Spybot Search & Destroy (S&D) is a popular proprietary spyware and adware removal program compatible with Microsoft Windows 95 and later. It scans the computer hard disk and/or RAM for malicious software.
Spybot-S&D was written by the German software engineer Patrick Michael Kolla, and is distributed by Kolla's Irish company Safer Networking Limited. Development began in 2000 when Kolla, still a student, wrote a small program to deal with the Aureate/Radiate and Conducent TimeSink programs, two of the earliest examples of adware.
Spybot features
Along with spyware and adware detection and disinfection capabilities, Spybot-S&D can repair (Registry), Winsock LSPs, ActiveX objects, browser hijackers and BHOs, PUPS, computer cookies, trackeware, heavy duty, homepage hijackers, keyloggers, LSP, tracks, trojans, spybots, revision, and other kinds of malware. It can also to some extent protect a user's privacy by deleting usage tracks like tracking cookies. Spybot-S&D also includes an "Immunize" feature to block the installation of spyware before it occurs e.g. by modifying the hosts file. Another tool included in Spybot-S&D is a file shredder, for the secure deletion of files. Spybot-S&D is not intended to replace anti-virus programs, but it does detect some common trojans.
Spybot-S&D also recently added an anti-rootkit function.[2]
The TeaTimer module can be optionally enabled, providing a level of active, real-time protection from undesirable registry changes and the like. This comes in the form of pop-ups which alert the user to registry changes, and ask for approval before allowing the change. Registry changes only tend to be made when programs are installed/uninstalled/updated, so random changes can indicate the presence of malicious software.
Some programs ship with attached spyware or adware and refuse to run when the undesired co-programs are removed; newer versions of Spybot replace the spyware binaries with inert dummies (designed to fool programs which require the spyware's presence).
In order to efficiently detect recently created programs, detection updates are released weekly along with other improvements such as added languages and better heuristics algorithms. These updates are downloaded from within the software from a variety of mirrors and are then automatically installed.
Spybot-S&D is available for all versions of Windows from Windows 95 and up, and offers more than two dozen different languages and several skins to users. Instructions are available on the website to enable users to design their own skins.
Technical support is currently supplied by means of Internet forums[3] and support e-mails (with a usual response time of no more than 24 hours).
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