Zero Spyware 2004

List Price: $29.99

Features:

• Detects and eliminates spyware
• Protects against web identity theft
• Prevents hijacking of your personal files
• Stops spies from monitoring your keystrokes
• Blocks malicious cookies

Customer Reviews:

This sucks! [Posted on 2004-10-16]
It locked up my computer, would not let me uninstall it.
I had to redo my computer.

What you should know before buying Zero Spyware [Posted on 2004-11-30]
SOFTWARE TESTED...............PRICE............OVERALL PERFORMANCE =================================================================
Webroot SpySweeper............FREE............Poor
Ad Aware...........................FREE............Fair
Spybot...............................FREE............Good
McAfee Antispyware...........FREE............Excellent
Microsoft Antispyware...........FREE............THE BEST
Zero Spyware......................(...).............Excellent

The above chart shows the softwares that I have tested against adware and spyware on my system.
Zero Spyware (ZSW) is good as it really cleaned my machine and I do not see any more popups or suspicious programs running in my task manager. However, the freeware called Spybot gave me the same results too!
Further, Microsoft's newly released AntiSpyware (Beta version) cleaned even the most persistent spywares that even Zero Spyware could not.
So the real question is: is ZSW really worth (...) when freewares give you almost same results?
My take is NO. Microsoft has finally come out with a usable, effective and free AntiSpyeare that can beat any malicious spyware.
If you don't like Microsoft or don't trust it (and I don't blame your for that) Spybot has much better support on the net (forums etc) and gives you a great interface and cleaning power at no cost. If you find it useful, you can continue to use it. If you don't, you can always come back and buy ZSW.

In short, Spybot (...) and MS Antispyware (...) both are much better at kicking harmful and dangerous softwares out of your windows machine. You don't really need to buy anything else.

How to evaluate this product [Posted on 2004-12-27]
Some of the other reviews do not understand a few things about anti-spyware. A good anti-spyware product (and I haven't found one that does everything):
* has a large database of antispyware it can detect, and (hopefully) remove. It doesn't matter whether another spyware product can produce similar results for you, because you really don't know what another person's computer is going to have that requires a larger or more accurate database. No antispyware can remove every piece of spyware as some spyware evades antispyware, nor can every antispyware detect everything using the same names as any other. Detection is more important than removal. Spyware Doctor has good detection as does Pestpatrol. Use a thorough hard drive scan with Pestpatrol and spyware doctor.
* uses the uninstaller that some more over-the-top programs install, and then cleans up the rest. (this is the safest way to remove spyware: start with the uninstaller of the host program.)
(Only Mcafee Antispyware does this so far.)
* Blocks spyware programs from accessing the Internet even before you make a decision about whether to remove them.
(A very minor spyware software named Spy Block lists this as its chief feature--you can also get it through CA's firewall, Mcafee's firewall, Norton's firewall, or Zonealarm's latest firewall. (I don't remember whether version 4 had the program control sharing feature that allows all Zonealarm customers to pitch in and refine automatic settings.)

If you get a firewall, your computer will be less likely to slow down after spyware is installed. Spy Block is a specialized firewall designed to block spyware.

Zero Spyware has a "spyware information sharing network" built-in so that the effectiveness is theroretically improved. I also recommend Pestpatrol over this vendor because they are more established. I haven't tested Zero Spyware personally, but Steve Gibson's tests show it to have a reasonable effectiveness rate. You can find his reviews on Slashdot.

Does not detect spyware properly [Posted on 2005-11-04]
Beware that this program actually does not detect spywares effectively. I have been using this software for 3 months and set it to autoscan daily. The reports showed that my PC was clean without any spyware everytime. However, when I recheck my PC with Spy Sweeper, I found several spyware programs(including a notorious one which logs my keystrokes) that Zero Spyware never caught.

Low priced security [Posted on 2006-06-30]
Zero is a great product and by purchasing the older and updating to the latest version it is the best Competive security program for the money.

Click here for more details and discount information...