Are you considering purchasing commercial security software?

Confused by the endless commercially available Internet and computer security software choices? Here is a comprehensive list of considerations to help you make the most informed decision.

 Cost
Nearly all commercial anti-spyware packages have a one-time purchase cost plus regular subscription renewal costs. Stand alone packages can be purchased online for between $15 and $80, and subscription renewals can range from $10 to $50 per year. Many of the applications will have demo versions available for download from the vendor's Web site.

 Simplicity
The software you choose should do its job of keeping you spyware free and that’s it. Don’t consider antispyware with un-wanted or un-needed features that will just slow down your computer. Antispyware software should automate everything from scanning to downloading updates. You should be able to “set it and forget it”.

 Removal
Does the program have a powerful detection engine? The most important feature of an anti-spyware package is its ability to find and remove spyware. How well it does this is heavily dependent on the quality of its detection database and on the scope of detection. Detection methods are a key quality indicator. An anti-spyware package that supports drive scans, memory scans and registry scans will catch most spyware. There are important differences in the removal techniques of anti-spyware packages. Most simply immediately delete the offending registry keys, close any processes in memory, and delete all the associated files and directories on the hard disk. Some first try to run the Windows uninstall routine for the spyware package. A good package will use a delete-on-reboot system for files that refuse to be deleted during runtime.

All great antispyware software will perform a full scan of your computer system using a cryptographic signature. What this means is better detection, less false positives and even the hardest to remove spyware can be successfully removed. However, does it remove all files and directories associated with the spyware; does it remove Windows registry keys; does it remove the spyware from the Windows uninstall list?

 System scans
Can scans be customized? Full system scans of folders, files, registry settings, active memory and other spyware hangouts can be time and resource consuming. You'll want to have the ability to tell the program to check some places more frequently than others, depending on surfing habits. Can the software scans run unattended? Users will often forget to run manually operated programs or continually delay scanning until another time (usually after they have encountered a problem). Unattended programs run silently in the background with no impact on user productivity.

 Real-time monitoring
Does the product support real-monitoring protection? Ideally, the program should be able to intercept spyware programs before they can infect the host system. This approach requires a program to operate continuously, rather than running at specific times. A good anti-spyware product will offer both active monitoring and regularly scheduled system scans.

 Auto-start monitoring
Is auto-start monitoring included with the solution? Many spyware infections reveal their presence at system start up, when the Operating System loads into the computer. Auto-start monitoring will spot these programs and block them from loading.

 Quarantine, eradication, and recovery
What are the software's quarantining, eradication and recovery procedures? Detecting spyware isn't enough; the program also must be able to quarantine and eradicate infections without user intervention and then recover to a safe state successfully. Check the product in question for the procedures it follows when encountering specific spyware threats and compare these steps with competing products.

 White-list
Good anti-spyware also has a white-list system. If you decide to keep a particular piece of spyware on your system, you don't want it setting off alarms every time you perform an anti-spyware scan. A white-list system works like a firewall's allow/disallow system. You indicate that you've allowed this software program, and the anti-spyware will not ask again if you want to delete it.

 Database updates
Are updates delivered to the program automatically? Programs that grab new updates on their own, as opposed to products that force users to seek out new file definitions, are not just more convenient – they are more likely to be kept up-to-date. Since new spyware is being released every day your antispyware software should provide at least one update per day.

 Reporting capabilities
What are the product's reporting capabilities? To judge the software's continual effectiveness, you'll want to know how many and what types of spyware are being quarantined. Reports should also show when scans were successfully completed, whether any errors or other problems were encountered and when updates were installed.

Customer Support
Are you offered 24/7 customer support from the vendor? We’re speaking about real support that does solve your problem and does so in plain, understandable language.

 BBB member
Is the vendor a member of the Better Business Bureau? Considering the many scams taking place in the antispyware industry (rogue antispyware and companies using false positives to trick you into buying their software) it is recommended buying only software from a company that is a member of the Better Business Bureau.



Additional considerations for a business network

 Process monitoring
Does the software allow process monitoring? Even the best anti-spyware tools aren't 100 percent effective and can miss carefully crafted code. Another headache is “false positives” (benign programs incorrectly identified as spyware) which can confuse users and lead to the inadvertent deletion of necessary software. Process monitoring allows your support staff to tune your anti-spyware tools so they skip known false positives and detect spyware programs that would otherwise have been overlooked.

 Administration
Is centralized administration a program feature? It's much more convenient and efficient to manage anti-spyware technology from a central console than on individual machines.

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