FW Editor: Hey, when did you develop the first version of The Cleaner and why? How did you decide then to build a program of this kind?
Daniel Otis: The Cleaner was created 1998 as a response to the Back Orifice trojan. It was claimed by the authors of this trojan that it was unstoppable and undetectable. We took this as a challenge and devised a way to detect and remove it. Thus the very first anti-malware application was created. In the process of doing this we expanded our goals and added more common malware of the day. It was quickly realized that our method could be used to generically detect all known malware. Our process remains at the core of The Cleaner today along with several added technologies.

FW Editor: The Cleaner is around for more than a decade. How did your team manage to keep the program so high in the ratings during the years?
Daniel Otis: Our customers have done a great job of spreading the word about The Cleaner and MooSoft. We owe it all to them.

FW Editor: What can you tell us about the fresh new GUI that was introduced in the latest version of The Cleaner?
Daniel Otis: Looking back at previous versions it is clear we have struggled to find an interface we are really happy with. Version 4 was our most popular design but we were unable to secure the rights to artwork. As of version 6 (2010) we are using the tabbed display which really works for us. You can see the progression on the History page which I will link later.

FW Editor: How is this program able to scan your whole computer in under two minutes when the other program of its kinds take more than an hour to scan a computer with many files?
Daniel Otis: Well, I am not privy to the methods of the competition. I know that our product and at least one other anti-malware product are very fast. I often wonder at some of the anti-virus programs "what could you possibly be doing that takes 9 hours to scan?!"

FW Editor: How often is the virus database updated? If we use The Cleaner, is our computer protected against the new viruses?
Daniel Otis: Databases are updated daily and possibly more often if there is an outbreak. Your computer is protected with updates and there is protection against future attacks and unknown variants as well.

FW Editor: What else can you tell us about your work? Is this the only product you developed? Do you want to give our readers a trip through your recent work?
Daniel Otis: Before I started The Cleaner and MooSoft I wrote programs for friends and family, sometimes as paid contract work. I lacked direction until anti-malware became my passion. So, yes The Cleaner is my only major product. I also like to write some programs and give them away. These can be found on my website. Free stuff: http://www.moosoft.com/free-programs History of The Cleaner and MooSoft: http://www.moosoft.com/the-cleaner/history