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Symantec's Anti-Spyware Effort
Looks nice, but doesn't fully protect
Symantec has decided to get into the anti-spyware business, and while their new software is easy to use, PCWorld notes how it ignores some fairly major spyware, including Xupiter. Another ridiculous problem with the software is that it enables the spyware & spam spewing Microsoft Messenger service (not to be confused with MSN Messenger) and gives it full web access. Of course, such shortcomings are to be expected during beta; the free beta version can be downloaded here.
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elboricua
El Subestimado
Premium Member
join:2001-08-12
Bronx, NY

elboricua

Premium Member

I was wondering when they were going to jump in

Symantec AV 9.0 Corporate has antispyware capabilities. Not very good but they are there. Just like this beta version it fails to capture all spyware. also at least with the SAV 9.0 it will remove the files in questions but not the associated registry/startup entries. I was wondering when Symantec was going to give their own separate client a whirl.

Minvaren
Premium Member
join:2001-07-26
Houston, TX

Minvaren

Premium Member

Re: I was wondering when they were going to jump i

I agree, it can be an alert to if a certain machine on the network may need some "TLC" in a corporate environment.

So far, though, it's been seemingly-random as to which files get marked for deletion, and which are skipped. Either way, it helps out some.

a
@qwest.net

a to elboricua

Anon

to elboricua

Re: I was wondering when they were going to jump in

symantec needs to stick with virus protection & let microsoft handle the spyware removal.

Nerdtalker
Working Hard, Or Hardly Working?
MVM
join:2003-02-18
San Jose, CA

Nerdtalker to elboricua

MVM

to elboricua

Re: I was wondering when they were going to jump i

Click for full size
Even the consumer versions of Norton AVs have had "anti-spyware" functionality since NAV 2004.

I don't blame them for wanting to capitalize on the growing antispyware market.

MIABye
Premium Member
join:2001-10-28
united state

MIABye

Premium Member

Re: I was wondering when they were going to jump i

Does this mean than NAV will no longer eliminate spyware?

Nerdtalker
Working Hard, Or Hardly Working?
MVM
join:2003-02-18
San Jose, CA

Nerdtalker

MVM

Re: I was wondering when they were going to jump i

It probably still will, although not as good as their super-duper anti-spyware program.

BillDCatt
@bay.mi.ch

BillDCatt

Anon

Amateurish

Even free products can handle Xupiter and disable the messenger service. This really isn't acceptable even in the beta stage.
gatzdon
join:2002-10-25
Lake Zurich, IL

1 recommendation

gatzdon

Member

Re: Amateurish

said by BillDCatt:

Even free products can handle Xupiter and disable the messenger service. This really isn't acceptable even in the beta stage.
I believe the distinction here is not that it doesn't disable the messenger service, but rather that it actually enables it.

diehardspeed
Premium Member
join:2003-05-14
Salt Lake City, UT

diehardspeed

Premium Member

Stop the Messenger Service? Not me!

I use that service all the time to alert me of happenings on MY network and Symantec is one of the products that makes good use of the messenger service. Also my APC units send out a msg whenever there is a power spike or outage. There are various other apps I use that take use of the messenger service as well.

AFAIK 99% of ISP's now block that traffic in there routers so the spamming has stopped. For that matter I have not seen a Messenger Spam for about 4 years.

Only time you would want to disable it was if you had a direct connect to the net and no router/firewall and/or ISP that blocks MS Ports.

Side note.. MS Anti-Spyware tells you the service is enabled and asks if you want to disable it giving you a description of what it is and does

Symantec should at least give the same type of warning.

The Xupiter thing is kind of sad though
kpatz
MY HEAD A SPLODE
Premium Member
join:2003-06-13
Manchester, NH

kpatz

Premium Member

Re: Stop the Messenger Service? Not me!

said by diehardspeed:

I use that service all the time to alert me of happenings on MY network and Symantec is one of the products that makes good use of the messenger service. Also my APC units send out a msg whenever there is a power spike or outage. There are various other apps I use that take use of the messenger service as well.
AFAIK the corporate Symantec products are the only ones that use the messenger service. And in a corporate environment, the messenger service is useful. But in a home environment, especially in a single-PC household with no router or firewall, there's no need for it at all. Why a consumer (not corporate) version of a Symantec product would want to use the messenger service is beyond me. It's not like it needs to send messages from a server to a client.

