STOPzilla! Review

 

 

STOPzilla! Review

 

 

STOPzilla! is an well packaged and attractive product which has seen steady improvements with each new release. Unfortunately, the protection it provides against spyware is still lacking.

Usability

STOPzilla! installed without a hitch directly from their website, even on our heavily infested test PC. After a re-boot, STOPzilla! was ready to scan for the first time.

STOPzilla! kicked off a scan automatically the first time we ran it. The confusing array of dialog windows found in previous versions have been replaced with a single window that can be used to access all of the products functions. The main tab ("Home") now contains a prominent "Start Scan Now" button, along with other buttons for quick access to common features, as well as some basic statistics about the program itself (version #, last scan, etc).

We found the interface to be very attractive and pleasing to the eye. The scan results screen in particular is well-laid out and very easy-to-understand. One problem, however, is that it tends to overstate the number of infections found. Instead of counting each malware program as a single infection, it counts each file, registry setting, and cookie. This leads to a highly inflated detection count which does not correlate to the actual health of one's PC. Spyware Removal

Scanning was fast, taking 18 minutes on our first benchmark server. We tested STOPzilla! on four different PCs, each containing different types of malware commonly found on the internet. It detected 44% of the spyware in our test and disabled 26% of it. However, it only fully removed 11% of the threats on our PCs, which caused the program to detect the same spyware over on subsequent runs.

One area where STOPzilla! stands out is that it does a much better job of removing browser toolbars than other programs we've tested against. If you have a stubborn toolbar, this product may be worth purchasing for this reason alone.

Rollback

STOPzilla! allows you to rollback any changes made to your system if necessary. This feature can be found on the Scan Results screen. On the "Removed" tab, click the "Restore" button at the bottom of the window.

Customer Support STOPzilla! offers online and email customer support. Telephone support is also available at 1-877-877-9944 during typical US business hours. Other Options

STOPzilla! includes some additional protection features, such as memory monitoring, homepage protection, and the ability to block popup, javascript dialog windows, and windows messenger spam. Version 5.0 also introduces the much-needed ability to schedule scans to run during off-hours.

The popup blocker included with STOPzilla! is one of the better ones we've seen in any anti-spyware product. It not only provides you with a list of popups, but you can also look at screenshots of the popups to see exactly what was blocked. Neat.

Summary

STOPzilla! continues to show steady improvement with each new release. While the program stands out in ease-of-use and the ability to remove browser toolbars, the overall level of protection is still somewhat lacking.

 

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