Spysweeper in Security http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r16483017 en Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:10:15 EDT Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:10:15 EDT Re: Deleted 5.0.5. Major slowdown problem solved. http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16599959 Michael R : I received a reply from Webroot. Here's what they said:

"Please open Spy Sweeper click on Shields click the Windows System tab. Here uncheck the Keylogger shield at the bottom. This should return the performance level to your computer, but in no way diminishes the functionality of Spy Sweeper."]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16599959 Sat, 29 Jul 2006 08:02:41 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16578396 anon : Romeo,

They added a Self-Protect Shield to this version. To turn it off you have to ...

Press and hold Ctrl+Alt while double clicking the Spy Sweeper banner at the top of the Home window.

Choose option: Turn SPS Off.

If the program worked with any sort of ease, it might actually be a nice feature :)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16578396 Wed, 26 Jul 2006 09:37:53 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16578372 anon : tommichael,

You might want to try running the clean up tool Webroot has in their support document:

"I am receiving an error message after installing Spy Sweeper 5.0"

»support.webroot.com/ics/support/···ptID=776

You'll find it under Top Spy Sweeper 5.0 Articles.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16578372 Wed, 26 Jul 2006 09:32:50 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16577728 Romeo4 : *bangs head on desk* I've got all protection turned off ....and yet when I'm done using it I can't even end the service ?? so it's setting there wasteing 45megs of ram :| *uninstalls and goes back to 4.5.709*. I HATE this at least with 4.5 I could close the service so it wouldnt be sucking memory when it wasnt being used *I am a geek*.

-Romeo]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16577728 Wed, 26 Jul 2006 05:07:11 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16577548 IZZY3 : well i hope they resolve it soon. i bought my 1st copy of it few months ago and have been pleased until this release. yet this is the way things go with programs that change frequently. just my 2 cents. i know this i would rather keep the all shields working in 4.5 than disable them in 5. this release will most surely hurt the popularity of spysweeper.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16577548 Wed, 26 Jul 2006 03:19:45 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16576113 tommichael : I installed it on three computers and what a disaster. Even now that I have removed Spy Sweeper, my browsers are so slow that I feel like I am using a dial-up instead of cable. Now I have to find a fix for what ever is still holding up my browser. Anyone have any ideas?

On a scale of 1-10 I would give Spy Sweeper 5.0 a (minus) -5. What a waste of money and time!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16576113 Tue, 25 Jul 2006 22:27:15 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16563630 TeMerc : From Webroot Customer Advocacy Group:

Webroot would like to thank everyone for their postings about the latest release of Webroot’s Spy Sweeper 5.0.5.1286.

I am a part of Webroot’s Customer Advocacy Group, and wanted to let everyone know that Webroot is aware of the slow performance reports and has a team of engineers looking into a resolution. In the short term, we have published a Knowledge Base article on our Support site that may resolve performance issues if you have installed Spy Sweeper on a system with low available memory. (»support.webroot.com/ics/support/···ptID=776).

Also, if you are experiencing poor performance, please try disabling the Spy Installation Shield, Memory Shield and Key Logger Shield.

We will keep everyone posted when a more permanent solution is available.

