SpyEmergency 2008
Reviewed March 2008

What’s It Do?

Spy Emergency protects against thousands of various infections and potentially unwanted software, including spyware, adware, spam, virus, trojans, worms, homepage hijackers, remote administration tools, activex components, dialers, scumware, keyloggers, data mining software, toolbars, tracking cookies, browser, hijackers/BHO's.


Does it do what it promises?

Reviewer 1: Yes, it appears to work well with little interference with normal operations except during scans. This of course depends on the settings chosen. Some, such as “Enable Memory shields” will slow the launch of applications while it scans for malware. The scheduled scans can be set for a time when one is not using the computer. The scheduling options are flexible as well. There are “Standard” and “Deep Scan” levels available via the checkbox. After the scan, the “Status” tab will show how many files were scanned, any infections found, and the disposition of those found. Anything found is placed in the “Cage” (quarantine) until the “Restore” or “Delete Forever "options are selected. Spy Emergency can be set to check every program as it starts for malicious activity and block that program’s execution.

Reviewer 2: Spy Emergency claims to remove “spyware, malware, spam, and other internet threats from your computer.” It seemed to do what it promised except that I couldn’t get the anti-spam protection to work.

Reviewer 3: Spy Emergency has been running on my backup computer for several months now. It happens that I use that computer for most of my network jobs: research, email, downloads and so on. I also use that computer to try out new programs. Since the first scans by Spy Emergency when it found some malware in surprising places, I have had no issues with spyware or viruses. However, I do not have access to the kind of tests that would allow me to deliberately load up my computer with malware, to find out if this program is superior to any others. So all I can fairly say is that since having Spy Emergency on this computer, I have not had any troubles with malware of any sort.

Reviewer 4: No. Statements on the web site would imply that with Spy Emergency we no longer have to worry about spyware, adware, spam, and virus on your PC, no ugly pop-ups, or [sic] slowdown. This would seem to imply that this program will replace one’s antivirus program, which it will not; that it will stop all popups, which it will not; and that it will somehow speedup one’s computer, which in and of itself it will not. I realize that this may simply be marketing hyperbole, but these are simply misleading statements.


Was it easy to install?

Reviewer 1: Yes, very easy. It recommends that all applications be closed during installation to avoid conflicts. It normally runs at system start in the tray but that is selectable. During installation 6 different “skins" can be chosen to change the look of the interface. There are 15 languages to select from and supported Operating Systems are Vista, XP and Win2K 32 bit. There is no support of 64 bit OS at this time.

Reviewer 2: Yes. Spy Emergency installed quickly and easily. I like the fact that it gave me the option of creating a desktop icon and/or a Quick Launch icon. Some programs either fail to install them or do so whether or not I want them. I have just one small quibble: the registration number had to be entered in four cut-and-paste operations rather than entering the entire four-part number at once, as many programs allow.

Reviewer 3: Yes. It was a standard Windows install, which allowed me to place the program and the shortcuts in the locations of my choice. As with many anti-malware products, it is licensed for use on only one computer. At the end of the installation, I was able to put in my registration information, and start using the program right away; no reboot was required. It started by downloading the latest database (of known malware programs) and I instructed it to do a complete scan on my computer.

Reviewer 4: Yes. Although it was an inexplicably large 24.88MB download—over three times the size of many of its competitors—and required almost 170MB of space on the hard drive, it installed easily using the now very familiar and ubiquitous installation wizards that most software uses today.


Good Points?

Reviewer 1: Spy Emergency is simple to use, has an intuitive interface, is very flexible in its options and has good documentation in the form of a 28-page PDF. The “Manual” covers everything from how to install from disk or download, including screenshots of the pop-up windows during installation to using a “command line” interface and shell extensions. The shell extension adds the right click option to scan specific files or folders in Windows Explorer. Another nice feature is the ability to send a trouble ticket from the actual program. The “Support” button opens the page with areas to fill out the needed information, including a button to attach the log files that SE generates.

