Properly installed, configured and maintained, Webroot SpySweeper is a superior anti-spyware utility and my personal favorite. In my security book The Hacker’s Nightmare I explain in detail, backed up by independent research data, exactly why I settled on SpySweeper in preference to one of its many competitors.
Of course if you install any anti-malware program on a computer system that is already compromised in some way, the likelihood of your achieving the protection you seek is slim indeed. In that case my step-by-step guide Seven Steps to a Clean PC is the place to start. Oh, and by the way, Seven Steps to a Clean PC is now available completely free to all [click here].
Webroot SpySweeper is a very simple install, but there always seems to be a percentage of people who get into trouble installing any new programs. One of the reasons so many people encounter problems with software installations is that they don’t adequately prepare their computer in advance for the installation. Preparing for a trouble-free software installation is a topic I detail in Appendix 3 of The Hacker’s Nightmare “Installing & Removing Software”.
Now…
No matter how good the application you are installing, nor how well you are prepared for the install, circumstances beyond your control can conspire to produce an unsatisfactory end result.
For example, running a Registry Cleaner on a computer which has Webroot SpySweeper version 6.0.2.22 installed may cause a fully registered Webroot SpySweeper installation to revert to its trial/unregistered state, and possibly to exhibit other “oddities”.
It would be very easy, perhaps even reasonable, to jump to the conclusion that your Registry Cleaner was screwing up your Webroot SpySweeper installation.
But you’d be wrong — so there’s a lesson here about being too quick to jump to conclusions and lay blame…
After providing Webroot support with the information I had on this situation, they investigated and confirmed that there is a minor bug in SpySweeper v6.0.2.22. This bug in no way impacts on the effectiveness of SpySweeper as an anti-malware tool, and most computer users will never encounter it.
While I don’t have the full technical details, there is something about the way that Webroot SpySweeper’s entries are written into the Windows Registry that allows at least some of those Registry entries to be removed by Registry cleaner software.
Of course this shouldn’t happen, but the problem lies with Webroot SpySweeper, not with the Registry Cleaner.
Webroot are working on a fix for this problem, which they assure me will be implemented in an upcoming release. Until then you have the option of continuing to use Webroot SpySweeper v6.0.2.22 and not using a Registry Cleaner, or reverting to the previous version of SpySweeper, which does not suffer from this problem.
If you take nothing else away from this example, let the lesson be that jumping to conclusions and knee-jerk apportionment of blame is not an intelligent reaction to a problem.
When faced with a similar predicament, and if you don’t have the experience to conduct a logical analysis of the circumstances yourself, try to enlist the aid of some competent person.
The last thing you want to do is start uninstalling software willy-nilly and publicly ranting about how such-and-such a program “screwed my computer”. Egg on face is not a very dignified look!
Kudos to the Webroot developers for so quickly investigating my report and coming up with an answer. There are far too many software developers who wouldn’t be so candid in taking responsibility.
- For more about WebRoot SpySweeper click here.
- For my Registry Cleaner recommendations click here.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Robbiel, I couldn't possibly comment on the efficacy of an application that I haven't used. If you don't trust RegCure then there doesn't seem to be much point in using it.
All I can tell you is that I have grown to trust Uniblue's Registry Booster and, as I said in another article, it is my personal Registry Cleaner of choice. I don't sort through its recommendations and pick and choose — I just tell it to clean what it's found. It hasn't done wrong by me yet.
Of course, if it ever does, I'll have the registry BACKUP that I ALWAYS have the program perform before running a cleanup.
However, the thing you must understand and accept about any application that intrusively modifies system settings is that there is always the possibility of bringing existing, but possibly quiescent, problems out into the open.
More often than not people who complain of problems “caused by” a Registry Cleaner are simply revealing a hidden problem that existed all along. I see that as a good thing as it gives you the opportunity to correct a problem that exists but that you didn't know about, before it becomes critical and/or disruptive. The head-in-the-sand approach of preferring not to know about problems rarely has a happy ending in the long run.
One thing I always do BEFORE & AFTER running a registry clean-up is to reboot the computer. Also, in the BEFORE phase, before running the cleanup, close all other applications that may have opened automatically when Windows starts.
I use RegCure but after scanning am afraid to delete stuff – it lists problems with – COM/Active X entries, Shared DLLs, File Path references, Program Shortcuts, Windows Startup Items, Empty Registry Keys.
Which ones are safe to delete?
Thanks
Hi Bill-I just bought two new computers for the wife and myself from Best Buy. Old ones we’re getting outdated and crashing too many times. We got the Webroot Standard I believe-was told it was the best out there- of coarse by the Geeks. Does Webroot come with the registry cleaners in them when we do our sweeps ? I am having problems trying to re-install sofe software and am wondering if there are parts of this program still in the registry that’s causing the malfunction. Thanks-Greg
Greg:
In the words of the publishers themselves, WebRoot SpySweeper (standard) “Blocks and removes spyware, adware and pop-ups “. Nothing else. It is not a Registry cleaner or an anti-virus program, though there are two other versions which incorporate anti-virus features. But in my opinion AVG is a better choice for anti-virus.
I’m not all that keen on do-everything suites, preferring to use the best tool for each task.
There may be exceptions, but Registry Cleaners are usually dedicated to that particular task. My choice for best all-round tool for Registry cleaning is Uniblue’s RegistryBooster.