SuperAntispyware v4 Professional Review

The market of antispyware programs is a field with tough competition. It is tough for "old payers" because they have to constantly improve their products and come up with new marketing ideas. It is tough for new manufacturers alike because they have to invent something never offered to the customer, and struggle to provide more frequent updates and better communication than vendors with already established reputation.

Of course, antispyware companies like Lavasoft, Webroot and Sunbelt don't have to worry about positioning their products. Each retains a hefty market share and enjoys the steady sales. But they still have to keep an eye on what's going in this competitive security software field because it's not that rare for a new product to join the antispyware makers' club.

SuperAntispyware is one of such products. Backed up by a team of skillful programmers, it gradually increases its customer loyalty. Windows tech forums often recommend this antispyware program to everybody struggling with infected computer. So how does superantispyware stand up against long-time known competitors?

Despite the catchy name (SuperAntispyware looks similar to dozens fake applications), SAS contains enough features to impress any advanced PC user.

• Daily Updates can be set to download manually or scheduled for automated check. Normally the program would connect to its server 3 times a day. For every update received, SAS will provide a detailed description of downloaded definitions, signatures and fixes.
• SAS boasts to detect rootkits because it scans file system on a deeper level than many competitors do. It also thoroughly checks the Registry for malicious entries.
• Scan and Removal are the two main functions that constitute an effective antispyware program. The more sophisticated the engine is, the more nasty bugs it can detect and remove. This is what we expect from any security program. SuperAntispyware easily scores highest rates here, even when put against products with antivirus module.
• Real-time monitor checks all starting/running processes for malware patterns, and also scans the incoming web traffic. If you happen to open a dangerous website, SuperAntispyware Professional will promptly block it and warn you.
• A Repair feature is a set of pre-defined commands that can be used to restore various system settings if corrupt by malware. Thus, SuperAntiSpyware can repair the desktop background and icons, Taskbar, Task Manager, Registry Editor, Command Prompt, Network Configuration and many other Windows tools/settings. Because current Internet threats are likely to damage these part of Windows in the first place, this feature of SAS is very handy to have.
• SuperAntispyware licensing policy is something that hardly any other similar product offers. For a one-time fee it’s possible to purchase a Lifetime subscription licnse!
• Boot-time updating and scan available (slows down the start-up time).
• 10 languages supported for interface configuration.
• SuperAntiSpyware is especially good fighting smitfraud infections (a.k.a. rogue programs). It also detects Trojans that are known to cause severe damage to Windows systems, including Zlob and Virtumonde beasts.
• Working in idle mode, superantispyware consumes about 300K of system memory. That's the smallest footprint I can think of. Even for old Pentium-III based computers, SAS is ideal in terms of used resources.

However SuperAntispyware is ideal since different users have different requirements for software. So, it doesn't include antivirus module unlike some competing products do (PC Tools Spyware Doctor, Lavasoft Ad-Aware, Sunbelt Vipre, Webroot Spy Sweeper). SAS doesn't support skins (I see no reason why a security program should provide such an option, but some PC users are big fans of customizing the look of every program they use). Its tray icon (a bug) may not appeal to those looking for animated transparent icons, but honestly, a security program does not have to impress with its tray icon.

Overall, SuperAntispyware is a robust application, optimized for smallest memory footprint, highly reliable (I never experienced it to freeze or hang), with a number of advanced settings to play with. Because it is available in a free edition as well, SuperAntispyware is worth installing.