Manual

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To start the software, use the icon on your desktop,
or if you did not install icons, navigate to where you installed
the software and double click the file with black binoculars as
an icon. When you first start SpyCop, you will be presented with
this screen. This is the main interface from which every one of
SpyCop's main features can be accessed. The Scan Now button will
scan your entire system using the options set via the "Settings"
button.
When you click the File menu you can access the Query Database
(1) option, the Database Update (2), the Program Settings (3),
and the Autoscan Screen Saver (4). Options (5) and (6) do what
they say and allow you to keep a copy of the results for future
reference. Each of these are described in more detail below.
This is the Query Database dialog accessed via option (1) under
File. This allows you to determine whether a spy program you heard
about can be detected, and if not, to easily report the new program
to us so that we can update accordingly. When Querying the signature
database, be careful to spell the spy program's name accurately
and in the same way the manufacturer does.
This is the database update dialog. We HIGHLY recommend that you
update your database before running a scan to ensure that you
have the most up to date database on your machine. The process
takes only a minute or so even on a 28.8 modem. The statistics
section will be revised after an update is completed.
Clicking the settings button will display this screen. The drives
to scan option allows you to enter the drive letters of specific
disks or partitions that you want scanned. Most spy programs will
be detected with a drive C scan alone. Next, you can choose the
types of files to scan. You should generally leave them both checked
unless told to uncheck one by Technical Support. Super detective
scan mode will detect the remaining 1% of spy programs which can
not be detected without it, and will also allow newer versions
of some programs to be detected before we specifically update
the database for them. Only scan files that were created after
last scan will allow you to quickly conduct maintenance scans.
This option is recommended mostly for slower systems, but is very
useful for anybody who does not want to rescan the entire system.
Display reminder on boot will display a simple dialog on startup
if you have not checked for spies within a week. Password protection
allows you to prevent other users of your system from accessing
SpyCop. The last two options affect the scanning engine and should
be left alone unless you are told to change them by Support.
Under the file menu is the autoscan screen saver option. You can
set this up so that when you are away from your computer, the
screen saver will launch SpyCop and start scanning while displaying
a moving SpyCop logo to protect your screen. This makes it easy
to keep your system free of monitoring software and works best
when you select the option to scan only new files under Settings.
The moving SpyCop logo provides a deterrent to those who might
install a spy program on your system.
The scan menu contains the various scanning options available
in SpyCop. Scan Entire System (1) does the same thing as clicking
Scan Now in the main interface. Scan a Single File (2) allows
you to scan one file that you are suspicious of. Scan a Single
Folder (3) allows you to scan an entire program folder on your
system. Lastly, Scan Running Processes Only (4) will scan only
the programs that are currently active on your system. Option
(5) does the same thing as the Spy Info button in the main interface.
Each of these are described in more detail below.
When you select option (2) under the scan menu, you are presented
with the standard Windows browse for file dialog. Use this to
navigate to the program file that you would like to scan and click
ok to begin scanning that file. Select the type of file in the
bottom combo box to show either EXEs, DLLs or SYS files. This
option works great if you see a task in your task list that you
are unsure of and you want to check it out quickly.
When you select option (3) under the scan menu, you are presented
with the standard Windows browse for folder dialog. Use this to
navigate to the program folder that you would like to scan and
click ok to begin scanning that program. You can also select a
drive and that entire drive will be scanned. Use this option if
you see a suspicious folder on your drive and you want to be sure
that it is not a spy program.
Accessed by selecting option (4) under Scan, scan running processes
only will scan the programs that are currently running on your
system. This option works great for really fast maintenance scans.
NOTE: As of September 2002, this option is still in BETA status,
meaning it may not work properly on all systems. Please advise
us of any problems with the use of this option.
The Help menu allows you to obtain additional information on SpyCop.
Important Information (1) will display a quick rundown on what
Spyware is and what SpyCop does. Visit Out Home page (2) will
bring you to www.spycop.com in your default browser. Frequently
Asked Questions (3) is a large document containing information
in Q&A form. Options 4, 5, 6 and 7 allow you to communicate
with us via email. Command Line Parameters (8) will display a
screen describing the options which make it possible to operate
SpyCop from the command line. Reset Registration Data (9) will
cause the program to revert back to the trial version. Lastly,
About will display program version information and your software
license information.
Keep in mind that if you are doing a full system scan, you do
NOT have to sit there and watch SpyCop run! Click the minimize
button as shown above to have SpyCop sit in your task bar. While
minimized, SpyCop switches itself to low priority meaning that
your other programs will not be affected. You can continue to
do word processing, net surfing or game playing without a noticeable
impact on performance.
After a scan completes, hopefully you will see nothing listed
in the results section, and the status line will indicate your
system is free of spy software. However, if a spy program is detected,
you may see a screen similar to the one shown above. The top list
under Results tells you the name of the spy, and the bottom one
points out the suspicious file. The lists are linked, meaning
that if multiple spies are found and you click a line in either
list, the other one will move to the corresponding entry. To get
more information on a spy program or to disable it, click Spy
Info which has the yellow question mark on it.
Clicking Spy Info presents you with this dialog. Here you can
see when the file was installed, and its size. Click the Rename
button to rename the file by appending a .SPY extension to it.
This will effectively disable most spy programs because they can
no longer find a crucial operating file. Click Clipboard to copy
the displayed information to the clipboard. Click Learn More to
do a quick Google search on the spy program. Learn More enables
you to find out where the spy program can be obtained and the
manufacturers web site from which you can contact them and ask
for proper removal instructions.
Lastly, if a spy program is found during a complete system scan
or a folder scan, options (5) and (6) will become active in the
File Menu. Save Results (5) will allow you to save the list of
programs and suspicious files found to a text file. Print Results
(6) will send a copy of the results to your default printer.
SpyCop Screensaver:
You can also have your system scanned with the SpyCop Screensaver.
To enable this option, click File, Set Up Screensaver. The desktop
properties window will appear. Select SpyCop Autoscan in the list
of screensavers and then set the timeout. The configuration in
SpyCop is used during screensaver scans. Click OK and the next
time your screensaver kicks in, SpyCop will be launched and a
moving SpyCop graphic will float across your screen to protect
it while it scans. If you move your mouse or press a key while
the saver is active, the scan will be terminated. If the scan
completes, the results are saved to RESULTS.TXT in the SpyCop
folder, but the saver will continue to display the logo until
the mouse is moved. We recommend the use of "Scan New Files
Only" when using the saver.
Scheduling Periodic Scans:
By using the built in Windows Task Scheduler, you can have SpyCop
scan at periodic intervals whenever you want. Go into Control
Panel, and then select Scheduled Tasks. Set up a task with the
following path:
"c:\spycoppath\(file with binoculars icon).exe" /SCANEXIT
The (file with binoculars icon).exe should be replaced with the
filename that is used on your version of SpyCop. Now your system
will be scanned automatically depending on the options that you
set up for the scheduled task.
Additional Notes:
-You can drag and drop files from Windows Explorer onto the Scan
Now button or the vertical SpyCop logo button to scan them.
-The Scan Folders option will skip random files if the software
is in trial mode just like a full scan.
- Click File to print
in your browser this page to have a hard copy reference.