CounterSpy

General Information

CounterSpy by Sunbelt Software

CounterSpy is an awarding winning anti-spy ware product developed by Sunbelt Software.

Based on early information from Sunbelt, CounterSpy comes with anti-virus capabilities packaged together with the product.

As usual, we tested this product in our lab and here’s our verdict.

Key features of CounterSpy V2 Anti-Spyware

Ease of Use

CounterSpy 3.0 comes with an interface that’s helpful for novice and advanced users alike. While novice users can work with default settings, more advanced users may use the more complex features under Active Protection and System Tool by customizing these features to suit their personal preferences.

System Scan

CounterSpy allows users choose between a full system scan and one for a particular drive or removable disk. The full system detected 56 infections and took around 22mins.

Removal Effectiveness

On our test systems, CounterSpy completely eliminated 44 out of 56 spyware infections successfully. This is an 80% removal rate – one of the highest we’ve seen.

Updates

CounterSpy comes with an automatic updates feature that need no user input. We also noticed some updates require a system reboot.

Customer Support

Sunbelt provides a Users Guide, and a Get Started document for download. There’s toll-free phone support whenever users encounter problems. An online help database allows users locate and carry out quick fixes themselves. Let’s not forget a blog with helpful articles and of course email support. Apparently, Sunbelt did their home work in the customer support area.

Our experience from working with numerous anti-spy ware tells us support for CounterSpy is in fact one of the best. And not many anti-spy ware companies will bother to create a 118-page Users Guide.

Summary

Sunbelt offers a 15-day trial version of CounterSpy available for download. A single license costs around $20, but most of nowadays effective anti-spy ware products are not that cheap. CounterSpy is an effective anti-spy ware product offering faultless overall performance at a bargain price. A three user license costs around $45.

Minimum System Requirements

• Intel Pentium II processor (or equivalent)
• 128MB RAM
• 30MB free hard disk space required for initial installation
• Internet Explorer 6 (or greater)
• Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP or Vista

Rating

Sunbelt’s CounterSpy 2.0 received CNET’s Editor Choice Award for Dec, 2007. This product is definitely worth the award, and we are positive CounterSpy is well deserving of our 9.0/10 rating.

SUMMARY RESULTS FOR COUNTERSPY 2.0 Removal Effectiveness Ease Of Use Resource Usage Overall Performance

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