I hate shitty software - webroot spysweeper v5

Having invested in a couple of security companies, I am pretty adamant about security when it comes to my personal computers.  Until now, I have been using Norton Antivirus, ZoneLabs ZoneAlarm Security Suite, and Webroot's SpySweeper.  Things were going great until a few days ago when I upgraded my Webroot Spysweeper from v4.5.9 to v5 and then all hell broke loose.  My computer kept freezing on the simplest task such as opening a browser and after several diagnostics I realized it was Spysweeper.  After uninstalling it, I still had problems so I am now in the process of rebuilding my machine.  After doing a Google search, I recognize that I am not the only one with a problem as you can see here.

For the life of me, I don't understand how a great product went to shit with just one release.  Maybe it was the fact that they raised $100mm or so of venture capital and feel the heat to grow and expand quickly.  As you might notice, every security player that locks down the home PC has evolved into a suite-based approach.  In addition, I see that Webroot also expanded to the enterprise as well.  All I can say, is that any company looking to expand and grow should not forget what got them there - in Webroot's case it is great antispyware software for the individual consumer. Webroot may also want to do a better job of QA before releasing its product to the market.  Given all of these issues, I am done with Webroot and moving on to another anti-spyware program.

Comments

[Hoptoad]

The problem with this app is that they can't do better without doing more. They are doing all sorts of low-level OS stuff to catch every single possible bit of whatever, so that the machine can't do anything else.

I don't have that problem. I just let the ZA anti-spyware utility do its work, and scan periodically with a good rootkit detector light FSecure Blacklight.

Anyway, what do those guys need $100 million for? You could give the 100 to a buyout firm or a hedge fund, fire the developers, and come out way ahead for years.

[PRZ]

I could not agree with you more. I've been a loyal Spy Sweeper user/subscriber for a few years now and until now have been very happy with its performance. Recently, I upgraded to the new v5 and it was as if my PC was possessed. Not only was the thing running EXTREMELY slowly, the startup registry files were not executing properly. I worked on the problem for three days straight - not knowing it was SS v5 causing the problems. Unintalled the program a few days ago and decided to switch to a competing product.

[Mary Pat Baker]

I too am extremely disappointed with Webroot...I really like (d) SpySweeper, and was very satisfied with its performance, until upgrading to version 5. After several (unanswered) emails to them, they sent a remedy, which I have not yet tried. But the point is, after reading all the complaints on the internet, I'm not sure I trust them..I would have liked to have heard from Webroot the FIRST TIME I emailed them about the problem. I have not yet tried the remedy...if anyone else has, please let me know.

[Alexis]

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to comment here. I had the same problem as all of you. I heard that the upgrade was almost twice the size of the original which isn't a problem for me as far as space on my computer, but for some people it could be a problem and slow down computers. Even though, I had all the problems described here.

After MANY emails to tech support, I finally got a response and I did try it. DON'T! It was the same problem.; (

They gave me a number to call too, but I haven't bothered.

It's just unnerving because I paid for a two-year subscription AND my husband did as well. I've advised many people to buy and they are all screwed.

I would hope they fix it and alert people when the bugs are worked out.

Bottom line? Don't follow their directions.

Good luck all!

P.S. Additinally, my AV program was blocking a "DANGEROUS ACTION/Suspicious Operation" and wouldn't let me access SS. I use Panda Titanium 2006

[Frank]

If you are currently using version 4, DO NOT UPGRADE TO VERSION 5. It will slow down your computer like crazy. I just upgraded yesterday to version 5 without expecting that problem and I am so disappointed with Webroot Spy Sweeper now. I still have the former version Setup Executable but I'm not sure if it will screw up my computer even more if I try to re-install it.