Thank you,
Webroot Customer Advocacy Group

Source:
»www.castlecops.com/posts162250-15.html]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16563630 Mon, 24 Jul 2006 02:11:50 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16551222 BigPoppa44 : Kryptonian, I had the same problem. I contacted webroot and here is the solution. (1) Open Spysweeper's Home tab (2) Go to the top of the Home pg. and find the Spysweeper logo in dark bold black letters and put your cursor on it and double click while holding down "ctrl" & "alt" buttons simultaneously. This will open about 6 tabs at the top of the page. Find the tab that says "Download Defs" and click. This will get defs v723.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16551222 Sat, 22 Jul 2006 01:17:15 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16550271 anthrorules : I long ago gave up WebRoot's Products, particularly SpySweeper. Their products are resource hogs to say the least, and the donateware products (SpywareBlaster, SpywareGuard, Spybot Search and Destroy, Ad-Aware, etc.) out there do a much better job!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16550271 Fri, 21 Jul 2006 22:05:11 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16549627 kryptonian : I was going to make an entirely new thread about SpySweeper but being as my problem touches on some of what you folks have been gabbing about, I figured id put it here. Has anyone here not been able to update to the latest definitions? Everytime I startup my computer, SpySweeper connects and says its downloaded the latest definitions. Great heh? However, its been the same number for a few days now. 144,170 I think? The version I have on my laptop is stuck at 144,140.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16549627 Fri, 21 Jul 2006 20:14:36 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16543619 wrdplyr : I have been a loyal Spy Sweeper paying customer almost since it's inception. I also was an original paying Window Washer customer. I am so disappointed with this latest upgrade. My computer is slower, it loads multiple times on my task bar and the computer hangs at shutdown. I can't run adaware with this thing on and quiet frankly they better get a fix soon. I had to laugh when my laptop asked me if I wanted to update to the newest version. NO WAY!!
My subscription expires in September and if this is the best version they can come up with I'll subscribe to an alternative.
Hurry Up and Fix this obvious problem !!!!!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16543619 Thu, 20 Jul 2006 23:09:34 EDT Deleted 5.0.5. Major slowdown problem solved. http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16530552 Michael R : 5.0.5 brought my home PC to its knees. Uninstalled Spy Sweeper 5.0.5 and reinstalled Spy Seeper 4.5 and updated XP Home with latest updates. Major Slowdown Problem now solved.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16530552 Wed, 19 Jul 2006 09:27:53 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16523148 mckenney : This is the most logical/reasonable solution offered yet. I totally agree. I too have FireFox, Spybot S&D, AdAware, AVG, and Kerio Personal Firewall, and an excellent MVP HOSTS file, and have found that simply turning off all "shields" in Spy Sweeper eliminates all the CPU usage/freeze problems. Then, Spy Sweeper is scheduled to run a sweep at 1:00 a.m. which it now does. And you're right again, it is an excellent spyware catcher, and with all shields turned off, plus having all the other programs I use doing their job, I seem to be safe, secure, and still fast.

In other words, I totally agree with your post! :D]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16523148 Tue, 18 Jul 2006 09:39:34 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16513566 anon : :o Definitely having issues with 5.0.1268. My system slows to a crawl, especially when waking up from sleep (and when scanning)!!

Memory usage shoots to 100%. I thought I had a virus and then figured it MUST be this version since I just upgraded yesterday!!! :( UGH]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16513566 Sun, 16 Jul 2006 22:28:53 EDT yes, a problem with the spysweeper update http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16510705 davegdb : With the SS update my machine will freeze for seconds at a time every few minutes. Everything just seems slower too. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16510705 Sun, 16 Jul 2006 12:39:44 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16507319 HA Nut :
You have to turn off the "Common Ad Sites" shield, not the "Host File" shield.
It was not on (which I believe is the default.) And at least in SS 4.5, if the HOSTS Shield was on, a large HOSTS file caused failed installations and fairly slow performance. Webroot's fix for 4.5 was to disable both HOSTS related shields. So I did the same thing in 5.0 (since, depending on the PC, WinPatrol or MJ Registry Watcher was already doing that.)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16507319 Sat, 15 Jul 2006 19:33:04 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16505643 owlyn :
said by HA Nut See Profile :

A little followup...

I have a laptop at work and my PC at home running ZoneAlarm and a large HOSTS file (mvps.org.) New Spy Sweeper 5.0 and this situation does not get along well. Even with the HOSTS file shield off, SS still somehow saw the HOSTS file with it's Spy Communications shield and was giving unending warnings about access to bad websites. Since I'm a big believer in a managed HOSTS file, I chose to dump SS on these specific machines (went to Windows Defender at work and Spyware Doctor at home.) After switching, I've had no other issues.

