SuperAntispyware is a free antispyware and antivirus program that boast over 20 million users and 1,000,000 threat signatures. SuperAntispyware has also garnered a lot of interest from review sites frequently being awarded high ratings and accolades for its performance. In our tests, these awards had a lot of validity to them as SuperAntispyware exceeded our expectations. It detected antispyware on the test computer in which over 30 different antivirus and antispyware full system scans had been run. SuperAntispyware also offers several innovative features and excellent locked process removal.
Virus/Spyware Detection and Removal:
As stated above SuperAntispyware does an excellent job at removing and detecting spyware and viruses. On the test system, the quick scan found a Trojan horse and two tracking cookies. All of this is surprising given the amount of scanning done on the test computers. SuperAntispyware detected a Trojan horse called Trojan.Agent/Gen-Zbot. While the executable was inactive (not in a Windows directory but hidden on the C: drive), it still was detected with a simple quick scan. The quick scan also found two tracking cookies. This is interesting considering all of the tracking cookies are deleted after the browser is closed on the test computers.
SuperAntispyware has several scanning modes including the quick scan (not quick at all and it actually took about 25 minutes to complete), complete scan (extremely slow took about 3 hours to finish), and the custom scan (can select or deselect the registry, memory, startup locations, and certain folders for scanning). However, the real treat is that SuperAntispyware offers some of the most scanning customization options for an antispyware program. In addition, to adding trusted or excluded items and folders, a user can specify whether the “System Restore” folders are scanned, close internet browsers before scanning, and use kernel direct registry access. The full list is available in the screenshot below.
The next thing that I like about SuperAntispyware are the System repairers. Frequently spyware and viruses will attempt to mess with several areas of Windows. After the virus is deleted, it can potentially leave its tracks in multiple places causing file not found errors and slowdowns. SuperAntispyware has built-in capability to clean up a lot of virus configuration messes. For example, there are viruses that attempt to hide the system tray (located by the clock). SuperAntispyware has a specific repair functionality to restore the system tray. SuperAntispyware can also remove a virus screensaver, reset the WinLogin Shell (so that logging in is a standard Windows screen), repair the WinSock LSP (crucial if after virus or spyware internet access is unavailable), and restore Windows policy settings (viruses can modify this area to prevent access to the start menu and program Uninstallation etc.). The free Windows repairs alone make SuperAntispyware an extremely attractive security tool.
SuperAntispyware also offers some advanced quarantine and virus deletion capabilities. The software removes viruses and difficult spyware on system restart. Interestingly, I think SuperAntispyware requires a restart after every virus disinfection. For the items that SuperAntispyware detected on the test computer, a system restart was not necessary (the processes were not executed or locked) even though that the software wanted to restart the system.
Finally, SuperAntispyware includes automatic updates. Frequently, this update functionality is manual on most freeware antispyware software.
Interface:
The SuperAntispyware interface is pretty lacking. The company still opted to use grey Windows menus throughout the majority of the software views. There are also some annoyances. Since SuperAntispyware also offers a full version. When a user navigates through the various settings menus, clicking certain features such as real time protection, scheduled scanning, and startup scanning will pop up a huge “Feature Unavailable Message”. I would have preferred that these full features and messages were absent in the free version while activated in the full version. I also ran into a problem/bug where the registration message could not be closed. Please note that SuperAntispyware will still detect and delete malware while unregistered.
Another pet peeve is that there are no built-in help icons. Other than a few explanations on the system repairers, there are no question marks or automatic explanations. A user has to find the small link in the help section or the help file located in the start menu area.
There is a positive feature to the interface. This is the BootSafe GUI located in the programs folder. While nothing extremely special, the BootSafe will allow a user to boot into safe mode automatically upon reboot. This is helpful for novice users who are unaware of when to push f8 upon a computer startup.
Conclusion:
SuperAntispyware has excellent malware detection and removal capabilities. Unfortunately, the interface is a little lacking and there are frequent popups to register the program. Since the software is free, it is actually hard to complain. If a user wants a competent antispyware program, then check out SuperAntispyware.
