Stopzilla is a Anti-Spyware program that has been out for several years. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to review the previous versions but based on preliminary usage, Stopzilla clearly has better than average protection. One thing that really impressed me about the software is the scanning locations. They include drivers, services, com classes, and even uninstall entries. The program also includes a true real-time shield that has network, browser, system, run time, and auto start protections. Each shield also has its respected subcategories that can be subsequently enabled or disabled. Talk about nothing being omitted in terms of protection.
The Stopzilla installation process is one area where the program falls short. The installer downloads the full installer upon launching (claimed to be only 14 megabytes in size). However, the program installation takes a grueling 20 minutes to complete on a core i7 machine . The problem is that the installer includes downloading all of the updates and the actual program in one process. However, the graphics displayed at least made it clear that this was happening.
After the installation was completed a system reboot was required. The program then started an automatic scan which detected a variety of malware. The most concerning was catchme.sys which was claimed as being a serious infection. However, since I run a multitude of scans on the same computer I was skeptical. I went to google and found that catchme.sys was actually part of a legimate spyware scanner. The scanner also detected inet2000 and mwsw.exe as malicious. The other approximately 20 or so detections were various registry entries relating to a potential infection explorer policies.nocontrolpanel and setting the IE homepage correctly. I was really impressed at the verboseness of the scan. There are four scanning options quick, intelligent, full and custom (each one displays the corresponding scan locations). The full system scanner takes a while to initially start but finishes in about 1 hour.
The Stopzilla real-time shield is the most comprehensive and best feature of the program. The Active Enforcers include BHO, Explorer Bars, Extensions (rarely seen) , LSP, DNS (also rare), Print Monitor (extremely rare), windows Policies, Win Login, Driver, Service, Bootable Files, Run Keys, and Startup folder protection. Even though the amount of protection is by itself amazing, the fact that every function is explained and can be disabled really shows the quality of the program. Few, let me emphasis few, competitors offer an interface and protection capabilities like the ones being displayed. In addition, to the real time shield there is also extensive popup protection and a full scheduling capability.
Resource usage is a little crazy. During scanning the program uses four processes and about 400 megabytes of RAM and 13 percent CPU power. While this is probably one of the highest I have seen, keep in mind the amount of features and protections offered. I would recommend at a minimum 2 gigabytes of RAM to run this application.