Reviewer 2: Several things about Spy Emergency impressed me. One is the huge size of its signature data base, which includes almost one million entries and is frequently and automatically updated. This database is considerably larger than those used by some of the other anti-malware programs I have tried. Even better is the speed and thoroughness of Spy Emergency’s scans. Its normal scan covered more than 45,000 registry entries, all my running processes, my cookies, and my more than 120,000 files—and it did so in less than 18 minutes, which is much faster than any other anti-virus or anti-malware program I’ve used. Some of them take more than an hour and don’t cover nearly as many items. Moreover, I was surprised and pleased to find that while Spy Emergency performed its scans, I could continue to work on the computer without any noticeable slowdown or other adverse effect. I was also impressed by the thoroughness of the scans. I tend to keep my computer relatively free of malware; often when I test anti-spyware programs, their scans find nothing problematic. In contrast, the first time I ran Spy Emergency, it found a number of tracking cookies and a few suspect programs it called to my attention. With the tracking cookies, Spy Emergency told me which of my three browsers each cookie came from. I should add that in addition to the normal scan, Spy Emergency can also run a “deep” scan. It seems to cover the same number of files, but it apparently uses much more complex heuristics, and for that reason it takes much longer (in my case, 65 minutes). Since even the deep scans turned up nothing on my computer, I generally run the much faster normal scan. Of course, like most good anti-spyware programs, Spy Emergency offers a wide array of features (and, unlike some programs, it allows a choice of the ones desired). Some are useful primarily if Internet Explorer is the selected browser, such as the IE Search Page shield, the ActiveX shield, the Browser Helper Objects shield, and the Trusted Sites shield. Most features, however, are useful no matter what browser is used. For example, the Memory shield scans every process as it starts; the Startup Programs shield prevents malware from setting itself up when the computer starts; the Web and Anti-Phishing shield blocks access to problematic Internet sites; and the Home Page shield prevents the browser’s home page from being hijacked (this works for IE, Firefox, and Opera). Although the User’s Manual makes no mention of this, I was pleased to find that Spy Emergency will also scan single files or groups of files. Also, unlike some other anti-malware programs I’ve tried, Spy Emergency did not interfere with any other software on my computer. Finally, technical support figures importantly whenever I assess a software program. Though ideally software should simply work from the start and never require me to seek help, I find I often do have questions or need assistance. The responsiveness of the staff can make or break my experience with a program. I was very pleased with the support I received from Spy Emergency. I wrote several times with questions or comments, and each time I received a helpful response in less than 24 hours, even during weekends.

Reviewer 3: Much of the frustration that many anti-malware programs generate are caused by their “desire” to show that they are present and working hard to make sure that the computer stays safe and clean. These programs use pop-ups and warnings to remind that this or that is a new program or process, and asking the user if the program is safe. Another “habit” that bothers me are programs that suddenly start to update themselves or their database at a time when I am doing something else. Normally, I have programs set to do this kind of work when I am not using the computer -- at night, for example. But some “forget” that they have done their update, especially if the computer is rebooted, and leap into action as I am loading up the programs that I am going to use when I am getting my working day underway. Spy Emergency does not behave in this manner. Somehow, it remembers to do its updating and so forth when is supposed to and does not interrupt me with a continuous stream of warnings and alerts. The program can be activated if desired by calling it up from its icon in the system tray for a complete scan if desired according to the limits set in Options. One of my drives being scanned by Spy Emergency has moved from one computer to another and is about five years old. On it are a couple of folders that have a collection of programs that I have downloaded over time. Some of them have been updated, and many have “gone out of print”. Spy Emergency has found several really nasty bits of malware hiding in among those files in my archived folder, even though I have had a dozen or more other anti-malware programs that have failed to detect the malware. Programs detected by Spy Emergency are stored in “The Cage” where they can do no harm and can be examined. Spy-Emergency provides a number of detailed Options that can be applied to Firefox and Opera as well as IE. This is a large plus as far as I am concerned, since IE is often the only browser supported by other anti-malware programs,

