Anti-Spyware                                     Last Updated February 2, 2009

XoftSpy SE

We used XoftSpy SE on some of our own equipment and were very impressed and satisfied with it for a while. However, we've lost faith in this company and cannot recommend it at this time.

Comprehensive

XoftSpy detects and removes over 270,000 different parasites, including spyware, spybot, hijackers, adware, malware, key loggers, worms, hacker tools, Trojan horses and other PC parasites, spy  programs and trackware.                         

When we first tested XoftSpy, it found every infection identified by other programs and then some. This was truly remarkable. This program works fast and it's effective.

Easy to Install, Easy to Run

It took us very little time to download and install this package, and we found that the interface window was self-explanatory and easy to use. It just takes one click to scan, and one click to backup or restore, and like any other good anti-spyware program, it will increase your computer's processing speed.

XoftSpy claims to have the largest data base in the industry, and they add new definitions every month which you can add to your system for free whenever you wish. (We update ours once a week, just before we run the program).

Features

Two of its major features are that you can set the program to scan automatically once a week, you pick the day. You can also set it up to act as a shield and check incoming data.

XoftSpy's features include:

• Live updates
• Real time monitoring
• Scheduled automated scans
• Lists spyware detected and level of severity of danger
• A user-friendly interface
• An excellent Help feature.
• Very few false positives
• Complete PC scanning including memory, registry entries, files and folders

Support

We especially liked XoftSpy SE's Help section which included an FAQ that you can browse or search by keyword. And, of course, there's very effective and quick e-mail help available.

XoftSpy SE was an excellent anti-spyware package at one time. We're not sure what they're up to lately, but we can no longer figure out who is in charge of this program or who one goes to for technical or other customer support.

At this time, we do not recommend this program.                                            

Additional Information
Procedures

XoftSpy is quite easy to run. Below you'll see some of the interface screens to give you a general sense of what the program looks like and how it operates.

When you click on the XoftSpy icon that was installed on your desktop at the time of download, the interface screen shown in Figure 1 below appears. (Note that these windows are actually as large as your entire screen and crystal clear. Our reduction here has made them somewhat difficult to read, but nevertheless, you get an idea).

Figure 1 - The Interface Screen (size reduced)

From here you can start the scan by pressing the Start button, top left, and as the program scans, it lists the infections it detects and displays running totals. To stop the scan before it finishes, press Abort Scan, bottom right.

When the program is done, you can press on Scan Results, and the list is displayed indicating severity of threat, see Figure 2 below.

Figure 2 - The Scan Results Screen (size reduced)

When you press the General Settings button, the General Settings screen (not shown here)appears. Here you can set the program to be launched every time you start Windows, or to update automatically or not.

Press the Scheduling button to set your scans to occur automatically, weekly, every Monday, etc.

You can also indicate which files the scan should ignore (Ignore List button) so they don't come up every time you run the scan, and the Backup list shows you the files you backed up before deleting so you can retrieve them if you wish.

The Help button brings up the Support Suite screen shown below. From here, you can look through FAQs, submit a new question yourself, or get e-mail support. The tabs at the top connect you with the company's main site, their products site, etc.

 

Figure 4 - The Support Suite Screen