Upidstay
@204.251.x.x

Upidstay

Anon

Spyware

With Spybot Search and Destroy and Adaware, along with (to an extent) Microsoft Antispyware doing a fairly good job of tackling spyware it is difficult for me to justify using anything else, and they are completely free. I thought the windows xp patch at windows update should had fixed the messenger service bug long ago
tbone106
join:2004-02-03
Lake Zurich, IL

tbone106

Member

Re: Spyware

Cause having a managed application is what corporations are looking for.

Good or bad, I can configure my symantec copr version on the fly and have the changes pushed/pulled to other servers as well as clients.

Until you can do this with other applications, forgettaboutit.
rdiedrich
Premium Member
join:2002-11-25
Mchenry, IL

rdiedrich

Premium Member

Re: Spyware

I was at a seminar today held by trend micro. they have a new multi-layer solution coming out in June that looks to be a real solid solution on Spyware and other grayware. You can even tweak the config to allow certain apps that some people just can't live without (IE: Weather type apps that piss me off). Anyhow look for Trend Micro to make some big clout in the market very soon the new product looks very good!!

_-Rdiedrich-_

madmatt5
join:2002-04-06
Sacramento, CA

1 edit

madmatt5 to tbone106

Member

to tbone106

Better late than never I suppose...

We use Corporate 9.0 on 50K+ PC's and have been asking Symantec for an anti-spyware app literally for several years. We finally had to go with someone else (Spysweeper) a few months back...

markwp2001
Spreadhead
Premium Member
join:2002-05-25
Long Beach, MS

markwp2001

Premium Member

Try this ....

Using SpyWareBlaster prevents damn near all spyware from ever getting on your machine. Great little program, free also, from javacool.

Mark

Tech-2005
@dsl.irvnca.pacbell.n

Tech-2005

Anon

Re: Try this ....

Yes, Spywareblaster is a great free little program that uses very few system resources. You do have to buy the paid for version to get automatic updates though.

This is what I run an it works well:

Spy Sweeper, MS Anti-spyware (free), McAfee AS, Spybot (free), Spywareblaster (free), Ad-Aware (free). I have Norton AV 2003 and Zone Alarm Pro firewall version 5.5x with mobile code control enabled (it is required to manually check and approve any web site that wants to run any scripting code) & privacy settings set high. I also use the latest Firefox browser 99% of the time for even more security. I have an AMD Athlon XP 2600+ with 512MB DDR and with all those programs running in the background it runs fast and smooth even with games.

I haven't seen much in the way of spyware for the past year. Once in a while MS anti-spyware or Spy Sweeper pops up to alert me of a favorites or start-up change. MS, Spy Sweeper and McAfee AS all pulls crap off my system soon after installation last year and that was the end of most issues. I do still run Ad-Aware and Spybot from time to time just in case.

yengec
join:2000-03-24
Boca Raton, FL

yengec

Member

Re: Try this ....

Does anyone know when Corporate edition 10 is coming out?

I heard it was due out yesterday, but Symantec's website is still preaching v9...

Danny

xpc2600
join:2004-05-14
San Diego, CA

xpc2600

Member

Re: Try this ....

is out already for corp customers

joako
Premium Member
join:2000-09-07
/dev/null

joako

Premium Member

Re: Try this ....

said by xpc2600:

is out already for corp customers
You'r kidding, right? I just finished deplaying S.A.V 9.0 to about 300 machines.
kingsims
join:2004-09-11
10054

kingsims

Member

Re: Try this ....

it has the manual for it and all the release notes on there offical ftp so yea you just got wasted

»ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/ ··· rp/10.0/

joako
Premium Member
join:2000-09-07
/dev/null

joako to markwp2001

Premium Member

to markwp2001
I didnt... if the client wants to upgrade to ver 10 they have to pay me...

robert93
@bellsouth.net

robert93

Anon

Symantec

I really hope the corporate version works better at spyware removal than the NAV2005 package! Even after it scans and detects the spyware, it cant remove it, and I have to go to the Symantec site and get the manual instructions for complete remoal. VERY ANNOYING!!! Spybot S&D still does the best job for that for me.
bwoirhaye
join:2001-12-13
Santa Monica, CA

bwoirhaye

Member

.

SAV Corporate Edition 10.0 is released. You may need to talk to sales to get it. It has much more sophisticated spyware detection and remediation in it.

The messenger service in the review isn't the messenger service, its the Windows Messenger application. This is started if you have NIS (or NAV) monitor Windows Messenger for infected attachments.