[howard]

same problem, had a fake antispyware invasion by Antispywarebox (and again with antispywarenetwork today). I fixed this with hijackthis & smitfraudfix THEN I got webroot's spy sweeper. Version 4 was fine, Version 5 forever locks up the PC and I am forced to reboot! It's a complete disaster and is ruining Webroot's reputation

[WebrootSupport]

Hello Everyone,

I heard of this blog and wanted to post immediately. We quickly learned of some concerns customers were experiencing, and as of Monday Aug 7th we have released a patch to Spy Sweeper 5.0 (version 5.0.7 - build 1608). It took us a little longer to release the patch than expected so we could get it right. To obtain the patch please click on the "check for updates" link. This patch fixes a number of items, but it would be wrong of me to tell you it's without any issues. We will continue to work with customers to identify potential issues and quickly aim to rectify them. Please contact us at Customer Support if you have any concerns.

Thanks for your help and support.

Webroot Customer Support

[Rich Phillips]

After experiencing similar problems with slowdowns and near lockups the word I got from Webroot support is that version 5 requires 250MB of memory! Can't imagine a machine that can run outlook, SQL server, multiple Visual Studio IDE's and a half dozen browsers concurrently can't run a spy sweeper service?!?! And they won't give you your money back either!

[Howard Owen]

Another thumbs down for SS. I was sent a utility by Webroot to uninstall v 5.05 and then was instructed to install v 5.07. Same exact issues; I have to disable the Spyware Install Shield to have my machine operate normally. XP Pro SP2, Athlon X2 4400+, 4GB RAM.

I may be more fortunate than most. All SS seems to do is bog down the opening of HDs from My Computer (4-5 seconds after double-clicking for files to appear in Explorer). Once the drive is open in Explorer, all files *except* graphics files seem to open quickly. Graphics files take ~5-6 seconds to open.

[Tony]

My fix was to reinstall version 4.5.9.709... I will wait until users are reporting no problems before trying it again, if ever.

BTW, Rootkit Revealer identifies elements of Spy Sweeper 5 as a Rootkit. FYI.

[David Roberts]

"Don't do it" this new version 5.07 of spysweeper is no better than the previous heap of xxxp!!! after loading this patch, as soon as i tried to use internet explorer my system blue screened!!!!!!

[Hubert Heller]

I couldn't agree with you more. Ever since I installed the 5.0 upgrade I have had problems. Even the 5.0.7 update, which supposedly fixed some of the bugs, did not make a difference for me. Whenever I have Spy Sweeper running, the size of my programs are growing. I suspect a memory leak. I have submitted a report to Webroots, but did not even receive an acknowledgement. These guys have some of the worst tech support in the industry.

Hubert Heller
http://hubertheller.googlepages.com/home

[John Slaughter]

I tried to install the new 5.? Spysweep and now my Spyware page is frozen. What do I do now. I am paid up until 10/28/2007

John Slaughter

[Richard R]

After struggling with these problems for a week now I finally isolated the problem to the Spysweeper upgrade. Comforting in a way to know I’m not alone, but it is depressing how Webroot turned a great product into an unusable one in one fell swoop. I might try to reinstall the old version (4. ??) but I’m reluctant to run spysweeper at all now to be honest.

Glad I found this blog though – thanks for the info all.

[Tropical Ed]

Howdy folks:

At least I'm not the Lone Ranger on this one! SS version 5 dragged my system into the dirt. I got around the problem by restoring my computer using the Windows XP function, however, after doing the restore my previous version of SS (version 4.5) did not work, I had to reinstall it. But it was worth doing; I'd rather run the older version of SS than have nothing in its place.

I used to sing praises to Spy Sweeper, but this stinker has caused me to lose faith in them. I have no interest in installing their patched version, I just get the feeling that they don't have a handle on this.

Tony, thanks for posting your warning about version 5.07, I just noticed it!

