SpywareBlaster is a revolutionary type of free antispyware. The software is a type of preemptive security that blocks spyware and viruses from being downloaded by automatically blocking their websites and components. Spyware Doctor achieves this by not increasing the burden on the computer system one bit. There are no real time shields or residents that need to remain in memory. When an activeX or cookie download matches a known untrusted component, it is blocked. This type of protection is great for older computers with limited RAM as they don’t have to add any new running programs. However, this type of system has its disadvantages in that a user isn’t actually alerted to a file or website being blocked rather, the file won’t download or a page cannot be found error will appear. This can be confusing because a user might misdiagnose the situation as a problem with the internet connection when it is in fact disingenuous.
The SpywareBlaster definition file has amassed to an impressive 13,471 items as of April 9, 2010. With the Internet Explorer protection, Spyware Blaster blocks active X components and cookies. This is excellent considering active components are one of the main vehicles for malware distribution in Internet Explorer. Spyware Blaster also supports many different browsers including Firefox and even Seamonkey (the full list with cookie protection is below). However, SpywareBlaster does not provide protection against rouge add-ons for Firefox or internet explorer. Rouge Add-ons are increasingly becoming the main method of infecting Firefox and IE8. SpywareBlaster should consider adding add-on or extension protection in the future.
The best protection that SpywareBlaster offers is the Host File protection. The host file is located in the System32 folder and is required for every internet connection to an external server. Regardless of the browser used, the host file is first checked to facilitate a connection to a local server etc. As stated in previous articles it is possible for malware or a virus to modify the host file and redirect traffic from www.google .com to some malware site without a user knowledge. SpywareBlaster 4.2 acts as if it is malware to prevent viruses and spyware. SpywareBlaster will put in entries for known adware/bad sites and redirect them to 127.0.0.1 (a local ip address). This is turn will display a blank page whenever a malware site access is attempted. Therefore, SpywareBlaster achieves excellent security across all functions of a computer.
Spyware Blaster isn’t just limited to the above protections and even includes a lot of useful spyware clean up tools. The first is the system snapshot. The system snapshot will save important system settings into a file for restoration at a later time. This is helpful if a virus wrecks havoc on a system and modifies numerous internet explorer options settings etc. In addition, a user doesn’t have to completely restore the system as does the built-in Windows System Restore functionality. The next option is the Host Safe. The Host Safe will again save the host file (explained above) and safely restore the host file if malicious modification are attempted. I also liked the Misc IE settings in which a user can disable access to the Internet Options settings of internet explorer to prevent a user from modifying the important settings. This feature isn’t really a revolutionary item as this can be achieved through Windows group policy. The next feature is the flash blocking which will block all flash if a user finds flash ads annoying. However, it would also block YouTube videos so I think it would be hard to justify enabling such an action. Finally, there is a custom blocking option in which a user can create their own virus definition. Unfortunately, this process is tedious and really requires intimate knowledge of the activeX file.
SpywareBlaster is a good antispyware program that should definitely be considered for installation. However, the software, absent graphical updates, has remained the same for years. The problem is internet browser has changed, i.e. internet explorer 8 primarily relies on add-ons rather than activeX components, flash is now on every video content website and couldn’t possibly be cold cut blocked, and the primary mechanisms of virus spreading has changed (bittorent downloads etc.). In addition, I found a few malware sites have since moved their domains since the definitions in SpywareBlaster were last updated, creating database integrity issues. Consider SpywareBlaster 4.2 in addition to a free antivirus suite.
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