Reviewer 4: Spy Emergency 2007 may well be one of the most feature rich anti-malware software programs on the market today while concentrating solely on anti-malware removal and protection. Unlike the growing trend among so many of its competitors, Spy Emergency 2008 does not inundate and confuse the user with additional tools generally unrelated to its main purpose. Most interesting and something not found in most other similar programs is the ability to repair the LSP stack—something that can be corrupted by malware and prevent one from connecting to the Internet, as well as its ability to scan hosts file which is another place for malware to hide (especially dialers and highjackers). There are many things to like about this program but, most importantly how well it finds and deletes malware is of our main concern here. Unfortunately, in my testing, this is where it fell down in part. In my testing, I removed all “real-time protection” or “resident shield” and I purposely(!) downloaded the notoriously problematic Kazaa as well as visited multiple unsavory sites known to be ripe with infections of all sorts—especially trojans and dialers—and used several “test viruses” as well. I then scanned my computer with Spy Emergency, quarantined the findings, notated the results, restored them to my machine, and repeated the test with five of the most respected and highly rated antispyware programs on the market: CounterSpy, SpySweeper, AVG Anti-Spyware, SUPERAntiSpyware, and AdAware. The results were far worse than I hoped for. Spy Emergency 2008 found, not including cookies, nine items. In comparison, SUPERAntiSpyware found 21 items; AVG Anti-Spyware found 17 items; CounterSpy discovered 15 items but was unable to delete 2 of them; SpySweeper identified only seven items, and AdAware found one. Only Spy Emergency, SpySweeper, and AdAware were unable to fine any trojans. Conversely, when I restored “real time protection” or “resident shields” and visited the same above sites and accessed the same download, Spy Emergency 2008 managed to block all but one of the items compared to the next best, SUPERAntiSpyware which blocked all but two. So, while its ability to find and remove malware during scanning falls short of its competitors, its various shields to block malware do seem to be superior to its competitors. As such, its less-than-adequate ability to find things during scanning may be problematic if, in fact, it is preventing the items from infecting one’s machine in the first place, which is how it should be. There are other notable features with Spy Emergency 2008. At nearly 1,000,000 signatures currently in its database as I write this review, it has one of the largest signature bases of any similar application on the market. Its scanning time is relatively fast as it scanned 371,000 files on my system in just slightly over 45 minutes, worthy of note because unlike many other similar programs, Spy Emergency 2008 scans not only memory and Registry in addition to files but also scans inside compressed files. It also scans inside archives thus allowing it to find trojans which are notorious for hiding inside other programs as well as archived and system storage files. It further scans both the aforementioned LSP stack and Host file and hidden alternate data streams and root kits. It offers an Analyzer Tool that detects and logs all running processes and allows the user to send suspicious ones to the developer for examination. In addition to being able to specify the depth of your scan as well as schedule scans, Spy Emergency 2008 offers additional tools. It offers a Browser shield to protect the browser and homepage from being highjacked; a site identity verifier, and does scan all incoming emails, and works in not only IE but Firefox and Opera browsers as well. See below for some of these options:

In addition to the traditional anti-malware tools found in similar applications, Spy Emergency 2008 also offers an AntiSpam feature that allows users to identify unwanted spam messages. This feature works independently of the email client and will supposedly work with any POP3 and IMAP servers. It does work via a proxy and must be configured accordingly. See below for example:

The Spy Emergency 2008 interface is easy to use, if a bit unattractive (or possibly I just don’t enjoy the Halloween-esque appearance); however, it is thankfully skinnable for a design more to one’s liking.

