Shavlik adds anti-spyware to lineup

Shavlik Technologies, long known for patch management software, is adding anti-spyware capabilities to its platform.

The company recently released Shavlik NetChk Spyware, a stand-alone application that lets customers detect and remove spyware from any server or workstation on a network running Windows NT or higher. The spyware software also can be integrated with Shavlik's HFNetChkPro, a patch management platform. The integration will provide users with one interface for managing both products. Shavlik is calling the integrated product Shavlik NetChk Protect, which will become the foundation of a security management line of products. Shavlik intends to add Compliance Manager to the lineup later this year.

"It's all about single point of management, and one of the benefits of Shavlik is that there is no client software," says Jeff Martin, computer resource specialist at the University of California, Riverside. Shavlik has built its Protect suite so that its agent-less and agent technology is common to all its security products. "If I can check all of my domain controllers, my SQL server, both my Exchange servers and all 300 of my clients in half an hour, that gives me more time to do important stuff."

Spyware is known for its appetite for desktop resources and the security risks it can open on a desktop. According to the National Cyber Security Alliance, spyware affects 80% to 90% of desktops.

With the Protect suite, users get an all-in-one console that provides vulnerability discovery and reporting services. From the console users can run multiple scans for both patches and spyware.

The spyware software features full spyware removal, which eliminates every registry key and file associated with the spyware. Users can schedule scans at specific times or initiate scans on demand.

While Microsoft offers an anti-spyware tool for the desktop, it has yet to develop a corporate version of the software. Shavlik is aiming to plug that gap. It competes with BigFix, PatchLink and others.

NetChk Spyware runs on Windows 2000 and above and costs $16 per user per year for 100 to 249 users. NetChk Protect is priced at $31 per user for the same number of users.