Use of proxy for full protection

[JohnE]

Have spybot +AV running on WIndows 10. Shows internet protection 'full'. Under statistics Shows spybot proxy blocked 0 for everything. Might be good news or might be missing something. After reading recent article under 'news' I checked proxy settings and it showed spybot proxy unticked (so presumably not using it). The only box ticked was the one that said download proxy settings from Internet Explorer. I do not use IE (I use Firefox). So I am confused. SPybot says internet protection full but spybot proxy does not seem to be being used. Can anyone enlighten me?

[Zenobia]

At one time, the proxy was used by default, and when the proxy was checkmarked, Spybot showed Internet Protection:Full. If the proxy was unticked, Spybot showed Internet Protection:Basic. However, as explained here:

The ‘Proxy’ feature filters all Internet traffic thus it can reduce your browsing performance. While this provides maximum protection it can sometimes be annoying. We therefore issued an update to 2.1 and released a new Software installer (Spybot 2.1.20 SR 1). This update turns off the Proxy...

https://www.safer-networking.org/faq...-start-center/

So, users can still enable the proxy if they wish to, but it now wasn't enabled by default. But then(and I'm paraphrasing here a bit), Spybot users who were used to seeing Internet Protection:Full, were now seeing Internet Protection:Basic, and it was unsettling to some. So, Spybot was made to show Internet Protection:Full later on, so they would not be alarmed by seeing the Basic and thinking something was wrong, when everything was really fine.

[JohnE]

Thanks Zenobia. So if I understand you correctly, the statement 'internet protection full' is untrue and I really only have basic protection if the 'use spybot proxy' is unticked. I would have hoped that the status showed the true security situation rather than giving false information 'just to keep some users happy'.

[Zenobia]

Thanks Zenobia. So if I understand you correctly, the statement 'internet protection full' is untrue and I really only have basic protection if the 'use spybot proxy' is unticked. I would have hoped that the status showed the true security situation rather than giving false information 'just to keep some users happy'.

No, you are misunderstanding me, that's not what I was trying to convey. And while you feel that the proxy being off by default is equal to lying, another Spybot user could easily take the stance that Spybot enabling the proxy by default is Spybot forcing them to use a proxy and being some sort of a "net nanny." Most people are pretty chill, but then there's usually at least some people who often take these extreme stances when it comes to Spybot, and the truth behind why a certain action is taken is usually that it is a "happy medium" solution with the best of intentions.

So, what I was trying to convey was that Spybot tried enabling a proxy for Spybot users once, and those people had significant problems with the proxy(slowdowns, and being unable to reach some websites, and what have you.) In short, the whole proxy thing was really not working out for quite a few people. So, instead of getting rid of the proxy completely, it was made so that the proxy could still be turned on if people chose to, that's the "happy medium" solution. There is no lying involved.