[Teksonik]

After reading about the highly ranked Spy Doctor program I installed and purchased a license. Since then I have been having a lot of problems with the program. It causes a problem with boot-up on the first start of the day. The program won't fully load and the drive continues to run as if a scan were taking place. I have " Scan at Windows Startup" unchecked so no boot scan should take place, at least not one that takes over five minutes. Several times I've had to shut the computer down using the power button as the Shutdown/ Restart option does not work. Just today while simply changing between sections of Spy Doctor it locked up, showed Not Responding in the Task Manager and despite repeated attempts could not but shut down causing the need for another power switch shut down. I'm still dealing with their Tech support over the issue but at this point I'm about to uninstall Spy Doctor. I'll give them another chance to actually read my support ticket and try to answer the issues. I urge caution when considering installing the program. Another thing, after a full system scan Spy Doctor found nothing. Out of curiosity I ran SpyBot Search and Destroy and it found five tracking cookies. Today SpyBot found a tracking cookie even though Spy Doctor's "Cookie Guard" has been enabled since last scan. Anybody else have issues with SpyDoctor?

[flingwings67]

Spy Doctor came under a lot of fire here and on other sites (take a look at PCTools site forum) over the last year. Almost all that wrote in were taking it off their computers. We had both Spy Doctor and Registry Mech. Had a lot of trouble with Spy Doctor and finally removed it. Reg Mech seems to still be working fine and we renewed that one this year. Recommend you remove Spy Doctor. Don't know if the new version fixed things but we aren't taking the chance. Hope this helps.

[rgreen4]

It is a shame. PC Tools has such a good utility in Registry Mechanic and such a bad one in Spyware Doctor. I was going to try the free trial, but it locked up my laptop when trying to install. I quickly dumped it.

Based on forum member SpiritWinds suggestion I have installed Superantispyware on both of my XP machines and both my Vista machines. The only problem it has with Vista is that Windows Defender (included in Vista) always gives an alert when Superantispyware starts and I have to click on "Continue". This is not a UAC issue, and not a big deal. I use Webroot's Spysweeper on the two XP machines. You will note that I have two anti-spyware programs on all machines, as you can have more than one running. That's a no-no for anti-virus, but ok for anti-spyware.

[techie4fun]

What's a shame is PC World didn't include in their review of any bugs they encountered when using Spyware Doctor on their test machines. But I didn't do the analysis so maybe they did do a test, but their review online states nothing but the detection rates and the programs weaknesses/strengths.

[Car54]

This was one of my posts from someone else who had a bad experience with "the Dr".




I also had problems with Spyware Dr. (last Aug. 2006, don't remember
what version it was). I had at times, 90 to 100% cpu usage, svchost.exe
(Task Manager) and couldn't figure it out. With the help of Microsofts
Tech. dept., we narrowed it down to Spyware Dr., and once I uninstalled
it have had no problems like that since.(Something to do with the
update module, even though I think I had shut it off, w/o it being
resolved until a total uninstall)

[Teksonik]

Thanks for the responses everyone! Yep Spyware Doctor is getting deleted right away. Hope it doesn't cause any problems on it's way to the trash bin. Think I'll try for a charge-back on my credit card but I don't hold much hope. The money doesn't matter but I would like to send a message to PC Tools. I''ll check into some other programs and the idea of having more than one spyware program makes sense. Thanks again everyone!

[Car54]

Teksonik, just a thought, I had purchased mine via online/ download. Last month I noticed a charge on my bank account for PC Tools, it was a auto renewal for Spyware Doctor. I called them (the number was listed in the bank account info.) and they credited my account, and took me off the auto renewal list.You might want to check on that. :-)

By the way, from myself, and the others, your welcome.

[mphenterprises]

Hi Teksonik. Since you have your Discussion labeled as "Answered," please do not forget to distribute the remaining points to the post you feel helped you the most.

[Teksonik]

Hi, sorry I'm new to this forum and don't quite understand what you mean by "distribute the points". Let me know the proper procedure and I'll be more than happy to comply. Thanks again.

[mphenterprises]

Hi Teksonik. No need to apologize. :-) Basically, when I said "...distribute the points..." I meant to indicate which of the remaining posts provide the correct response for your problem. You have selected two posts as "Helpful" and there is only the "Correct" indication left.

[Teksonik]

Ahhh ok I see. I was trying to rate every post as helpful. I guess you only get two. :-) Do I only get two "Correct" choices as well? It's going to be hard to choose. All the posts were very positive and addressed my question in some way or other. I'll try to choose now, no offense to those if I can't choose yours. Thanks again to everyone.

Edit: Ooops looks like I only get to choose one Correct answer.

[Teksonik]

Quick update, I just checked my e-mail and after only one request PC Tools has issued a refund to my credit card. So a good rating for customer service, it's a shame their software didn't perform as well. I have of course uninstalled Spy Doctor.

[mphenterprises]

:-) You only get two "helpful" choices and one "correct" choice. Don't view the points as a contest or a competition. The points are merely "incentive" for people to provide the best response possible.

[flingwings67]

Teksonic, ditto on your high marks for PC Tools customer service. I, too, got the automatic renewal notice for both Registry Mechanic and Spy Doctor (after similiar experience with SD, I'd removed it).

Simply hit reply and told them I did not want Spy Dr. and they sent back asking me a couple of questions to make sure they understood (not the same as trying to talk me into keeping it). I replied and I got the credit memo before the email telling me it was coming. These guys are five star in the customer service arena.

[rgreen4]

Because of their good customer service, their willingness to admit that there maybe a problem with Spyware Doctor, and the good experience I have had with Registry Mechanic, I still keep them on my list. Maybe someday they will be able to solve the problems with Spyware Doctor

[piyushsingh]

me had similar problems with this application.spy doc 5.0 locked even my new e6750 on startup, damn.
their new version is a bit light and now working fine. but plz dump that older version and also spyware doctor 4.0, get the new 5.0 version.
thanx