SpyBot - Search & Destroy 1.5 Beta Tools

SpyBot-S&D searches your harddisk for so-called spy- or adbots; little modules that are responsible for the ads many programs show.

But many of these modules also transmit information about your surfing behaviour and more to the net. If SpyBot-S&D finds such modules, it can remove them - or replace them with empty dummies in case their host won`t work any more with its bot removed. In most cases, the host software still runs after removing the bot.

For a list of `supported` bots see the feature lists below. Spybot-S&D works with an easy interface that allows updates by just replacing a file of about 1k size.

Another feature of Spybot S&D is the removal of usage tracks, which makes it more complicated for unknown spybots to transmit useful data.

The list of last visited websites, opened files, started programs, cookies, all that and more can be cleaned. Supported are the three mahjor browsers Internet Explorer, Netscape Communicator and Opera.

Last but not least Spybot-S&D contains some routines to find and correct invalid entries into the registry.

Announcing betas: TeaTimer / Scan engine / Vista integration

Scanning engine
This update cannot be disabled in the download package below; it is not only used if you install TeaTimer, but by the main Spybot-S&D scanner as well. The methods available to detect malware have been more than doubled, including new ways to generically detect malware mutations.

TeaTimer
Aside from the fix of the graphical glitch so many users have been waiting for, there have been some important changes under the hood, which will reduce the number of change dialogs where the user has to decide.
TeaTimer now automatically allows any changes during the installation of other security software which follow the ASCs guideline of code-signing all files, as well as a much improved scan of the files associated with registry changes.

Vista Security Center
The Windows Security Center included with Windows Vista has a dedicated entry for malware protection software.

Microsoft ships Windows Defender with Vista, however, Spybot-S&D can now easily integrate into the Vista Security Center; which will then monitor if Spybot-S&D is up-to-date and whether the permanent protection (TeaTimer) is running or not.

This update will only show on Vista systems, since previous Windows versions do not offer anti malware integration into WSC.