Will continue to monitor the situation with the remaining PCs on SS 5.0. So far, they are ok.
You have to turn off the "Common Ad Sites" shield, not the "Host File" shield.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16505643 Sat, 15 Jul 2006 13:08:33 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16504426 HA Nut : A little followup...

I have a laptop at work and my PC at home running ZoneAlarm and a large HOSTS file (mvps.org.) New Spy Sweeper 5.0 and this situation does not get along well. Even with the HOSTS file shield off, SS still somehow saw the HOSTS file with it's Spy Communications shield and was giving unending warnings about access to bad websites. Since I'm a big believer in a managed HOSTS file, I chose to dump SS on these specific machines (went to Windows Defender at work and Spyware Doctor at home.) After switching, I've had no other issues.

Will continue to monitor the situation with the remaining PCs on SS 5.0. So far, they are ok.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16504426 Sat, 15 Jul 2006 07:50:57 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16500555 Lefky : Thanks, I had turned off the service but I forgot about msconfig. Wish me luck, I am going to reboot to ensure it no longer starts. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16500555 Fri, 14 Jul 2006 15:39:47 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16500432 HA Nut : SS 5.0 starts in 2 places (one of those then starts a 3rd process.)

The SpySweeperUI starts in the registry in the key called
My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
(This can be turned off using MSCONFIG.)

The other is a service called WebrootSpySweeperService (This can be turned off using the Services application in XP.)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16500432 Fri, 14 Jul 2006 15:17:34 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16500299 Lefky : SpySweeper is killing my laptop right now. It is preventing it from booting up. I finally got my laptop up and running and have shut it down. How can I take it out of startup without having to enable it again. I do not see it listed in my startup directory.

thanks ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16500299 Fri, 14 Jul 2006 14:56:29 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16500072 Profixer : The latest version of Spysweeper seems, on initial analysis, to be blocking memory read access to certain modules as part of its shielding technology. This means that in all probability, applications calling ReadProcessMemory on any of the processes / modules that SS is shielding, will hang... This seems to be the case with Ad-Aware, as it hangs when reading the memory of loaded windows dlls... There are some more posts about this on the Lavasoft Support forums. As I understand it, the problem has been reported to Webroot. This problem seems similar in nature to the Symantec Anti-Tamper protection which some applications, including Ad-Aware have been having problems with.

//Steve]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16500072 Fri, 14 Jul 2006 14:25:30 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16499951 Gianni45 : LOTS of problems here:
»www.castlecops.com/f163-Spysweeper.html]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16499951 Fri, 14 Jul 2006 14:04:48 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16494113 HA Nut : Well, I have several PCs at work on SS and had upgraded all of them to 5.0. One did not run right on it from nearly the time I loaded it (it had been fine on 4.5.) I tried making some minor adjustments but nothing helped.

I still have a couple of unused & unexpired Spyware Doctor licenses and decided to try their new version 4 on it. It was night and day better. So that PC will stay on SD. The others seem to be ok on SS 5.0.

Hopefully, that will be the only one that has that issue... :uhh:]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16494113 Thu, 13 Jul 2006 17:10:11 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16493888 buttoni : I tried SS for trial period last year but also uninstalled it for something lighter. CPU usage stayed way above 50% and really slowed down my pc. Running Spyware Doctor 4.0 currently with all Guards active and several on-demand scanners for backup.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16493888 Thu, 13 Jul 2006 16:35:16 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16493555 Dr Tweak : I don't understand why some of you are using the real-time protection, there is no point in it. If you have a good anti-virus program and use Firefox, Opera or even "lock-down" IE along with SpywareBlaster and SpyBot's immunize feature then you should be very safe. Spy Sweeper probably has the best detection rate of all the anti-spyware programs I've seen, just simply use it weekly or bi-weekly as an on demand scanner only.

If your pc is setup securely then it shouldn't find a thing.

