SpywareBlaster- Pictorial

Hello my friends. Two days back I have asked done of my very good friends of another forum, to kindly review the pictorials I post here. She is generally very busy with her online and off line work, but still squeezed out some time to give me a great review, and also gave me the idea about what should I bring next (Thank you....). This time I am presenting to you a Pictorial about another security software which has been a part of my system for more than two years and it is an essential addition for anyone who even spends the minimum possible time on the net.

Name: SpywareBlaster.

Latest version: 3.5.1

Homepage: http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

Download: http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sbdownload.html

Purpose:

To stop the installation of ActiveX-based spyware, adware, browser hijackers, dialers, and other potentially unwanted software.

To block spyware/tracking cookies in Internet Explorer and Mozilla/Firefox.

To restrict the malacious actions of potentially unwanted sites in Internet Explorer.

System Requirements: Windows

Price: Free for following categories- Individuals (non commercial and educational usage) and for other Educational and Charitable institutions. For detailed information please visit: http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sbfreewareguidelines.html

How to Read this Pictorial: This Pictorial is divided in to three broad sections-

1. Download the software installer.
2. Installation of the software.
3. Configuration and use of the software.

You may jump to the respective section if you so desire.

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SECTION A (Download)

Step 1: The first thing that we need to do is to go to the homepage. I have used Firefox throughout, and I urge all my visitors to do so (you may get the download link at the left side of my blog). You should see the following page in your browser.


Look carefully at the name of the company, program name and the software logo. SpywareBlaster is rather a common name, so a Google search may show you thousands of very nearly matching names. So you need to check these two in case you do not visit the site directly from my blog. If you have assured yourself that you are at the right place hit on the "Download SpywareBlaster 3.5.1" link.

Step 2: As you hot on the above link you will reach the download page as below:

This page shows you all the third party servers where the installer is available. Choose any link from these four and click on that. I chose the first link.

Step 3: I chose the first link and I reached the download.com's download page.

If you followed my footsteps you will be here too. Hit the green, animated "Download Now" button.

Step 4: Depending on your connection speed, the page will refresh itself and a confirmation window will be opened by your browser (this may vary according to your browser's settings).



See the confirmation window is showing you the installer name. Just hit "Save File" button and the download will progress automatically. If your settings allow you to choose the location for the saved file, then I would suggest that save it on the Desktop. That will be easy to locate. It is a very small installer, so even if you are on a 56kbps dial up connection, it should not take much time.

SECTION B (Installation)

Step 5: Locate the installer file saved on the desktop (or where ever else that you chose).



Step 6: Double click on the installer to get the following window:

Just hot "Next" to continue.

Step 7: See the following window

Accept the license agreement and hit "Next".

Step 8: At this step you get to know about the location for installation of the software:

If you accept the default location, just hit "Next" and go to Step 9. If you decide to choose some other location for the installation, just click on the "Browse" button.

Step 8/1: If you have hit the "Browse" button you get the following:

You can choose the location of your choice from the above window, or you may directly type it in the top field where the default location is being shown. Once you are done, hit "OK" and you will be back in the window of Step 8, but this time showing your choice in the 'Installation Location' field. Hit "Next" at the step 8 screen to continue.

Step 9: Now you can see this window.

Leave the check mark unchanged and hit the "Next" button...

Step 10:
This is the review of your final installation related settings. If you are still in a mood for changing anything, just hit the "Back" button and change whatever you like. Otherwise, just click on "Install".

Step 11:
Just let the installation complete. The 'progress bar' will touch the end and you get a screen as the one in the next step. I do not suggest that you should hit the "cancel" button to stop the installation at this step.

Step 12: Hooray!!! Installation completed successfully.

I suggest that you leave the check mark so that this program launches itself as soon as you click "Finish". If you for some reason can not do that, just clear the check box and hit "Finish". Later, you can launch the program from Start Menu or double clicking the icon on the desktop. Either way, you need to press "Finish" now.

This concludes the Section B of this Pictorial.

SECTION C (Configuration and Use)

Step 13: As soon as you press "Finish in the previous step, SpyawreBlaster launches itself.

It shows you a "getting started" tutorial. As you are following mine, you do not need this. Just hit the "x" button at the right hand, top corner to close this window. In case the "x" button does not work (didn't work in my case), just hit "next" twice to complete this tutorial and get the "Main Program Window".


Step 14: I hope that now you can see the following main program window.


Look at the upper right corner of the window. Click on each link one at a time to enable protection for IE, Firefox and Restricted Site Behavior. One example is shown below. As you click on the "Click here to enable protection" beside Internet Explorer, you shall get the following window:

Put check marks in both the boxes and SpywareBlaster will enable protection for all the items currently present in its Database. You can also enable protection selectively by clicking the check boxes beside individual items. Then you need to click the radio button "Protect Against Checked Items". But I highly discourage you to this. Enable all the protection available for your own safety. Now click on the "Protection" at the top left corner to get back the main program screen as the first image of this step.

Now follow similar path to enable protection for other two items.

Step 15: When you have downloaded and installed SpywareBlaster it contained a database which is generally an old one. As you can see in the following window, the installer downloaded on 26/09/2007 came preloaded with 01/01/2006 database. So its pretty old.

Hence we need to update the database immediately. To do that, you need to be connected with the internet. If you are, then click on the "Update" at the bottom left pane of the Program Window. You get the following screen.


In this screen, hit the radio button "Check on Updates" and SpywareBlaster will connect to its database to see if any newer update is available.

Step 16: As the update process finishes, you get the following screen.

In this case if the Updates are available it will be displayed here otherwise you will be notified that your SpywareBlaster database is up to date. Hit on the "Back" button to get the main "Update Window" back again.

Step 17: For all the first timers SpywareBlaster will surely find update. Hence we have little more left to do. So carry on...

From this window, click on the "Protection" on the upper left pane of the program window.

Step 18: As you do as above, you get the main program window back. Look at the highlighted portion of the following screen shot.

You can find two links under "Quick Tasks". Hit on the first one and all the items in the new protection database including the old ones will be activated.
As you have come this far, you are now capable enough to get the latest download just using the "Download Latest Protection Updates" link. In future you can do these two main functions of SpywareBlaster from here. There is one more option, that is 'disable all protections', but you should never do that, unless you are on a suicide mission on the net.

Step 19: Now look at the highlighted portion of the following screen shot below...

You can see that the program is informing you that all the protection items are enabled, that is "0 items disabled". This is what your program should inform you always. Now you are assured that you are protected against browser based attacks.

Step 20:
We are at the end of our Pictorial. Nothing more to do. Just click on the "x" button to close the program.
The best thing about SpywareBlaster is that you do not need to keep it running to use its protection, so there is no precious resources consumed by this program.


Remember: SpywareBlaster is not a replacement for standard AntiVirus or other real time guards like firewall. It is an add on protective protective program which tries to thwart attack even before it reaches your system.

If you have liked this, please do not forget to sign my guest book. You can also request Pictorials for specific softwares, but those should preferably be free ones.