• by Ross Fadner , June 30, 2004

Anti-spyware software provider PestPatrol has unveiled an extensive resource for consumers and information technology professionals alike about how to identify and remove spyware and other malicious "pests" from their computers. PestPatrol says the PestPatrol Center for Pest Research (CPR) will be the publishing outlet for PestPatrol and other anti-spyware companies' research on the topic.

"An anti-spyware solution is only as good as the threat database behind it," says Dr. David Stang, PestPatrol's co-founder and vice president of research. "We believe we've created the world's largest database of known spyware. For each threat, we develop detailed background information on their behavior, their prevalence, and removal strategies."

Roger Thompson, VP-product development at PestPatrol, says that the PestPatrol research staff consists of over 400 people devoted exclusively to spyware research. According to its landing page, the Center for Pest Research currently provides analyses of 2,796,675 pest reports submitted by PestPatrol's software users in the past four weeks, information on 124,474 pest objects (areas on your computer that pests attack, including registry entries, directories, and files), and descriptions of at least 21,109. As Thompson notes, these numbers grow every day as new research comes in.

Thompson says that PestPatrol's research staff begins each test with a "clean" computer, running only Microsoft Windows and a Web browser. A team then implements a given spyware program, monitors what it does, figures out where on the hard drive it resides, and then tests different measures to remove it. The team completes a scorecard with checklists for different types of offenses, and decides based on its own criteria whether a program qualifies as a "pest." The reports are then placed on the PestPatrol research site. Thompson says that reports can be published in 12-15 different languages.

"Serving up ads is not bad in and of itself," notes Thompson. He says that problems arise when a program doesn't ask permission first, or isn't removed when asked. "Plenty of adware programs violate our standards [for determining pests]," he says, although he declines to use specific names.

A few companies have improved their practices as a result of being labeled "pests" on PestPatrol's Web site. Thompson says that NewDotNet, a software-based domain name provider, is a notable example. Responding to criticism of its murky uninstall procedure, New.net now provides four different ways to uninstall, like "good corporate citizens," according to Thompson.

At least one technology professional thinks that PestPatrol could do more to assist consumers. Jon-Paul Checa, a Web development services and IT systems manager for Acquis Consulting Group, said that the Center for Pest Research contains a massive amount of information, but its user interface is geared more toward tech junkies and IT professionals.

"The research section is very technical," he says. "The important thing to consider is, 'who is this site targeting?'" Checa notes that computer science majors writing research papers on spyware and reporters at technology publications would find the site particularly useful, but the average consumer would feel somewhat lost.

According to Checa, "If I'm a consumer, I just want to know how to get rid of spyware, and that should be displayed more prominently. The information could be laid out better, and use words consumers are looking for."