Select either automatic or manual updating but be aware that the program offers updates literally every day. It uses relatively few resources when monitoring with only 4.1MB of memory being used and very little CPU; however, it does install several running processes and while scanning it does slow one’s computer down to the point where it is almost unusable. Support is only offered through an online email-type form accessible through the application) but sadly offers no turnaround time; however, in the two instances when I had a question, each was responded to within 24 hours.


Weak Points?

Reviewer 1: While this is a very flexible application, it is somewhat narrow-minded occasionally in its ability to work with or provide protection to anything other than Internet Explorer. For example, the Options page Miscellaneous tab only has options for IE. IE, Firefox and Opera are recognized in other areas such as Active Shields. Contact sensitive help available by clicking the “?” at the upper right of each window is a nice touch and should provide assistance from each page the user is working on; unfortunately, the information is only an overview of each page without specific information about the subselections within that page. More detailed information requires opening the PDF manual. An accessible self-guided help system is needed.

Reviewer 2: Some items in Spy Emergency’s signature database should not have been included. My first scan identified the file ezpinst.exe as malware, but it is a legitimate file used by several CD/DVD burning software programs, including a couple that I own. I wrote to Spy Emergency and, at their request, sent them a copy of the suspect file. They removed it from their database. On another occasion, I tried to find the Web address for TinyURL, a very useful program that will shorten excessively long URLs. Spy Emergency’s Web and Anti-Phishing shield warned that tinyurl.com was a Bad URL. And not only did it warn me—it wouldn’t let me connect to the site. I had to shut down Spy Emergency in order to access the site. I wrote to tech support, and after looking into what I said, they removed tinyurl.com from their block list. Although these errors somewhat lessen my confidence in Spy Emergency’s database, I am pleased to see that the company takes users’ feedback seriously and corrects errors promptly. Moreover, I should point out that the database problems occurred early in my testing; more recently, I have not encountered further problems of this sort. A different sort of problem involved Spy Emergency’s anti-spam and malware e-mail protection. As I understand it, this feature will check both incoming and outgoing email for malware and will also check incoming messages for spam. The feature is apparently turned off by default (at least, it was turned off on the two copies of Spy Emergency that I downloaded and installed). Only toward the end of my testing period did I realize that I hadn’t examined this feature. I then tried unsuccessfully to get it to work with two different e-mail programs. I’ve been communicating with tech support, but the issue has not yet been resolved. Another weakness is the User’s Manual. It would be much more useful if it covered more issues and in more detail. For example, I would have liked it to explain the differences between the “normal” scan and the “deep” scan. I also looked in vain for a detailed account of the steps the user should take to implement the anti-malware feature for e-mail, as well as a description of possible error messages this feature might produce and what they mean. Currently, the User’s Manual tells the reader little that isn’t rather obvious. One sign that the Manual has not been a high priority is the fact that there’s no way to access it from the Spy Emergency program interface (one must go outside the program to the Windows Start menu), and on the Web site the Main Menu contains no “User’s Manual” link.

Reviewer 3: Although my computer is fast and has considerable RAM, if I call up Spy Emergency to do a scan, it will take complete charge of the computer, using all of its resources. I am not able to do any other work at all while the scan is running. It will scan all “active processes” (in other words, all that is running at present), the Registry, and all the drives that I have specified should be scanned. As I am not usually anxious to scan my computer “right now”, I would much prefer the ability to set a maximum percent of the system resources to be given over to the scan process. Then I would be able to continue to work, even at a level somewhat reduced by the need of Spy Emergency to do its thing. In this scenario, I would still be able to set it to take over the whole computer when that is exactly what I need it to do at that moment.

