SpyWorks V8.0 represents a major fork in development of the package. As such, it can be installed on the same system with version V7.1. It contains a completely new set of components and a separate subclassing/hook engine.
Major changes are as follows:
- Anti-spyware technology. These changes are designed to prevent the SpyWorks components from being incorrectly identified as Spyware. This takes two forms: first, the new subclassing and hook controls have built in restrictions that make them unable to intercept keystrokes from certain windows (such as text boxes used to capture passwords) making the components less useful to spyware authors. Second, the components have been renamed to not include the word "spy" or "spyworks" because these were causing confusion among end-users
- SpyWorks V8.0 has improved handling of Windows hooks, particularly with regard to recovery when applications crash
- SpyWorks V8.0 does not include a light edition of the NT Service toolkit. This change was made because the full toolkit is included with the Universal COM product.