List of Free Antivirus and Online ScannersList of Free Antivirus Removal ToolsSpywareBlaster is a program that blocks spyware tracking cookies in Internet Explorer and any browsers that use the Internet Explorer engine, including: AOL web browser, Avant Browser, Slim Browser and Maxthon (formerly MyIE2). It also provides protection for Mozilla Firefox, Netscape, Seamonkey, and Flock. SpywareBlaster restricts the actions of potentially dangerous sites by adding a list of sites and domains associated with known spyware, advertisers and marketers to the browser's "Restricted Sites Zone" and prevents the installation of ActiveX-based spyware, adware, browser hijackers, dialers, and other potentially unwanted software. Some types of malware are known to mess with Trusted Zones, Ranges and ProtocolDefaults set for a browser.
How does SpywareBlaster work? It adds sites to the restricted zones by adding the domain as a subkey under the registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains. A dword is then added to that domain named * and given a hex value of 4 to specify that it is part of the Restricted Sites Zone. More specifically, Spywareblaster sets the "killbit" on the
CLSID (Class ID) of known spyware. Every program has a CLSID that is unique to the type of program. Once Spywareblaster enables (writes) those killbits they are "locked in" and any identified spyware cannot be opened. Spywareblaster writes these killbits in and then stays off until you need to re-write them again with an update.
Unlike many other security tools, SpywareBlaster
does not run in the background. Instead it only requires installation and then enabling of all protection. After that you only have to check periodically for database updates using the built-in "Check for Updates" feature and then enable all protection again.