RateItAll: The Opinion Network

This software has a lot of problems, which Aluria is trying to solve. The latest version takes a very long time to load. It seems to put a lot of processes and services in memory. Worst of all, it conflicts with a lot of other anti-spyware and antivirus software. This is important because no anti-spyware application is currently 100% effective. (In fact, if you read the reviews by the major PC magazines, the top rated programs typically only catch 80-90% of the test threats.) Apparently any Aluria product loads their Spyware Security Center, which is a real resource hog. It's chief purpose seems to be to serve as a wrapper for Spyware Eliminator, it's anti-virus and other programs. Practically, this amounts to little more than advertising for the products you haven't purchased. There is little benefit to the security center itself. Both Spyware Eliminator and the Security Center have a very lethargic feel to them. Like a visual basic (or other interpreted language) app that is taxing system resources. There is no postive feedback when you click on any of the buttons, and it takes so long for something to happen that half the time you wonder if you clicked hard enough. On the plus side, Spyware Eliminator is one of the few anti-spyware apps that can successfully detect and remove the Cool Web Search trojan. Most reviewers don't even bother testing antispyware applications for this ability because it's so hard to do and most of them can't do it. As an alternative, I have found the second most effective tool for removing this threat is the freeware tool CW Shredder provided by Trend Micro Systems. The shredder is also included in that company's commercial antispyware application.

Don't buy ALURIA spyware. Customer service is non-existent. THey give a 90 day money back guarantee, but they make sure they don't reply until AFTER the 90 days are over. Installing the software causes a lot of problems with the PC. IF you try to uninstall it, it leaves remnants and you still have issues.