I stumbled upon something recently that appears to be spawning some bad blood between Spybot’s Patrick Kolla and Symantec. It seems that there is some difference of opinion of how Symantec ought to have dealt with not one, but two separate false positives in its spyware removal software.

Now, even though I am not a Symantec fan, I don’t want to start judging who is right or wrong in this disagreement between the two parties. And while Kolla has done a decent job outlining his side of things with the break down in cooperation, I can’t help but wonder if there more to the situation than what is being stated publicly.

Then again, let me examine it this way: Over the last few years, Symantec products have proven to be worthless to me. Spybot, on the other hand, has always been there to save my bacon. Now, let it be said that Spybot is far from perfect in the world of spyware removal. And yet, the claim that Norton Ghost throws a fit if you leave Spybot installed is highly suspect. Not from Kolla’s claim, but rather from Symantec’s. I seriously doubt that there is going to be any sort of error coming up from leaving Spybot installed and while I am not a Ghost user, I would want to see more proof of this rather than take Symantec at face value on this point.

With all of this in mind, I will state here on the record that I have not ever had issues with any sort of conflicts between Spybot and other disk imaging software. In other words, what makes Ghost so special? Personally, I am suspicious of Symantec’s claim. It does not appear to be offering any sort of proof. And I know that Spybot has never suggested uninstalling Ghost in order to keep your PC safe from spyware nasties. So what is going on here? Could this simply be Symantec’s way of making sure its spyware removal product remains the only one being used? I really am not in a position to make such a statement as fact.

As to my own opinion however, the indicators certainly appear to be heading that direction, are they not?

Tags: spyware, symantec, spybot, ghost