Most of us are aware that we need virus and spyware protection on our computers. We download or buy well-reviewed products, then surf the Web on blind faith, hoping that when a threat does appear, our trusted programs will protect us.

Instead of faithfully believing in our programs, we can test them to see just how trustworthy they are with a Web site called Spycar.org.

Spycar attempts to thwart your spyware protection, then rates how well your protection acts in the face of a threat. The alterations Spycar attempts to make to your system are benign (they will not hurt anything), and they provide a cleaner to remove the alterations should your spyware protection not live up to the challenge.

There are tests for your system overall and specific tests designed for Internet Explorer.

Before beginning our test, we downloaded the most recent updates for our spyware protection (Spybot Search and Destroy), ran a full system scan and immunized our system.

The tests consist of a series of links you click on the Spycar site. The first series attempts to add an entry to certain parts of your system registry. Click through the series of the links to run the tests.

It was not Spybot that detected this first set of test threats for us, but rather our virus protection—not that we are complaining, because now we know AntiVir is working.

The second set of tests are designed for Internet Explorer and act the way many spyware programs are designed, such as changing your home page.

When you click on these links, you must download an executable file and run it to test your browser.

Our Spybot immunization kept these files from running on our system, which was a relief.

Spycar’s tests are a good way to feel more secure in your chosen spyware, and in our case, virus, protection. Like everything else, it is not foolproof, and cannot predict how your protection will work in every scenario. The Spycar tests are found at Spycar.org.

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Test Your Spyware Protection with Spycar

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This entry was posted on Saturday, May 22nd, 2010 at 7:27 am and is filed under Tech Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.