[amatot]

Version 5 (even patch 5.07) does not function properly with Norton Antivirus 6.0 which incidentally provides great real-time firewall and spyware protection. Like others, a simple uninstall request provide futile. Installing version five creates conflicts with dwwin.exe (Dr Watson) which is a component of XP. Bravo to the MS - system restore brought my system back to life.
Tony

[Tony]

Version 5 (even patch 5.07) does not function properly with Norton Antivirus 6.0 which incidentally provides great real-time firewall and spyware protection. Like others, a simple uninstall request proved futile. Installing version five creates conflicts with dwwin.exe (Dr Watson) which is a component of XP. The conflict demonstrates repeatable shutdown failures which Webroot should be able to diagnose. Bravo to the MS - system restore brought my system back to life.
PC Mag awards don't mean shit plus these clowns are in Boulder Colorado where high altitude brain damage prevails...
For more interesting reading go here:
http://www.castlecops.com/postlite161554-.html
Tony

[Frustrated2]

I wish that I had read all of this before I upgraded the #*%&x thing! Going to extremes to resolve the perceived problem, I had blown out all of my backups (thinking them corrupted), deleted some programs, but another program just to check start up issues, and to top it all off, I thought my drive was going bad so I just purchased a new drive for imaging!

All this with a two year paid up membership! They have some nerve. This program (although once highly rated), should now be on all major recall lists! I wonder what Kim Komando has to say about it now?

[Brian Brigg]

I have exactly the same problem, particularly when I have a lot of tabs open in my browser. Everything slows down and the fans on my laptop cut in and it is always Spy Sweeper hogging the CPU. A quick check in Task Manager usually shows it using 90% or more of the CPU.

The other thing is that it has never found a single piece of spyware. AdAware free has flagged quite a few tracking cookies which Spy Sweeper just ignores.

I regret installing the piece of rubbish.

[Don Michel]

I installed spy sweeper on all 4 machines I have that run windows 2000 professional. Two of them ran o.k. but the inspiron 500e laptop had lots of trouble shutting down at odd times and when re-booting would come up with a white screen instead of blue, etc.

My Dell Optiplex GX260 hangs up mid-way in re-start or shutdown mode. I have been in touch with the tech folks at Microsoft for about a week now and they have found ways to lessen the problem but have not yet found a way to eliminate it. Even tho I have un-installed spy sweeper.

I un-installed it on the Inspiron 5000e and now everything works fine on that machine.

I haven't been able to figure out what version I installed. I right-clicked on properties but find no listing of the version.

If anyone has found a way to lick this hang-up while shutting down or re-starting problem I would appreciate your letting me know at import@midwest.net. It is rather random but has a lot to do with how long the computer has been operating. If I re-boot repeatedly it probably will work fine but when I try to re-boot or shut down after a couple hours or more, it is a toss-up as to whether it will shut down properly.
Don

[Ted B]

Hi Folks

I experienced the same problem with Ver 5 of Spy Sweeper as all of you. After upgrading from Version 4.5, Spy Sweeper caused the hard drive to run frequently with a significant increase in CPU usage. Even with a fast computer and copious ram, just opening various Office applications became a lengthy process.

I am not sure why, but while Spy Sweeper was consuming resources, Norton AV (an older version that hasn't been updated in some time) also appeared to wake up and consume additional resources. Disabling Norton increased performance only marginally and did not correct the problem.

To get around this problem, I disabled Spy Sweeper's 'Windows System - Keylogger Shield'. My computer then settled down with the hard drive CPU usage returning to normal with no significant slowdown in opening applications. Webroot considers this to be one of their “Critical Shields” and does not recommend disabling it, however, until this problem is resolved, I expect there are few alternatives. Anybody that is not experiencing performance problems may have already disabled this Shield.

I suggest this is a bandaid fix until Webroot resolves the problem with their Keylogger Shield. This temporary solution worked for me since Webroot's keylogger detection supplied with version 4.5 didn't work anyway as it reported several false positives. Webroot customer service was aware of this issue with Ver 4.5 and advised me in March 2006 that the problem would be corrected with the upcoming Version, which we now know as Ver 5 with far worse performance issues.

Spy Sweeper is still a very good program, however we need to convince them to correct their problem before they become blacklisted in SpywareWarrier’s Rogue list.