:)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16493555 Thu, 13 Jul 2006 15:47:29 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16492454 anon : I started using Spy Sweeper about 4 years ago, it was a great program back when, so far this year I've installed the program numerous times, I even got new links from Webroot to install the program. For the last year and a half or so, it takes to long to start up, shutdown, many sites hang, not all. More times than not I have to turn of my IE shields to update spywareblaster. I never had spyware when using the program, I never had spyware not using it. I don't have to worry anymore, it's off my machine and life on the net is great. I would rather have spyware than ever use this product again.
A happy Ewido user.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16492454 Thu, 13 Jul 2006 12:59:13 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16492118 redsand : Hey guys longtime lurker first time caller. Anyhoo, I too had upgrade problems and called tech support. The problems my machine exhibited were slow browser, no web page loading after viewing 5 pages,shut downs and reboots, no shutdowns at all/ just a stuck page, lastly sounds in the background as if someone else is in control.

The support person had me uninstall using the start button/programs/webroot/uninstall spysweeper/ she then e-mailed the file and had me install. I FIRST had to close macafee and zone alarm (key point). If you upgrade with them still on then houston we WILL have problems! Lastly reboot your machine.

So far so good and the speed seems back to normal but I do still hear noise occasionally in the background.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16492118 Thu, 13 Jul 2006 12:01:35 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16489454 IZZY3 : seems to me like more beta testing is needed. 4.5.607 works good. so i am sticking with it.lets keep this thread going to see what others find out. hopefully webroot gets a new build out soon. till then i am very happy with 4.5. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16489454 Wed, 12 Jul 2006 23:14:21 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16489131 crh721 : It kept my Power management in XP from working. Monitor would not turn off after the time specified. Also AdWatch ( in AdAware Plus was trying to re register programs that had been installed for a long time. Went back to V. 4.45 and it all works OK again.
--
Bob H]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16489131 Wed, 12 Jul 2006 22:24:39 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16489020 pc319 : I had 100% CPU usage most of the time and had to reboot just to get my system back to normal (Could not terminate the spysweeper process because of some new hidden self-protect setting.) It always eventually happened again within a short period after rebooting. I read on the Castlecops spysweeper forum that some users ended up disabling the Keylogger Shield for some BSOD errors, so I decided to give it a try even though I did not have that problem. Once I disabled that shield the slowdown problems went away. Some users there stated that it was a known problem during the beta testing that supposedly got fixed.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16489020 Wed, 12 Jul 2006 22:10:36 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16488470 hpguru : I just finished working on a friend's laptop which was BSODing when he attempted to shut it down. Turned out to be the latest build of Spysweeper and WinDefender that was causing the problem (both running resident). Removing Spysweeper stopped the BSODs but there was still a system error being logged at shutdown in the System log which always coincided with a log entry for WinDefender detecting spyware. To make a long story short he had no infections of any kind so I removed WinDefender and that eliminated the system error as well. He said he would reinstall Spysweeper again later and see if the problem arises again.
--
Get hpHOSTS!
What is Security?
Paranoia is no substitute for understanding.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16488470 Wed, 12 Jul 2006 20:56:57 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16488447 HA Nut : I can confirm that my doubled up SpySweeperUI is caused by the SPS shield when I switch users (by logging off and then on.) I tested various settings several times and the only thing that triggered it was the Self-Protection Shield being switched on (which is the default setting.) So, I guess I'll be sending in a report of some kind to Webroot.

(FWIW, I kinda like the idea of the SPS so my workaround will be to right click the tray icon and "Shut Down" SS before logging off to go to the other account. Hopefully they can get this attended to soon... :) )]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16488447 Wed, 12 Jul 2006 20:54:19 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16487809 DarkThrone : Just updated.

Have the real time monitor off.

This has really slowed my system down. Only security app running full time is Nod32.

