14 DAY TRIAL // The battle between Good and Evil has always been an issue as a result of the duality we live in. Just like the Chinese Ying and Yang every bad person has a little drop of goodness and vice versa. It is the law of nature.
Soon after people gained easier access to the Internet, malware has emerged and developed with technology. Spyware and adware are all over the WWW and some people struggle to find the cure for such pests. The market is flooded with such cleaning tools. The one we're going to put under the microscope today is called BPS Spyware & Adware Remover. The software developed by BulletProofSoft costs $29.99 and has as shareware restriction to 25 uses. The installation file does not take more than 7.29MB.
Version 9.3.0 comes with a set of 23 brand new features and they brag with the fastest scanning techniques in the market. The easy to navigate interface is also a new feature. But the one that, in my opinion, is the most important is that the software will immediately suspend the detected malicious processes.
The developer says that the software is to be used in removing adware, spyware, trackware, thiefware and big brotherware.
The flash-like interface of the software brings new standards in the looks of the applications designed to clean your PC. You don't have too much to figure out before starting using the software. The program, putting aside the impressive good looks, is not designed to give you headaches and will give you fast scan results and removing options.
There are three main menus to use: Start, Settings and Tools. In the first window (Start) the user will be provided with comprehensive information on the last definition update, the number of scans performed with the software, the last scan, number of detected threats, the removed, quarantined and ignored items.
The options in here are few and all you can do is perform a live update of the software, reset the info displayed (remove it) and activate the Scan Now button which will take you to the Custom Scan window. The user can choose between different scan options: memory, registry and folders. For each choice you get to elect either a quick scan or a deep scan.
Press the Scan Now button and the scanning should begin shortly. Be patient, it'll start. After the scanning is complete, click Proceed and you will get to the results page where you can see the name of the detected malware, the threat level, the action to be performed, as well as a description.
The System Shields window (activated in the Start window, right under the Scan button) will allow you to apply both system (active memory process, startup, hosts, LSP and services) and Internet shields (browser hijack, BHO shield, and some IE related protection actions).
Passing from one main menu to another is a dynamic action and the options in the Settings menu are popping in stuck on spiderwebs. The first option is called General and it lets you fiddle with software related settings: program priority, log file saving, bring the application to Windows startup, minimized starting and shred spyware files and folders.
The Scan settings comprise options for the software to check the memory, cookies, registry, files and folders, user accounts scanning, etc. The software comes with a scheduling feature that allows you to set the scanning frequency (daily, weekly, monthly) and the related options: time and day of the week or month.
In Manage Lists there are the Ignore and Quarantine lists that contain the items you do not want to be removed or those that cannot be removed. Live Update allows you to set the updating type: manual, at startup or a user defined time.
In Tools menu you will find the managers (LSP, Startup, BHO, IE toolbars and Hosts). For each item in either of the categories you have the remove, backup and restore options.
The Good
The interface of the software is amazingly good looking and sets higher standards for the future drawing of similar softwares.
The Bad
When I start the program, an unregistered control message is displayed and it says that the application was created with unregistered version of ActiveSplash control, at the same time giving me a link to register (but the 404 - page not found error was displayed so I gave up).
While scanning the registry, the software stopped to catch its breath, but when I clicked inside the window, it started again and lasted for a mouse-click. Keep clicking and you will see how the number of files scanned is increasing.
The user cannot remove the threats from the computer, because the option is not activated.
The Truth
Apart from the good looks, the software is pretty shallow and the fact that the shareware version has not activated the removing option does not improve its rating.
To be honest with you, I would not put my trust into the scan results as it detected some so-called malware on my computer that, by the way, are harmless (e.g. FFDSHOW).
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
