News Stories Press Inquiries ? Click HERE for more information. Anti-Keystroke-Logging Software John C. Dvorak, Contributing Editor, PC Magazine If your paranoia goes deeper, make sure to look at some of the anti-keystroke-logging software. The best I've seen so far is SpyCop, available online at www.AntiEspion.com. It scours your system, looking for secret keystroke-logging software. The like-named company also makes Evidence Terminator, which routinely erases cookies and all sorts of files that can be used to track your activities. Welcome to the Big Brother century—when we can't trust our own computers anymore...

...BUT TAKE HEART. You are not defenseless in the fight against keystroke loggers. A program called SpyCop is designed specifically to head off corporate spying programs, unlike antivirus and desktop security programs that can capture only some spy programs. For $49.95 (sale price), it offers very inexpensive protection, and says it can detect and defeat 181 different keystroke loggers. Its makers also offer a version of SpyCop that includes Evidence Terminator, a program that removes files from your PC that provide clues as to your online habits and movements...

Are you being snooped? Is your every key entry and mouse click recorded? There are more than 100 programs that can be used to monitor your computer activities, but now you can out-snoop the spies by using this program to ferret out hidden spy programs on your system. Scan your entire system and get automatic updates to the spy program database (with the full version) or check out individual, suspicious applications. 

SpyCop is (payware) software to detect spyware, but mainly todetect and clean a personal system from these kind of computer activity recording products, that could have been installed on your system without your knowledge or approval. Spycop has a database of 175+ of such monitoring programs. It allows inspection, renaming suspect files, save and print results. and comes with a LiveUpdate function and detectable database.  We have tested Spycop v3.0 using a database of 50 monitoring programs; Spycop detected them all.

SpyCop is a program that has a frequently updated list of key logger programs. Use the simple user interface to scan your computer for spy programs. Once scanned, SpyCop generates a simple report of programs and suspicious files. It even scrambles any screenshots of its interface that a monitoring program tries to capture.

As an added benefit, SpyCop will also search your computer for spyware (a program that reports your Internet habits to companies gathering demographic information).

I give SpyCop my unofficial thumbs up. It seems to be the easiest and most effective way to find out if you are being monitored.

Computer interconnectivity has opened a world of possibilities, and our lives are more convenient because of it. One trade-off, however, is that it's now possible for prying eyes to monitor virtually every action you take on your computer. SpyCop offers a way to monitor the software that might be monitoring you.

The free version of SpyCop can be downloaded from the company's Web site, and will scan your files for any trace of monitoring software. It indicates which files allow others to spy on you, so you know what to delete.

The corporate version, also available from the SpyCop Web site, costs $69 (sale price) and not only spots the monitoring software on your computer, but removes it for you. SpyCop is constantly updated to offer fresh protection against the latest spyware innovations.

SpyCop is intended for Windows 95, 98, and Me, and requires a 486 or faster processor. 16MB of memory is also required, although 32MB or more is recommended.

SpyCop has developed an anti-surveillance package of the same name that counters so-called spy software.

Such software, the firm claims, is inserted on to a PC's hard disk using an executable attachment along with a carrier email. Once installed, the firm says that the software is very difficult to detect, even with existing IT security applications.

In use, the package will scan any PC-based computer for surveillance software and will alert computer owners if they are being spied upon.

The Delaware, US-based company says that SpyCop uses a brute force scanning system that examines all files, hidden or otherwise, for computer monitoring software.

The ad for 'SPECTOR SOFT' software promises that you can automatically record everything your spouse, children or employees do online. In fact, that's a massive understatment. The $69 (Retail price for HE) program works like a movie camera taking continuous snapshots of your victim's screen, logging each move. Then, the program actually emails you every word your victim has typed. It's sold by a company in Vero Beach, Florida. It is also called "spyware" and "adulteryware".

Spector Soft President, Doug Fowler, says his product is extremely effective at catching the cheating spouse in the act.

The spyware has led to another phenomenon, anti-spyware. Our I-team is testing one such program, called 'Spycop'. It claims it can ferret out snoopware or adulteryware, and clean it off your harddrive.