# Anybody Else Tried M$'s AntiSpyware Program? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 7, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-tried-m-s-antispyware-program/283659 "2005-01-07T23:32:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-tried-m-s-antispyware-program/283659/1 "2005-01-07T23:32:54Z")
You can download the [beta version of it here.](http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=321cd7a2-6a57-4c57-a8bd-dbf62eda9671&displaylang=en&Hash=MFGPCT6) It only works on Win2K and XP, sorry 98 users. It found things on my machine that AdAware, Spybot, and WinPatrol have missed. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-tried-m-s-antispyware-program/283659/2 "2005-01-08T00:24:50Z")
I just tried it. It found the eXact Search toolbar. That affects IE. I rarely use IE. Gee, I wonder why that is? Adaware SE & Spybot did not find it, however. Still, it was pretty fast and seemingly thorough. I’ll probably continue to use it in conjunction with the other two programs. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-tried-m-s-antispyware-program/283659/3 "2005-01-08T03:06:03Z")
Running it now. Thanks for heads up! ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-tried-m-s-antispyware-program/283659/4 "2005-01-08T21:29:43Z")
I downloaded it and ran it yesterday. It found two problems and fixed them. Afterwards I ran Ad-Aware which found 6 more problems. Then Spybot found another one. These programs are all good, but don’t use one to the exclusion of the others, since they don’t all use the same methods. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-tried-m-s-antispyware-program/283659/5 "2005-01-08T21:32:30Z")
I let the program do a deep system scan later on, and it found two more problems. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-tried-m-s-antispyware-program/283659/6 "2005-01-08T21:32:42Z")
According to [what I’ve read](http://www.flexbeta.net/main/articles.php?action=show&id=84&perpage=1&pagenum=1), the spyware remover will be subscription based when the actual retail version is available. I wonder how much it’s going to cost? ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-tried-m-s-antispyware-program/283659/7 "2005-01-08T21:35:06Z")
I’ve been trying it and it seems fine. I’m not ditching Spybot and AdAware though! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji_Kitakyusho)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-tried-m-s-antispyware-program/283659/8 "2005-01-08T21:48:45Z")
Unless it detects and removes IE, I’d say they still have some work to do. ---
**Author:** ![RickQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@RickQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickQ)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-tried-m-s-antispyware-program/283659/9 "2005-01-08T21:58:55Z")
A couple of my colleagues at work have tried it and they have both said that it found some things which Spybot and Ad-aware missed. I have yet to try it, but I will probably still run the other two as well. ---
**Author:** ![CeeSpine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@CeeSpine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CeeSpine)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-tried-m-s-antispyware-program/283659/10 "2005-01-08T22:13:02Z")
As a geek working in “hell” (read profile, really hell), I rarelly trust anything from that part of the beautiful state of Washingtong…did that without offending too many people didn’t I? Anyway, all adware, spyware and botware users have a reserved place in hell, next to me probably, and now I am actually going to use an MS product (I do use IE in hell, but wouldn’t you expect that in the firey lake?). Thanks for the notice, the heads up, the info, the 411…am I hip or what? I know…OR WHAT! ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-tried-m-s-antispyware-program/283659/11 "2005-01-08T22:54:42Z")
Just tried it, and it found 4 things on my system, that Adaware & Spybot had not. Interestingly, this was the first scan I’ve ever had a positive hit for CWS. No biggie, as I stopped using IE months ago, but I wonder when I picked that up? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-tried-m-s-antispyware-program/283659/12 "2005-01-08T23:52:30Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > According to [what I’ve read](http://www.flexbeta.net/main/articles.php?action=show&id=84&perpage=1&pagenum=1), the spyware remover will be subscription based when the actual retail version is available. I wonder how much it’s going to cost? Too much, IMHO. Not to get into M$ bashing, but if the other companies can afford to give away their anti-spyware stuff, then M$ as the world’s wealthiest company (or one of them, anyway) certainly can. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-tried-m-s-antispyware-program/283659/13 "2005-01-09T07:35:30Z")
> [@CeeSpine](#): > > Anyway, all adware, spyware and botware users have a reserved place in hell, next to me probably, and now I am actually going to use an MS product (I do use IE in hell, but wouldn’t you expect that in the firey lake?). It is an MS product, but for the record they had little to do with its development. They bought out a company called Giant AntiSpyware, slapped their label on it, and put it out for download. On Slashdot, many claims were made that the software gave a number of false positives. Has anyone had this experience? I ran it and it only found two registry entries that it thought were evil.