Northern Eagle
(The Canadian Connection)

[Erika Wolfe]

Spysweeter has slowed down my computer tremendously. I have had the program for less than a year and from day one I get the same results every time I sweep: 29 items found, 25 traces (or slight variations thereof). I tried to download the 5.0 version, but it didn't take and now that I read about the experiences of other users I count myself fortunate that it didn't. Spysweeper seems to have taken over my computer. When I open or shut down (and many times in between) that darned SS window opens up and admonishes me to do all sorts of things I don't want to do. Does anyone have any idea whether SS interferes with Norton's antivirus program or AOL's zapper?

[Ted B]

Hello Erika

I found SpySweeper to be one of the better anti-spyware programs. I have it installed on 5 machines:

2 - XP Professional, 1 - XP Home, 1 - Win ME and 1 - Win 98.

SpySweeper has been effective in capturing, removing and preventing most spyware missed by other programs. However there is not a single anti-spyware program on the market capable of eliminating or preventing all threats.

The only problems that I experienced with SpySweeper are as follows:

Win 98 - After boot up, the computer will not open any application until SpySweeper has done it's initialization thing, whatever that is. This may require 3 - 5 minutes. Once initialized, all is normal with opening applications and there are no slow downs or interruptions from SpySweeper.

Win ME - Similar to the Win 98 box but to a much lesser extent on boot up.

Win XP Home and Professional - No start up problems but Ver 5 caused hard drive and CPU congestion with the new Keylogger Shield enabled.

Depending on your configuration, SpySweeper will pop-up prompts and warnings if you are installing new software or sometimes when changing the configuration of current software. If deactivating some of the real time shields is an acceptable alternative, these pops up can be minimized. Ver 5 provides additional options to reduce unnecessary pop-ups.

In addition to SpySweeper, I am using a combination of anti-spyware programs including Microsoft Defender on the XP machines, Spybot S&D, Ad-Aware SE and NoAdware. As a proactive measure, I have also installed SpywareBlaster. Periodically I also perform an on line scan using Panda, however if they report spyware you will either have to purchase their software to remove the threat or try to do it manually.

I also clean up all unnecessary files using CCleaner (Crap Cleaner) on a weekly basis. In addition, to keep the registry in top performance I periodically use CCleaner and RegSeeker.

In addition to the anti-spyware programs, I have anti-virus software installed on the machines.

Most of these programs are well publicized, freeware software packages.

Using this combination of protection, all my PC's, except the ME box, are very fast, even with SpySweeper running in the backgound (however with the Keylogger Shield disabled).

A couple of suggestions:

1) If cleaning threats reported by anti-spyware programs, Google them first to determine whether or not it is actually a threat. Sometimes a program recognizes the name of the threat in the registry but does not look at the Restricted Sites Zone value 004. If this is the case, it has likely been placed there purposely by another program, such as SpywareBlaster, as a restricted site, blocking the computer from accessing this site. Should this be the case you should not allow the anti-spyware program to clean the restricted site from the registry.

2) If cleaning the registry using RegSeeker or CCleaner, always backup the changes. Both programs provide an option to backup changes before cleanup. Should the cleanup cause problems, you can always restore the backup to return the registry to the condition prior to cleanup. Also, it is always a good idea to do a full system backup, including the registry, prior to making changes.

Northern Eagle

[Another Frustrated User]

Per Webroot Customer Support:

"When Webroot upgraded Spy Sweeper to version 5.0, we increased the minimum system requirements from 128 mb of RAM to 256 mb."

I think 256 mb is inadequate. I have 512 mb and experienced the same problem.

Until a fix becomes available, along with the KeyLogger Shield posted earlier, you can also try disabling the Spy Installation Shield and Memory Shield as needed.

[WebrootSupport]

Hello Everyone,

If you have the time out of your busy day, we would really like to talk with any of you experiencing continuing issues with Spy Sweeper 5.0.7 (build 1608). As I mentioned on my posting of Aug 9th, we are continuing to work with customers to isolate problems and fix them quickly. We would truly appreciate it. Our number to reach us is 866-612-4227 and tell the tech support rep that "Arthur" sent you (btw, I lead the customer support org). They can help you out directly or get you to our Customer Advocacy Group (CAG).

Thanks for your postings and continued input.

Webroot Customer Support