Announcing betas: TeaTimer / Updater / Vista integration

[PepiMK]

We are proud to announce new versions of miscellaneous tools are now available for beta testing!

Scanning engine

This update cannot be disabled in the download package below; it is not only used if you install TeaTimer, but by the main Spybot-S&D scanner as well. The methods available to detect malware have been more than doubled, including new ways to generically detect malware mutations.

TeaTimer

Aside from the fix of the graphical glitch so many users have been waiting for, there have been some important changes under the hood, which will reduce the number of change dialogs where the user has to decide.
TeaTimer now automatically allows any changes during the installation of other security software which follow the ASCs guideline of code-signing all files, as well as a much improved scan of the files associated with registry changes.

Vista Security Center

The Windows Security Center included with Windows Vista has a dedicated entry for malware protection software.
Microsoft ships Windows Defender with Vista, however, Spybot-S&D can now easily integrate into the Vista Security Center; which will then monitor if Spybot-S&D is up-to-date and whether the permanent protection (TeaTimer) is running or not.
This update will only show on Vista systems, since previous Windows versions do not offer anti malware integration into WSC.

Download beta versions of above tools here

[djpailo]

Great news! Spybot hasn't really been updated for a while, apart from definitions. I'm curious to know if this integration with Windows Vista is also available on XP?

[TeMerc]

Should users uninstall 1.4 before installing the beta? Or can users install over 1.4?

[bitman]

djpailo,

As the last line of the post states:

This update will only show on Vista systems, since previous Windows versions do not offer anti malware integration into WSC.

TeMerc,

You must install over Spybot S&D 1.4, since this beta install only includes the components mentioned. It's meant as a file refresh, not a complete install.

Bitman

[TeMerc]

djpailo,

As the last line of the post states:


TeMerc,

You must install over Spybot S&D 1.4, since this beta install only includes the components mentioned. It's meant as a file refresh, not a complete install.

Bitman

TYVM

[djpailo]

djpailo,

As the last line of the post states:


TeMerc,

You must install over Spybot S&D 1.4, since this beta install only includes the components mentioned. It's meant as a file refresh, not a complete install.

Bitman

argh sorry

[greenhatch]

I have installed the scanning engine improvement but preferred to skip the Teatimer. However on checking the 'About' info, it stills states 1.4 there not 1.5 beta. Is that ok?

[dk2005]

<snip>
Vista Security Center

The Windows Security Center included with Windows Vista has a dedicated entry for malware protection software.
Microsoft ships Windows Defender with Vista, however, Spybot-S&D can now easily integrate into the Vista Security Center; which will then monitor if Spybot-S&D is up-to-date and whether the permanent protection (TeaTimer) is running or not.
This update will only show on Vista systems, since previous Windows versions do not offer anti malware integration into WSC.

Download beta versions of above tools here

I installed this tools on Vista Rc1 Build 5600. Even though Teatimer and Sdhelper were all on, it still showed this:


If I attempt to click turn on, it will just launch Spybot S&d and the status will still remain turn off.

Also, the text in Vista security centre shows like that:

Windows defender and Spybot - Search _destroy both report that they are both turn off

The text is missing an &.

I don't know if these problems are fixed in later builds of vista but they sure are a problem in RC1.

[PepiMK]

Shouldn't be a problem in RC2 (5744), I don't have a VM of RC1 any more to test it there (edit: wait, or maybe it still is, see below).

Btw: Spybot-S&D has absolutely no way of influencing Windows Defender, so that bug won't come from us.

The thing about the amp (&) is that Windows can use this characters as a sign that the next caption is a shortcut letter, thus the & would not be displayed, but the following letter underlined. In those cases, one has to use a double amp (&&) to tell it to display the actual letter. The problem here is something you can see in the other screenshot: in one place Windows is interpreting it as a shortcut, in the other as a letter. We can provide only one name - so it's a bug in WSC

• Did you leave the checkboxes at the end of the setup on (Service Installation & Run service)?
• Could you check if the SDWinSec service is running?
  (Start) > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Services and Applications > Services > SBSD Security Center Service
• I'm going to improve some of the updating for a second beta

That "turn on" starts Spybot instead of TeaTimer, well that's because the SpybotSD.exe has not yet been replaced. Let me see... got an idea maybe... could you please test this?

[wk357mag]

do you need any beta/RC testing done, on a WinXP system? If so, let me know. Dont mind helping out