SUPERAntiSpyware recently released version 5 of their antispyware and malware protection program, which they call their most significant update ever.
In this review, we’ll take a look at the updates in regards to both the free and premium editions of SUPERAntiSpyware 5. We’ll see if it’s worth your time and money to use the free edition, purchase the professional edition, or upgrade from SUPERAntiSpyware 4 Professional.
Keep in mind, SUPERAntiSpyware isn’t a true antivirus program, it’s designed to detect and remove most all other malware types, including spyware, adware, dialers, worms, keyloggers, Trojans, hijackers, rootkits, and rogue or fake security products. It doesn’t detect or remove true viruses or boot-sector viruses, thus it’s designed to run alongside a separate antivirus program.
If you purchase SUPERAntiSpyware, you might consider running just a free basic antivirus solution (such as Microsoft Security Essentials) since SUPERAntiSpyware will provide real-time protection for the other malware types. If you already have an antivirus program that includes spyware and other malware protection, you might want to use the free edition of SUPERAntiSpyware to run manual scans when your system is infected and other antivirus program won’t detect or remove it.
Pricing
Though there are significant updates, the pricing still remains the same as with the previous version. They offer a free edition of SUPERAntiSpyware, which lacks real-time protection, scheduled scans, and automatic definition updates.
The full-functional professional edition runs $29.95 for a single PC and $9.95 additional for a second PC. Currently, its $9.95 additional if you’d like a lifetime subscription that gives you free program and definition updates for the life of the product. If you opt out of the lifetime subscription, you have to pay a yearly fee of $29.95 to keep getting definition updates after the first year.
If you purchased the lifetime subscription on a previous version you can simply upgrade to SUPERAntiSpyware 5 (and any subsequent versions) free of charge. Otherwise, you’ll have to pay the full purchase price of $29.95 to upgrade.
Keep in mind, you might find special offers. For instance, at the moment, when you go to download the free or trial edition you’ll see an advertisement for a $19.95 special, which also includes the lifetime subscription.
New features
Here are two new features that debuted in SUPERAntiSpyware 5:
- Rescue Scan: If you think you have a malware infection you can enable this option on the main screen before you start your selected scan type. It can help to enable scanning even if the malware is trying to prevent scanning by taking 100% of the CPU power. It tries to reduce the CPU power so scanning can be performed.
- Critical Point Scan: This new scan type examines your system’s critical areas for malware infections. Scanned items include Memory Processes, Registry, Services and over 50 Critical Load Points.
Updated features
Here are some of the features and functions that have been updated or improved in SUPERAntiSpyware 5:
- User interface: If you’re an existing SUPERAntiSpyware user, this is likely the first thing you’ll notice. The main screen has gone through a major facelift. It’s much slicker and modern looking. It’s also laid out better and a bit more user-friendly than previous versions
- Improved memory management: The simple tests I ran show SUPERAntiSpyware 4 and 5 take about the same amount of resources (1,000k of memory) when idle in the background. I did see an improvement during scanning: SUPERAntiSpyware 5 took about 30% less memory while performing a quick scan. SUPERAntiSpyware 4 used about 140,000k and SUPERAntiSpyware 5 only about 103,000k.
- Quicker startup: I noticed about a 40% decrease in the amount of time it takes to load the SUPERAntiSpyware software during Windows startup.
- Faster scanning: The company claims SUPERAntiSpyware 5 has faster scanning, but my simple tests don’t show any noticeable different between version 4 and 5. Both took about 30 mintues for a Quick Scan.
Other notable features
Other than basic malware scanning and detection, SUPERAntiSpyware includes two other notable features that were also in the previous version:
- Repairs: If you get infected with some type of malware (or already are before installing SUPERAntiSpyware) and it causes harm, you might be able to repair the actual damage in addition to removing the malware –which isn’t seen in many other malware programs.
On the main screen, you’d click the Repairs button. You could then scroll through the list of repair options, and if you find one that fixes the issue you’re having you’d simply click to repair it. There aren’t a lot of repair options, but this feature can be quite useful and a big time-saver if you have damage that it can fix. - Hi-Jack protection: This prevents spyware and infections from changing your Web browser’s homepage. Though changing the homepage itself isn’t very harmful, it can lead to potentially damaging sites and can be a pain to correct. So this can be a very useful feature.
Summary
After my review of the main features and functionality of SUPERAntiSpyware 5, I recommend it. The biggest change is the slicker interface, but there also have been significant improvements to the performance.
If you’re a version 4 professional user, the upgrade might be worth it; most certainly if you get it free through the lifetime subscription.
Always remember, SUPERAntiSpyware doesn’t provide antivirus protection. You must also use a separate antivirus program. Also keep in mind the free edition doesn’t include real-time protection of the spyware and malware. However, the free edition is still useful if you remember to run the scans from time to time, or use it to remove infections your other antivirus program doesn’t detect.
If you’d like to give SUPERAntiSpyware 5 a try, download the free edition or a 15-day fully functional free trial of the Professional edition.
Eric Geier is the founder of NoWiresSecurity, which helps businesses easily protect their Wi-Fi networks with the Enterprise mode of WPA/WPA2 security. He is also a freelance tech writer. Become a Twitter follower or use the RSS feed to keep up with his writings.
