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email usSpy Sweeper Frequently Asked Questions
What is Spyware?
Spyware is a general term used to describe software that performs certain behaviors such as advertising, collecting personal information, or changing the configuration of your computer, generally without appropriately obtaining your consent first.
What is Spy Sweeper?
Spy Sweeper is an anti-spyware application that scans for and removes spyware.
Why do I need Anti-Spyware Software?
Spyware, malware, adware and other software packages slow computer performance, make computers less reliable and can even damage information. More worrisome is how some malware will monitor your activities and even capture your usernames and passwords to the sites you visit. Additionally some packages include viruses and software that can attack other systems to help spread the infection.
Even if you don’t think your computer is important enough to protect ask yourself these questions: What would happen if someone got my usernames and passwords for my banking site, the VPN to work? Could data be exposed or damaged? What if my computer was used to attack other computers? The answers to those questions is generally not good, it’s everyone’s responsibility to make sure their computers are protected and OAAIS makes it easy to get started with the software we offer.
What are Spy Sweeper’s minimum hardware and software requirements?
Operating system:
Windows 2000
Windows XP Home, Professional, Tablet
Hardware:
1 GHz CPU
256 MB of RAM
15 MB of free disk space
Browser:
Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1 or later
Firefox 2.0.0.1
Who can use Spy Sweeper?
Spy Sweeper can be used by UCSF Faculty, Staff, Student or Affiliate working on UCSF business as well as on the home systems of the same. The goal of the Spy Sweeper program is to protect the electronic information resources of UCSF and protecting individual computers is the first step.
What does Spy Sweeper scan by default?
Spy Sweeper scans known locations for malware. You can change this setting by double clicking on the spy sweeper icon in your system tray.
1. Click on the configuration menu
2. Select Settings
3. Change the selection to Sweep All Folders on Selected Drives
Scanning takes too long what can I do to make it faster?
Clean out your IE or Firefox internet cache.
How is the UCSF Spy Sweeper Different from the Spy Sweeper I can buy from the store?
Home/Stand alone versions of Spy Sweeper require you to have a subscription with them; if you let that subscription lapse you will no longer receive updates and version upgrades.
UCSF Spy Sweeper is centrally managed and OAAIS maintains the subscription.
A user in my group has set Spy Sweeper to scan daily at midnight; however she shuts her PC off everyday at 5pm. Is this a concern?
No, this is not an issue. Spy Sweeper automatically scans the computer at startup
Can I create a specific Spy Sweeper policy for my group?
Not at this time. Spy Sweeper can only have one policy set of instructions.
How do I uninstall Spy Sweeper? It is not in the Control Panel.
Run the following command from the Spy Sweeper installation directory; usually C:\Program Files\Spy Sweeper\installfiles
sseCleanup.exe –Remove
Does Spy Sweeper automatically delete any spyware that it finds?
Spy Sweeper quarantines anything suspicious that it finds. You can delete files from the quarantine manually, by choosing Quarantined, clicking Select All, and clicking Delete Selected.
How much does Spy Sweeper cost?
Spy Sweeper is provided as part of your membership in the UCSF community and does not have an additional fee.
What can I do if I am having problems with Spy Sweeper?
Please contact your CSC or OAAIS Customer Support at http://help.ucsf.edu, by email at customersupport@ucsf.edu, or by phone at (415) 514-4100, option 2.