly", do it's job and disappear. It REQUIRES user intervention no matter what to get rid of that silly display. I asked, they confirmed this.
4) Once is enough. 99.9% of the reports I get are benign advertising cookies - low threat even by their measures. I am able to identify the ones that keep coming back so they are quarantined automatically. But there is no way to just delete them as they are detected. You have to go to the quarantine tab and MANUALLY delete each one. This is only slightly better than tossing your cookies and throwing the baby out with the bath water.
Having said all this, it's an OK program and worth the hassle if it blocks just one BHO attack on the default home page.
