A newer version of Webroot Spy Sweeper is available.
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- Average user rating: stars out of 1354 votes Back to product review
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User reviews
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156 out of 183 people found this review helpful
4 stars
Version: Webroot Spy Sweeper 5.0
"A long time favorite of mine"
Pros: The new Spy Sweeper 5.0 interface makes it even easier for novices to use. Enhanced Smart Shields prevent highly developed spyware programs from ever installing on your PC. The new SpySweeper also comes with a keylogger shield, a startup protector, and keeps your home page from being hijacked. SpySweeper updates daily to protect your pc from new infections. The registered version is excellant at finding and removing your infections.
Cons: But thank goodness I have a paid version, because the trial version will only scan and show you the spyware it has found...and won't remove any of it unless you buy it! It also uses more ram to scan and will play heck with computers that have 256MB of memory or less.
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85 out of 93 people found this review helpful
3 stars
Version: Webroot Spy Sweeper 5.0
"Just like spyware doctor, the trial doesnt remove anything."
Pros: Its got a name a lot of people seem to know and trust.
It has a unique interface for an antispyware program.
It comes with a realtime shield which protects against everything...or I would hope everything.
Like all antispyware products, and as we have come to expect, it detects things others fail to find.
Cons: It goes a little overboard in the cookie detection. Cookies arent all that bad.
The trial version detects but asks for your money to remove stuff. Compare this against the old 3.0 and 4.0 trial versions which let you remove stuff for a period of 30 days. 4.5 and 5.0 didnt/doesnt let you remove anything. At least it spits out a log file so you can remove the stuff manually, or at least try to. All I did was tell the admins over at Spyware Terminator what it found and they added it to their database...haha. Webroot losers!
Its a little slow in its scan, like it has always been for all of time. Its a very resource hungry scanner.
It doesnt have your normal XP interface if you prefer that sort of thing. It might be a little difficult for new users to locate the minimize-maximize-close buttons from their odd color/position.
No HIPS like Spyware Terminator has.
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Overall its a great piece of work, but jesus, they want $30 for something which is done by several program for free? Let me give you a list of software you can use if you want to stay free, which is how antispyware software SHOULD BE...this is in order of detection abilities as well as the future of the program based on the development teams accessibility:
Spyware Terminator
Avorax Antispyware
Advanced Spyware Remover
Ad-Aware
SpyBot
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81 out of 81 people found this review helpful
1 stars
Version: Webroot Spy Sweeper 5.5
"They killed the beauty of this product."
Pros: I used to love Webroot Spy Sweeper
Cons: Yeah. Webroot has killed the beauty of this product. They used to offer this product as trial version for 15 days without any limitations. I agree with CNET editor's review by the way:
"Spy Sweeper maintains its detection-only trial limitation, making it impossible to test how well it actually removes malware. Anybody concerned with keeping malicious software and viruses off their computer shouldn't bother with the trial unless they're pretty sure they're going to buy the full version."
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73 out of 75 people found this review helpful
3 stars
Version: Webroot Spy Sweeper 5.5
"There are better choices then Spy Sweeper!"
Pros: I first bought this program in 2006 and used it on and off (more off then on). I didn't renew even though I could have for $19.95. It was recently given to me as a gift on a CD in version 5.2. Installed on my Win XP Pro SP2 drive to my many regrets (dogged a fast system. uninstalled immediately). I tried to install on my Vista Home Premium and was immediately prompted to contact Webroot support to obtain a Vista compatible version, I did. Believe it or not, it runs better on Vista then XP for me but I have some concerns.
Cons: I compare other anti-spy programs to Spy Emergency 2007 which is my first choice. Why? because it's fast, light, looks great with skins and detects and deletes infections with it's huge data base nearing 1.000.000 signatures. Spy Sweeper has a paltry 230,000+ (to few signatures in todays market). A full sweep is very slow though fairly effective. It slows me down in a full sweep where the other mentioned program doesn't at all.
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50 out of 50 people found this review helpful
3 stars
Version: Webroot Spy Sweeper 5.5
"WARNING DO-NOT install on Windows vista ultimate w/o SP1"
Pros: Works just fine on XP but...Only scans and, will NOT Remove anything. So, if it finds some bad stuff YOU'RE gonna have to shell out some dough.
Cons: If you install this program on Windows Vista Ultimate w/o SP1 get ready to use safe mode to get RID of it. You will experience your very first Vista Blu-screen of death. (I really dont remember what the error was) my advice stay away from this program. You've been warned!!!
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