On 9 Apr 2005 07:44:39 -0700, in <alt.privacy.spyware>, galt_57@hotmail.com
wrote:
>
> Jay T. Blocksom wrote:
[snip]
> >
> > Why were you "annoyed" by that? This, after all, is the
> > point of having more than one tool in your bag -- each will
> > potentially catch some things that the other doesn't.
>
> Because that view is problematic. How many program are needed for
> reasonable protection? Two? Three? Five? Twenty?
>
[snip]

In this particular case, two -- the very same two we're discussing ATM in
fact.

> > > What is the overlap between these two programs?
> > > [snip]
> >
> > Considerable, but not complete.
>
> Well, I had previously hoped that the only difference between these
> programs would be their internal methodology, but that they would both
> try to cover the known spyware/adware threats,
[snip]

That's pretty close to the actual situation.

> ...so if Spybot S&D found
> something that Ad-Aware didn't it would only be a matter of an update
> or two and then Ad-Aware would also cover that specific threat. I no
> longer believe that to be the case. It would be nice to compare the
> list of known threats that each program claims to cover, but I don't
> believe this info is made available.

And by the time you got the comparison done, it would be obsolete.

Rather than chase your tail worrying about why the programs do not produce
identical results (one obvious reason for that being they each have different
criteria for what they consider a "threat"), take solace in the fact that if
each of them cover 90% of all "threat"s (pretty close to the case, I'd say),
then arithmetic tells us that between them, they'll likely cover approximately
99% -- and beyond that point, it's not worth worrying about.

--

Jay T. Blocksom
--------------------------------
Appropriate Technology, Inc.
usenet02[at]appropriate-tech.net

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759.
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