Antispyware Software Enters Beta

To address the growing threats to privacy, security, and reliability from potentially unwanted software, Microsoft released a beta of a Microsoft-branded antispyware product in Jan. 2005. Based on antispyware technology acquired with Giant Software in Dec. 2004, Microsoft AntiSpyware (MSAS) fulfills a promise to quickly release a tool to help individuals detect and remove unwanted software from computers running the latest versions of Windows. Although the beta does a good job of detecting spyware, pricing and packaging details of the final antispyware product are still unknown, and issues with defining “unwanted” software could reduce the tool’s value.

Microsoft AntiSpyware

The beta of MSAS provides a collection of tools to help users prevent the installation of, detect, and remove potentially unwanted software (PUS) from their computer. (For definitions of PUS, see the sidebar “PUS Categories“.)

MSAS downloads signature information about known PUS, such as file names, file sizes, and changes to Registry keys that PUS makes when it is present on a computer. MSAS then uses the download data to scan the computer’s memory, files, and the Registry to detect any PUS, and helps the user either remove or quarantine the PUS for further investigation.