I may end up going back to an older image with the prev version of Spy Sweeper.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16487809 Wed, 12 Jul 2006 19:32:34 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16486209 Don Pelotas : Yes, i have had it as high as 70mb, but with no noticeable slowdown like with 4.5.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16486209 Wed, 12 Jul 2006 15:45:16 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16486042 HA Nut : While I have not experienced any notable performance issues, SS 5.0 uses a great deal more memory than 4.5. Close to double the RAM... Averaging 45 to 50 MB much of the time. (And as noted, 3 processes now instead of 2.)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16486042 Wed, 12 Jul 2006 15:26:33 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16485174 anon : I saw three processes connected to Spy Sweeper:

SpySweeper.exe
SpySweeperUI.exe
ssu.exe

It ended up being a pretty heavy load overall. At boot one of those (SpySweeper.exe or SpySweeperUI.exe) was the top memory hog on my system.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16485174 Wed, 12 Jul 2006 13:31:02 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16485091 IZZY3 : yes wrssdk is gone. now to services running that are named similar.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16485091 Wed, 12 Jul 2006 13:20:20 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16484971 BigPoppa44 : I downloaded Spysweeper V5.0.5.1286 on Monday. I must say that I like it better than the previous V4.5. With all of the shields active in V4.5, My IE would sometimes hang when trying to open web pages. With V5.0 with all 13 shields active I don't seem to have the probem with IE freezing at certain points. I see that webroot got rid of the service called "WSSDK" and replaced it with something else.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16484971 Wed, 12 Jul 2006 13:05:00 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16484933 IZZY3 : i run windows defender. symantec client security. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16484933 Wed, 12 Jul 2006 13:00:20 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16484924 TeMerc : So far this morning I have read different threads concerning SS having conflicts with the following apps:
Mcafee av
SuperAntiSpyware
Norton av
Adaware

Looks to me as tho Webroot didn't do quite enough beta testing.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16484924 Wed, 12 Jul 2006 12:58:42 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16484809 kikidoo : It sounds like a problem I had and reported when I was testing the beta version of 5.0. Webroot fixed the problem (at least for me) very quickly.
But with the public release of 5.0.5.1286 I too have noticed my system is "a little off" but so far not enough for me to revert back to an older version.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16484809 Wed, 12 Jul 2006 12:42:58 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16484682 anon : It didn't play well on my system either. Possibly a conflict with NIS 2006. What other real-time security do you have running?

Some behavior I observed after a clean install of Spy Sweeper 5.0.5.1286, all shields enabled:

- Memory usage values (for all processes) in task manager spontaneously shot up to ridiculous levels about ten minutes after boot, with nothing extra loaded. They didn't add up to memory use, but that too was significantly increased compared to last version.

- NAV scan time increased by about 12 minutes, very unusual.

- System freeze during ad-aware scan, task manager indicated Commit Charge around limit (never saw that before). Had to do a manual shut down.

- Lastly, general system functioning seemed off ... a bit choppy.

I filed a support ticket and reverted to the previous version.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16484682 Wed, 12 Jul 2006 12:21:29 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16484267 HA Nut : No, no slowdowns on any machines we have it on. My PC at home has an issue with SS 5.0 and changing users but I haven't had time to fully figure what's going wrong (I end up with 2 instances of SpySweeperUI running.) I have learned that SS 5.0 has a new "hidden" Self-Protect Shield and this may be my issue...]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16484267 Wed, 12 Jul 2006 11:18:30 EDT Re: Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16484134 Don Pelotas : No, actually i usually only use Spy Sweeper as on-demand normally, but have used 5.0 with all shields for the last 2 days with no issue's/slowdowns unlike with previous builds.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16484134 Wed, 12 Jul 2006 10:57:28 EDT Spysweeper http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16483017 IZZY3 : The Latest Version: 5.0.5 (build 1286)
for me this build seem to slow down my pc.
Well my pc is not the newest.
amd 3200
2gb pc3200 ram
sata 160gb
ati 9600 128 vid card.

i wonder if anyone saw these issues with this build of spysweeper? i went back to Current Version: 4.5. (build 607)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16483017 Wed, 12 Jul 2006 04:51:54 EDT