The developer - Spotmau Corporation - seems to do business in an unorthodox way. Where as most developers offer trial versions of their software, so users can try before they buy, Spotmau does no such thing. You need to purchase their software after which you receive a download link. Since I always use trial versions of software to prepare reviews beforehand, this poses a problem for me. I contacted their support about it earlier today, but have yet to receive a response. So, no review today... sorry. However, if I may, I still have my two cents to say.

Spotmau.com has a poor reputation on WOT (SiteAdvisor gives Spoutmau.com the green light, but SiteAdvisor did not test any downloads on the website). While there are positive comments and ratings for the developer, overall the ratings are very low and there are quite a few negative comments also. A couple of the negative comments are for spam and bad customer experience. While having such ratings are not ideal, these particular negative ratings are not really what bother me. Rather, the comments about phishing scams, rogue software, and viruses are worrisome. For example, here are two comments, the first one by Arcade™ and the other by hpHosts:

Phishing Scam Website! -
This site provides applications or services "Rogue" -
Risk of identity theft or other fraud -

Used for the distribution of "rogue" security or other such applications.

As I said there are positive comments for Spotmau, and according to Spotmau.com some of Spotmau’s software has been reviewed by respectable sources (although the developer does a lot of “award swapping”, i.e. placing awards and reviews that belong to other software on Privacy Kit’s page). However, Spotmau Privacy Kit – today’s giveaway – does not offer very unique features; the features offered by Privacy Kit can be found in other software. In other words, there is not very much reward for the high level of risk users put themselves in by using software from a company that has a huge question mark above them. I am not saying Spotmau Privacy Kit is malicious software (I did not download it nor did I review it so I can’t make such a judgment call on it); I am sure the GOTD team has properly vetted the software before running it as today’s giveaway. What I am saying is the risk – the possibility of the software being malicious - far out ways the reward in my opinion.

Everyone is welcome to download and use Spotmau Privacy Kit. As I said I am sure the GOTD has made sure Privacy Kit is malware-free. But, my suggestion would be to look at other (free) software that we know for sure are trustworthy and offer same/similar features as Privacy Kit:

File/ Disk Encryption: TrueCrypt and/or AxCrypt

Secure File Deletion/Disk Wiping: East-Tec Eraser 2009 or Eraser

Program Lock: I am not exactly sure how this feature works since I did not try the software, but the EXE Protector feature of WinUtilities Professional Edition may be able to accomplish the same task.

Ashraf  –  14 years ago  –  A fost util acest comentariu? da | nu (+371)

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While the features included included in the software may be useful to some , $50 is too much for only a few tools. WinUtilities and Glary Utilities can so file shredding with military security. There are also various boot discs you can download off the internet to take care of the disk wiping concerns.

Also, this programs interface is a big tease and a boat load of spam. While the developers have every right to advertise their services so you may be interested in buying them, they simply are not interesting. Take a close look at the interface, its a program, inside a program, inside a program, erm , well you should get the point of what I am trying to say. But for a 12.5mb download, other software programs have these features built in , and some , all for free.

Finally , to end the rant I have the developer, "Cleans up internet tracks" No, I do not see anywhere in this program to do that.

This developer is getting you to buy add ons or programs at an outrageous price point. Not interested, not sure the program is worth it for free.

Jason Carver  –  14 years ago  –  A fost util acest comentariu? da | nu (+294)

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I own the Spotmau "power suite" which includes what is being offered here. I had an issue with the "personal safe". It allows you to put files in this "invisible" area, and that works fine. However, one day my safe was just gone. I lost everything in it, and the Spotmau team could not help me.

Pete  –  14 years ago  –  A fost util acest comentariu? da | nu (+84)

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Incidentally, if anyone with video recording software records the installation process, just about when it finishes, a CMD window pops up and flashes briefly with a bunch of jibberish I could not make out what it was because it flashed so quickly. Normally this would not be a concern to me as some programs execute the command prompt during installation of a Windows program, but this is just too creepy and strange.

Jason Carver  –  14 years ago  –  A fost util acest comentariu? da | nu (+73)

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Been around a long time. Starting to think this is a new Ashraf for several reasons.

Nonetheless, some of his concerns are valid...
(the term is "outweigh") but I think the real concern is not offering a free trial of their security software - especially considering you might have problems with their software, and then no way to recover unless you have their original disk. Possibly the reason no trial is offered for either this or their full suite of utilities.

The seond worry is the "Too good to be true" scenario. The software, the support, the likely fabricated reviews on the site, and the awards. Too good to be true - you've been warned.

The third concern is the serious nature of programs like this and their system suite - I would stay away from anything that features Engrish and appears to be a relatively clunky operation until I see some shining mainstream reviews. Even the website is just a template design, and the FAQ is a feature list, - sorry not for security or system repair software.

Programs like this need better support than the norm, not worse.
Considering some of the comments from users in other tech forums, their programs probably don't earn much better than "Mediocre", and the problems people have encountered seem worrisome.

I'd thoroughly test it before using it in a situation where you'll be left in a bad situation. I would be very careful about their secure safe in particular.

Their System Suite set of tools has been reviewed by popular websites, is apparently not malware, but can be clunky and earns about 3 out of 5 on average.

Rob  –  14 years ago  –  A fost util acest comentariu? da | nu (+65)

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