Aluria Software Aluria Security Center/Spyware Eliminator

This software caused system crashes, particularly when backing up material on to inserted media, usually when the media is extraced. (The Microsoft analysis that kicks in on a system crash blames the Aluria software.) The crashes continue even after the software is uninstalled, presumably due to leftover elements that are not removed. The good news is that the crashes are just a nuisance, they don't seem to do any permanent damage.

I have subscibed to Aluria Security Center/Spyware Eliminator for 2 years. I persevered with the poor service because the software seems to deliver on its promise. Their old Aluria website and the new Earthlink one are badly designed and how to get in touch?

I bought Aluria Security Center/Spyware Eliminator on the back of some good reviews. How wrong was I! I'm not entirely sure who reviewed the product (probably noone!) but I certainly haven't had any success. Much the same as other users, I have encountered a problem after about 2-3 months after installation and have then, upon reinstallation and update, been told that my subscription has expired and that I can renew for JUST £19.95...abosolute garbage. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY Upon contacting Aluria you are advised to do what any PC user with half a brain would have already done, uninstall, reinstall and update!! Not a satisfactory service at all. As for their money back guarantee, well good luck. They seem to lose the ability to return emails whenever the word REFUND is mentioned!! Please stay clear, Spyware Detector is the one to go for.

After reading some good review I decided to buy Spyware eliminator.

The first 4 weeks there was no problem. Then ther was an upgade from Spyware eliminator. When I rebooted the system, my system hangs. I reported the problem and I got a link to the most recent version. The problem persist, it seems that I had to change my language settings from the Netherlands to the USA for registering (strange registering procedure).

Two weeks later there was an new upgrade from Spyware eliminator. After this update I could not enable/disable my network connection. By enabling the connection, my System crashed (Windows/XP SP2 Home edition).

After a few crashes I had to restore my system.

After this restore operation (without performing the last upgrade) Spyware eliminator came up with a message box that says that my license period has been expired and I could buy a new license period for only 19,95 (And that after 2 months).

After so many troubles, I asked two times my money back. Aluria Software did not respond to my requests.

After reading good reviews, I bought the full version of Aluria Software Aluria Security Center/Spyware Eliminator without trying a demo. This was a mistake. I use Win 2k, and until I started using Aluria, the system was completely stable. The software causes crashes. After the last update, Aluria would not launch at all, and the system froze up completely. The only solution was hard rebooting. Their support does not answer mails. In the meantime I have uninstalled the program. The system now runs as smoothly as it did before installing Aluria. Definitely not recommended.

I purchased Aluria Spayware Eliminator having been impressed with reviews and the fact that it was from what I thought to be a reputable company. Having downloaded and installed it I experienced a complete slow down of my computer during the necessary reboot. The XP logon screen just froze except for the cursor and the hard disk ticked over at what appeared to be an infinitely slow speed. The hard disk light just flashed now and again and there appeared to be some small progress but not enough to even allow me to log on after ten minutes or so! I feared that I had been hit by a pest or a virus and rebooted several times in a atempt to get back in and try and find it, but the machine almost came to a standstill each time. Although once it actually got to a bare desktop after about 15 minutes. I tried all ways to reboot - safe mode, MSDOS mode, normal mode, windows XP start disk (which isn't easy to create for XP NTFS systems) but all failed. I decided to repair Windows but it also failed - it wouldn't accept the administrator's password. Everything appeared to come to a halt once XP was invoked. In desperation I reinstalled Windows over itself, which lost all the installed programmes, although with some judicious playing with ownership and security permissions I did manage to salvage all the users' files. It was now 3.10am and I'd just got to where I was when I started... and installed the Aluria software again!!!! (Still not suspecting it was the cause). As soon as I rebooted the logon screen froze again! I now realised that it was the Spyware Eliminator software that was the cause. This time the safe mode worked (thankfully) and I've uninstalled it. The computer imediately rebooted to its normal state confirming that the Aluria software was to blame.

I've looked for info on the web about conflicts with other software. Nothing other than the previous review where it is apparently incompatible with McAfee. I use Eset NOD32. Is there a conflict with that virus software too?

I've yet to get a view from the suppliers.. it's all happened on a Saturday and Sunday morning.... Lost nearly a whole day!!!! Bad experience all round.

First, I purchased and installed Aluria Security Center software on my machine in the office. Shortly after installation, I got an error message indicating that Aluria software was incompatible with my McAfee VirusScan software. McAfee Antivirus is run by my office's LAN and cannot be uninstalled, therefore, I emailed Aluria with a request for a refund, as I cannot use this software in the office. I never heard back from Aluria. I then installed it on my home computer, which does not have McAfee Antivirus. I immediately began to experience a drastic slow-down and freezing of my machine when accessing my normal internet sites. I uninstalled Aluria immediately, and my internet access returned to normal. This is an insidious product and Aluria Tech Support is unresponsive. How do they get away with this?

