Very nice article, and it looks like a lot of thoughts and efforts have been put into it.

Does that mean that the "basic" anti spyware applications are going to shut the door?
What can the likes of Spybot or Ad-aware due to compete now?
Jerome | 01.03.07 - 7:11 pm | #

Interesting article, Alex. Informative but not too techy.
Bill | 01.03.07 - 7:28 pm | #

Agreed. Fascinating stuff.
Dean | 01.03.07 - 8:17 pm | #

I'm currently in the market for a new Antivirus software, one that's less bloated.

You might have me as a customer as soon as it's done. Sounds like you guys are doing exactly what needs to be done.
Aaron | 01.03.07 - 10:52 pm | #

As others have said, an extremely interesting read, for which many thanks, Alex.

Just to add a little anecdotal spice, I have on several occasions found a system riddled with malware, usually trojans and adware, which is ostensibly protected by Norton AV. The problem is that NAV is able to detect the malware, but completely fails to remove it or in fact to deal with it in any useful way, leaving the user confused and frustrated.

If your new product can really do what it says, then VIPRE-equipped anti-malware apps should really clean up. Both the malware and the malware market.

Good luck!
trickyricky | 01.04.07 - 6:52 am | #

avast!'s boot time scan is able to scan and remove malware prior to Windows launching. The screen shot of FirstScan certainly resembles avast!'s boot time scanner screen.

http://bcheck.scanit.be/bcheck/h.../avast- scan.png
Donald | Homepage | 01.04.07 - 9:48 am | #

Great post..

I wish other CEO's would blog like you do....it's very refreshing to hear things directly from the CEO in language that has been unfiltered by the legal and marketing people!

Let's hope the product turns out to be as good as it sounds.

Nick
Nick | 01.04.07 - 10:31 am | #

Donald -- I had no idea about Avast's feature, I'll make sure to check it out.
Alex Eckelberry (Siteowner) | 01.04.07 - 10:59 am | #

Alex:

Jolly good show!

Its good too see that you are trying your damnest to keep us safe.

Can't wait for it to be released.
j449 | 01.04.07 - 11:06 am | #

This approach has been needed for a long time now. Alex, I applaud your thinking and look forward to getting hands on with the products.
Elton | 01.04.07 - 7:11 pm | #

Alex,

Nice article. As a Counterspy 1.x customer, I look forward to seeing a full-blown malware+AV product that will run quickly on older/slower computers (Windows XP), including AV, so I can get rid of McAfee AV.

re:

| One nifty feature of CounterSpy
| 2.0 is its FirstScan technology,
| which scans certain locations of
| the drive and removes malware
| prior to Windows launching. This
| is done directly to the drive,
| bypassing Windows APIs, right
| about the time that chkdsk would
| run.

So, FirstScan is also similar in how it "runs before Windows starts" to SysInternals' "pagedefrag"?

Thanks!
Anonymous | 01.06.07 - 12:59 pm | #

RE: "(correction: there's one other I now know about). "

Hi Alex IRC SAS pro also has this ability in its current incarnation.

"First Chance Prevention examines over 50 critical points of your system each time your system starts up and shuts down to eliminate threats before they have a chance to infect and infiltrate your system."

With that CS is going to be a *stronger* solution for this new feature thats for sure
Fcukdat | 01.06.07 - 1:46 pm | #

I don't think that's the same thing, but Nick from SuperAntispyware can tell me for sure.
Alex Eckelberry (Siteowner) | 01.06.07 - 5:19 pm | #

Great article. I have been using CounterSpy for some time and wanted to try the V2 beta. However, I'm running Firefox instead of IE. Will the production version support Firefox?
John | 01.09.07 - 11:42 am | #

CounterSpy 2.0 works with Firefox just fine. However, support for security measures in Firefox (like looking for Firefox cookies, etc.) won't be in this upcoming release.
Alex Eckelberry (Siteowner) | 01.09.07 - 4:41 pm | #

One of my major gripes about any AV product was its footprint and bloat. You didn't name them, but I will: McAfee and Norton. I wouldn't touch these with a ten-foot pole.

I use a combination of Prevx1 and AVG...the footprint is small and it's relatively non-intrusive. But if Counterspy is that good, I may just have to switch!
Steve | Homepage | 02.01.07 - 4:23 pm | #

I had a problem w/CS and Spy Sweeper. Like most people I use two or more A-SW programs at once. The most recent version of Spy Sweeper & CS didn't play nice,(now resolved), but in the process, one of the Techs at Sunbelt said CS v2 disables other spyware on your computer. Is that true?
Great product, CS, I recommend it often.
NR
Norm Rose | 02.12.07 - 2:10 pm | #

No -- we don't disable anything!
Alex Eckelberry | 02.12.07 - 3:50 pm | #

At the end of the article you mention that "a full antivirus and antispyware product will follow a few months later." Can you elaborate on this? Isn't CounterSpy 2.0 a 'full antispyware product'? Is it going to change dramatically in a 'few months'?
TypicallyOffbeat | 02.17.07 - 12:55 pm | #

CounterSpy is focused on spyware. The full product we're expected (which won't be named CounterSpy) will have a full AV product in it as well.
Alex Eckelberry | 02.17.07 - 1:22 pm | #