I had the same experience with Spybot S&D 1.5.1.15. It takes forever to launch. Initially I thought there was a bug in the new version and decided to download and installed it a second time. The same snail-slow launch. I wasn’t aware of the CPU cycles, but will monitor it first thing in the morning.

I’m a little hesitant in using Beta software based on bad previous experiences. But if it worked for you, it should work for me. I’ll give it a try.

Thanks for the tip.

Omar.-

I like Comodo but I have heard alot of bad things about this new release. I think that they released it too early — basically still beta Did they fix the Avast! problem with this release?

I’m not sure if they fixed Avast! this time around, because I decided to just splurge and pickup the ESET Smart Security. I didn’t see any mention in the forum of the problem being fixed though.

@Omar: I’ll be sure to throw the new version of Spybot in the Daily Downloads tomorrow. Thanks again for the heads up.

@Claus Valca: Thanks for all the release notes for Spybot! I’ll be sure to include some of that information as well. Looks like you’re sticking with the Beta for right now, which is what I would do as well. Stable software is overrated.

version 1.5.1.14 which I had been running for some time on my XP Home system (2.4 GHz AMD processor, 1 GB RAM) seems to take forever (at least 45-60+ seconds to open and run). Monitoring it in Process Explorer shows it chews up a BIG chunk of my CPU cycles as it gets going (0ver 90-95% until it finally loads all the way.) Memory usage settles in at 49,000 K.

I next tried running version 1.5.1.15. Again, in Process Explorer it chews up 90-95+% of my system CPU cycles getting going and the launch-time for it remains about 45-60 seconds to open and run. Memory usage settles in at 49,000 K.

FinallyI tried running version 1.5.1.17 (beta). Process Explorer shows it also rockets up to 85-95 % of the CPU cycles…but the launch time is about 10 seconds or less. Memory utilization remains about the same in the 49,000 K mark.

So, I am going to go ahead and try out the 1.5.1.17 beta version for a while. The starup/launch time of it alone makes it worth my while to use and test with. Simply amazing difference (on my system at least).

Note: I was only monitoring Time-to-launch here, not scanning performance…

Cheers!

I now see that filehippo.com has a download link for SpyBot Search and destroy 1.5.1.17 (beta)

Spybot Search & Destroy 1.5.1.17 Beta – [filehippo.com]

So now…do I play with the current or go-for-broke with the beta?

Decisions, decisions!

Cheers!

Omar is correct. Spybot has been updated to version 1.5.1.15.

My Spybot was reporting as version 1.5.1.14. I ran the updater but only got DAT file updates, none for the main program. The website didn’t appear to list the updated version either.

I checked one of the download links and, yep, the latest is 1.5.1.15.

It’s hard to tell on this BetaNews download page for it, but it looks like there are quite a few changes in the latest version:

[fileforum.betanews.com]

All Changes:

* Restored Win95 compatibility
* Improved Wine compatibility
* Fixed HyperThreading issues
* Improved 64 bit immunization
* Create Portable.ini in main folder to use app folder as data folder as well
* New warnings about missing admin rights on Windows Vista
* Support for multi-line bookmarks (IE 7 / Vista)
* New Immunization for Firefox & Mozilla
* Improved Immunization for Opera
* “Single excludes” now include filenames to be more unique
* Improved settings retrieval from registry (mixed installations)
* Fixed .reg import bugs
* Added support for automated removal of F/Ps from host lists
* Changed update UserAgent and Referrer
* Improved (Vista-compatible) support for fast user switching
* Updater now in separate executable file
* Vista manifests for assigning required rights to each application
* Deactivated list of active ports per process for Vista (incompatible)
* Fixed support for handle list on 64 bit systems
* Improved disabling/enabling BHOs
* New special error reporting for beta versions
* Support for Windows Error Reporting for public versions
* Fixed update-related crashes on Vista
* Fixed memory leaks (replaced Indy with Synapse)
* Vista-compatible MSI installer for those who like/need that
* Support for alpha tests on services and domains lists
* Added hundreds of new automated tests of internal functionality for prerelease QA
* Added TeaTimer hide icon (disabled) registry value in installer
* Improved PE detection all over the place
* New 64 bit detection all over the place
* Improved file removal methods
* Added optional custom RecoveryDir setting in Default.ini
* Automatic guessing of “Download Dir” folders
* Added support for renaming services before stopping/killing/deleting them
* Improved plugin support (example: current TCP/IP Plugin)
* Support for regular expressions nearly all over the SBI interface

I’m particularly intrigued about the portable.ini item….

Good catch, Omar!

Thanks for the Comodo update tip.

When I checked my currently installed version, it reports as version 3.0.13.268.

I checked for updates to the new one you mentioned using its built-in updater, but it says no newer versions are available.

I checked the download link on Comodo itself and it showed the newest version, as well as a update patch:

What’s New in CFP 3.0.14.276?
Release Date: December 11, 2007
Stability Update: For upgrade patch information, please see latest release notes. ([personalfirewall.comodo.com])
CFP Benefits: For an overview, please see benefits

32-bit Upgrade patch (Available in English language only)
Click here to download
[download.comodo.com]

64-bit Upgrade patch (Available in English language only)
Click here to download
[download.comodo.com]

I downloaded the patch and am applying it right now.

Took less than 20 seconds to apply on my system and requires a reboot.

FYI…

Just to let you know that Spybot S&D version 1.5.1.15 is available for download. URL: [spybot.info]

Regards,

Omar.-