Good morning regulars (and non-regulars alike)! Since we are all seeing the latest incarnation of Webroot's Spy Sweeper popping up on tech store shelves (look for the bright green box) I decided to take a leap and start field testing the living crap out of it. I have a few dozen trade-in machines in the shop to chose from (plenty of never-protected fresh meat that has never been cleaned). I'm going to start dancing with Spy Sweeper as a first-use, stand alone utility and see what I get. I'll choose test machines that have never seen SpyBot or Ad-Aware, so we'll see what happens. Anybody with Spy Sweeper experiences, I would be interested to see what you've found. I will be posting with my results as time goes by. Like I said, I plan to test the living crap out of it. Anybody want to join me? Thanks everybody. MORE LATER AOSCLAY PEBKAC

I've used it several times, and it's only found cookies, but I keep my comp clean. I'll start running it behind AdAware to see if it finds anything AdAware misses (like SpyBot used to do).

Hey AOSCLAY, Why don't you try it on this guys problem... Try 1 old machine without Spysweeper protection to get infected and then load up the Spysweeper to see if deletes the crap and 1 old machine with Spysweeper to see if it doesn't get infected..... http://www.computing.net/security/wwwboard/forum/12902.html JPQ

Well... I was wrong about my trade-in machines <grins sheepishly>. It seems I've canibalized most of the good ones for parts, wiped the rest, and a few of them are too old to be of any use (yes, there was a day before spyware...why do I still have these machines?) All that aside, I still have a couple of decent candidates. My initial impression of Spy Sweeper: I guess the word "under-whelmed" pretty much sums it up. Does anyone else feel like this program is akin to Spyware-Protection-For-Dummies??? I guess you could say its "streamlined" but so far it seems like an empty suit. For those of you that haven't used it, it is essentially featureless with very few adjustable options. Scans are slower than expected, but tolerable. I need a really screwed up machine to test this on. My guinea pig machines are all "too clean". I'm sure I can screw a computer up over the weekend if I put my mind to it. Then we might try it again. So far, I'm not impressed, but it appears to be functional if not exceptional. Sorry all. More later after I find a really torn up machine to throw it against. AOSCLAY PEBKAC

Here is my personal results on spy sweeper,and i`ll use the (out of 10 rating)for the results. User interface: 7/10 Scan engine: 6/10 Detection: 8/10 Pest removal: 7/10 Pest signature: 8/10= 25000+ Updated defs: 0/10 Security options:5/10 IE page sheild 8/10 Cookie shield 8/10 Home user FREE: 10/10 OVERALL SCORE: 7/10 I find spysweeper to be an overall good product.I have been using it for the past few months now,and i find that it is another good compliment to have alongside Spybot,adaware. For example: I first off I scanned an infected machine with Spybot and found 10 pests.Then i scanned with Adaware and it found 2 pests that Spybot missed.Finally i scanned with Spysweeper,and it found 1 pest that niether Spybot,nor Adware detected.I always scan my pc in this order like clock work,and Spysweeper has a total of 7 pests detected and removed that niether Spybot,or AdAware detected.Anyway,this is just my personal experience,and {opinion} with Spysweeper. Take care!