In the 4 months that I have been using the Aluria Software Aluria Security Center/Spyware Eliminator I have had to uninstall and reinstall the program on 4 different occasions. Yes, this is the extent of their technical backup. Each time I have to uninstall,(reboot) download 10MB of program, reinstall (reboot). The latest addition is that my purchased licence code does not work anymore informing me that I need to purchase new licences. (After 4 months)? Their on line help yourself faultfinding feature is just as useless. A few months back when I was still in the refund your money if dissatisfied period my request for my money back fell on deaf ears. So not only are they selling an inferior product they also do not fulfil their obligations. I am intrigued to see how they go about my latest issue.

Probably uninstall, reinstall.

My thither with these people is wearing thin.

Here is copy of email sent to Aluria...

I have installed a trial version of your security center 4.0 and it caused my computer to crash completely. A blue screen failure of windows on startup. I had to re-install windows and all software and lost all my computers files. I thought maybe my computer had a problem so I then tried to install your software on my laptop and it did the same thing! This software has some very serious issues and should be taken off the market immediately! I then started to read on some message boards about it and I read many people with the same problem. Some people are even doubtful that this is a real company and not just some hacker company trying crash peoples computer and spread viruses. You people are a bunch of jerks for creating software that destroys peoples computers like this and I hope you get what they deserve someday! I will be posting all this information wherever I can on the internet and especially in spyware review chatrooms!

Aluria Software Aluria Security Center/Spyware Eliminator: To start with, I originally tried on a 'Try before you buy' hype. This turned out to be no more than a scam to get their scanning software onto your machine and then cajole you into buying their product to have it take care of the myriad of problems it had found.

Well, since Aluria is highly rated on the web, and, after all, is touted as AOL's anti-spyware software of choice, I decided they could be trusted:( Oh, when will I ever learn! Caveat Emptor!

I went for the bait and purchased 'Spyware Eliminator', but wait, what's this 'Aluria Security Center' I'm getting? I see, it's a thinly veiled advert for virtual anti-spam/anti-virus software "Coming Soon". Wow, it's almost like being at the pictures! Oh, well, never mind. Let's get on with it.

Ah, the ubiquitous wizard! What's that, Merlin, can you come and browse around on my system every now and again to see if there's some new kind of spyware lurking? This will help you improve your product! Wait... doesn't that fit the definition of 'spyware'? A piece of software that makes use of your system for its own purposes? Picky, picky, picky...!

I next ran a scan and voila! I had spyware on my system. No doubt the XoftSpy, Ad-Aware SE Professional, Spy Sweeper, and Spyware Doctor I have are charlatans in the antispyware business! What ho?! Why, the locations on disk and in the registry that are pinpointed are empty. A reference in the registry to SoftwareASProtect with no values and an empty directory for Microsoft's html help. To say 'false positive' would be less than honest, but it was certainly not 'true positive'. Well I pointed this out and was told they'd look into it (right!).

Moving right along, I checked out the options. Well, we can protect my system with an 'Active Defense Shield' or 'ADS', that's nice, we'll check mark that box. But when I come back, it unchecked again. I check it again, it's unchecked again... what's going on? SUPPORT: "Oh, well, that doesn't work right, so we've disabled it. Rest assured, it will be functional and updated within 30 days!" Excuse me... Did I miss the 'Beta Site' sign on the way in?

Well, let's take a look in the Task Manager. Between itself and the 'asKernel' service, my Aluria spyware solution is using more than 3 times the resources of the next greatest hog, which is Microsofts 'explorer', you know, the guy that runs the whole show.

This is not looking good. I've exchanged several emails with the same engineer at Aluria, and even been escalated to Aluria Research, but what good is email chatter and escalation if no solutions are proposed?

Now I'm beginning to see the rationale behind no fully functional trial evaluation. It would undoubtedly be a very short time period, and probably not very productive for Aluria!

Tiring of all of this, I request a refund, and even though the only grounds I need is dissatisfaction, I enumerate the problems/concerns.

Silence...

I've subsequently freed up some valuable disk space by uninstalling. However, that wasn't the end of the story. For a software that's supposed to help you keep your system uncluttered and unfettered, it sure leaves a lot of dross!

On the file system, 4 files: an AluriaCacheFile.dat on each of my volumes (C: and D:), an AluriaReg.dll in C:WINDOWSsystem32, and the installed directory. To be sure of getting everything in the registry, I searched for the following:

SecurityCenter

ascupdate

pv.exe

stopservice.exe

asKernel.exe

ascserv.exe

Aluria

I came up with 48 entries (whew!). And I was using Registry First Aid, which allows searching for multiple strings, so the task was not too onerous. Had I used regedit... I don't even want to think about it...

My best advice. If you just don't want to be bothered, get AOL and let Time-Warner manage everything for you, you'll get Spyware Eliminator to boot. If you want an efficient solution, look elsewhere:

Lavasoft

PC Tools

Webroot

And many others equally good, equally efficient, and equally compact with less hype, free total evaluations, and better support.