Reviewer 4: There is no support forum which is badly needed, nor is there an FAQ, but there is a very thorough and easy to understand user’s manual that can be downloaded as a PDF file. Finally, there is a free trial version that is implied to be fully functioning but nowhere could I find the length of the trial period listed. The price for Spy Emergency 2008 is $29.95—a bit on the high end of the competition; however, when you add the $16.95 a year for upgrades and revisions, the price is far too high for me to be able to recommend this product at this time—especially with its limited support options. While Spy Emergency is moderately light on resources overall, there is a spike in CPU usage to 100% when the program loads on startup and, as a result, slows up the loading of any autostart programs that load after it. It also consumes far too many resources while scanning. This is something that the developers need to direct their attention to, since this could be a serious issue less powerful machines than my 3.8GH Pentium IV. My most serious complaint is with the AntiSpam feature. My question to the developers is why even put this in the program? First, spam does not necessarily or even usually equate with malware. Secondly, this is not truly a full functioning AntiSpam tool as those that are free-standing and dedicated solely to antispam. Third, it creates yet one more draw on computer resources. Fourth, most quality email clients today already have some anti-spam features built-in so it is superfluous. I am also concerned with the lack of 24/7 support and support options aside from, email contact. At least the program should offer a promise of a turn-around time for support requests, and I would like to see support or users forum added as well. Many times, a good user’s forum—especially when monitored by the developer—can be as important as the actual support itself. While the detection rate was low in scanning based on my tests, the real-time protection was excellent, so I think this is a trade-off that does not seriously detract from the program. At the same time, for those who want only a manual scanning program and are not interested in real-time protection, there are much better choices than Spy Emergency 2008. The real deal-breaker for me, however, was the need to pay an additional yearly fee for updates and revisions. With so much competition in the market of antispyware programs, many excellent ones that are free, I cannot recommend any product which makes its users hostage to an additional yearly fee to keep the already purchased program viable. I would urge the developer to end this practice or, at least, offer the purchaser the option of a life-time license which some of its competitors are now doing.


Other Comments?

Reviewer 1: Overall, I felt that this application was a “keeper”. It’s easy to use, very flexible and configurable. Selective levels and areas of scan make it very user friendly. As with anything that is this flexible and powerful, it takes a little while to figure out how to use it effectively but that is made easy with a good manual and intuitive interface.

Reviewer 2: Although most people reading this review will probably prefer their software program interface to be in English, it’s worth noting that Spy Emergency makes its interface available not just in English but also in 14 other languages.

Reviewer 3: One of the features that I particularly like about Spy Emergency is that it covers all three of the major categories of malware: Viruses, Spyware, and Spam. Of those three, I can not say much about the spam. My ISP has some significant anti-spam filters on it, so I do not too often get spam, even on the computer that does not have Spy Emergency on it.

Reviewer 4: I want to address a rumor and hopefully set the record straight. Several years ago, Spy Emergency was identified and listed for a short time as “rogue antispyware.” It was one of those antispyware applications that, in fact, spy on its users by installing spyware. While not aware of all of the details of this previous situation, I can assure that this is no longer true. In fact, five of the most respected computer security forums/sites have since given it a clean bill of health: SpyWarrior Forums www.spywarewarrior.com/elh/adw-state.htm, Gladiator Forums http://gladiator-antivirus.com/forum/index.php?act=home, Wilders Security Forum http://www.wilderssecurity.com/index.php CastleCops http://www.castlecops.com/, Secunia Security http://secunia.com/vendor/.


Will you continue to use it?

Reviewer 1: Yes

Reviewer 2: Yes. In spite of its weaknesses, I prefer Spy Emergency to other anti-malware programs I’ve tried. It provides a more complete scan at a much faster speed, offers relatively few false positives, and permits me to continue working while it scans.

Reviewer 3: Yes, I will continue to use it on my backup computer; but I will not move it to my main computer since it already has programs installed that provide sufficient anti-malware protection. On the other hand, if I need a program to run a complete scan on one of the other computers here, this would be a good one to use.

Reviewer 4: No; however, this is only because I do not use any anti-spyware or anti-virus programs on my computer and only manually scan for viruses and malware. As a manual scanner, my tests did not find it to be among the best; however, its “real-time” protection was better than its competitors.

OPERATING SYSTEMS USED IN THIS REVIEW
Windows XP Pro, XP Home

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