MacScan, Spyware Detection and Removal

fair
key review info
application features
  • detects, isolates, and removes spyware
  • (1 more, see all...)

In light of the recent wake up call given to the Mac community by the 'PWN to OWN' competition, where owning took place without any actual pawning, it's time we took a look at security applications. After all, regardless of the number of actual threats out there in the wild, we Mac users need to be prepared should the worst actually come to happen. Considering that it just got updated today, and that it seems to be a rather popular program judging by the number of downloads it has, MacScan seems like an ideal candidate.

What it does MacScan is a security application that you can use to detect, isolate and remove spyware, keystroke loggers, trojans horses, and bring awareness to remote administration applications which could have been maliciously or inadvertently installed on your Macintosh.

Using it Despite the complex, complicated and, dare I say it, arcane things that MacScan does, using it is as easy as can be. Just hit that big old scan button, and it will look though your computer for any and all possible threats. Once the scanning is done, you can choose to have the culprits isolated to a folder on the desktop.

It also looks at your cookies for any tracking ones and give you the option to isolate them, effectively giving you an easy way to purge cookies without actually scrapping all of them, and loosing browsing usernames and passwords in the process.

Overall the application is very easy to use, mainly because there isn't that much you can actually do with it. But, those who have never used such a program before might have some issues, especially since it has no documentation.

Spywarez? Shockingly enough, after running the scan, it found no spyware whatsoever on my computer. Considering that I use this box every day to surf a lot of random pages, following news and stories as well as all sorts of applications, and have been doing so for quite some time, that is impressive. Oh, wait? OS X.

Moving swiftly along, I decided to take a look at what this program actually does in terms of spyware. The developer seems to have a very loose definition of spyware, one that is not necessarily false, but is nevertheless misleading. Minimal investigation reveals a very informative list of all the spyware that the program keeps an eye out for. These known culprits are classed under three categories: keyloggers, trojans, and remote admin programs.

It's a rather long list, that initially made me stare, however, a closer look reveals that most of these known threats are in fact nothing more than just various programs, either freeware or shareware, that anyone can install to log keystrokes, remotely manage computers or simply keep an eye on what their children are doing on their computer.

OMG ONOZ While it cannot be argued that all of the programs listed by the developer can be used to gather information about the computer they are installed in, and, in most cases pass it along to a remote computer, it is quite important to remember that this is what these programs were designed to do. A keylogger that you install yourself as a safeguard against program crashes and lost text does not spyware make. Nor does a remote admin application that you use to manage a Mac in another part of the house, or planet.

All of that spyware that MacScan protects you against is nothing more than other regular applications, which you need to install yourself. It has nothing to do with the spyware/malware that is present in the Windows world. From this point of view, the developer is quite misleading and is actually doing a disfavor to all those other developers that are working hard on legit apps.

All that having been said, MacScan can come in handy in case someone actually installs one of those programs, without your knowledge. If this is the case, you can identify such activity and remove it. It can even be used in case you yourself have installed one of these programs without your knowledge, something that is quite hard to do considering that such programs actually require an administrator password.

Do you need it? Since the spyware that this program looks for is not inherently malicious, and does not install itself without user knowledge and interaction, anybody that is at least marginally concerned with security should have no need for it whatsoever. However, if you share the computer, or if it a public one, this tool can be used to make sure that the machine is clean.

Unfortunately, the developer is quite misleading when describing what the program does, and many users that have no knowledge of computer security, will jump all over this program, thinking that it will protect them from threats that are not really there. On the upside, MacScan is great for getting rid of known tracking cookies, with minimal hassle and no risk of loosing passwords and such.

The Good

Great for removing tracking cookies, also good in case you tell strange, unknown people your administrator password so they can install programs that can be used to spy on your computer.

The Bad

Quite misleading, can fool people who don't know better into paying for a program that basically does nothing.

The Truth

If you are the only person to use your computer, and you do not have a habit of installing application without actually looking at what they do, you have no need for MacScan, except for cleaning cookies. Otherwise, it can be useful for situations where people install application without your knowledge.

Here are some screenshots, click to enlarge:

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user interface 5
features 2
ease of use 4
pricing / value 1


final rating 2
Editor's review
fair
 
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