| Product |
Review |
#1
Spy Sweeper
$29.95
 |
Pros:
Superior realtime monitoring
Highly customizable
Frequent updates
Startup shield
Browser hijack shield
Easy to use
Excellent Customer Support |
Cons:
None found so far
|
Review Summary:
Our TopChoice Award goes to Spy Sweeper. We found Spy Sweeper to have the best combination of spyware detection / prevention capabilities and ease of use. Spy Sweeper provides outstanding protection with minimal system impact and without significant user interaction.
The unique thing about Spy Sweeper are the amount of realtime protection features called "shields" which they employ. These are essential in protecting your computer from spyware infection and unwanted changes to your system. The shields consist of a browser hijack shield, a startup shield (which we found in no other anti spyware product), IE favorites shield, Host file shield, realtime memory monitoring, amongst others. Spy Sweeper also has an alert feature, which will alert you when it detects various changes such as those mentioned above. Spy Sweeper does an excellent job of detecting and removing all types of spyware.
Product details... |
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#2
CounterSpy
$19.95
|
Pros:
Customizable
Highly effective
Easy to use |
Cons:
No scheduler
|
Review Summary:
CounterSpy does a great job of actively monitoring your system for spyware threats without bogging down your computer. CounterSpy employs Internet Explorer browser protection, spyware installation prevention, startup program management and more. CounterSpy is also highly customizable allowing you to select the level of active protection. Another useful feature is a 'PC Explorer' which allows you to investigate various areas on your computer where spyware typically resides such as BHOs(Browser helper objects), installed Active-X controls, etc.
Product details... |
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#3
Spyware Doctor
$29.95
|
Pros:
Highly extensive scanning ability
Clean, intuitive interface |
Cons:
No memory monitoring / scanning
No realtime installation detection
No browser hijack shield |
Review Summary:
Spyware Doctor is a very effective spyware scanner and spyware remover however it lacks some important realtime monitoring features such as realtime memory monitoring and installation detection. Spyware Doctor employs a feature called OnGuard which routinely checks for BHO (browser helper objects), ActiveX threats, and cookies. Spyware Doctor has the ability to scan files, the windows registry, the host file, LSPs, running processes, browser hijackers and cookies. The interface is clean and easy to use and navigate.
Product details... |
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#4
SpySubtract
$29.95
|
Pros:
Realtime memory monitoring
Whitelist/Blacklist |
Cons:
No ActiveX protection
Lacks advanced scanning/monitoring features |
Review Summary:
SpySubtract contains an active monitoring agent that they call Venus Spy Trap. Venus Spy Trap has the ability to monitor memory realtime and prevent various spyware from installing itself onto your system. Durning a manual scan, SpySubtract allows you to scan files, the windows registry, and memory for known spyware threats. However, SpySubtract lacks some advanced scanning and monitoring features found in our higher ranked products. SpySubtract also contains a blacklist and whitelist which will allow you to always remove (blacklist) or always keep (whitelist) various detected files. The unique thing about SpySubtract is that is conains a permanent file shredder, called CWShredder, which allows you to permanantly delete files from your computer, making it impossible to recover using file recovery software. SpySubtract also contains a history cleaner which allows you to remove traces of various activity on your computer such as browser history and Windows run and search history.
Product details... |
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#5
CA Anti-Spyware
$39.99
|
Pros:
Realtime memory monitor
Detailed scan results |
Cons:
Confusing interface
No scheduler
Generates false positives |
Review Summary:
CA Anti-Spyware does an excellent job of detecting and removing spyware - almost too good. We found CA Anti-Spyware to be extremely sensitive in its detection process to the point that it may inaccurately flag legitimate files as spyware. For example, it flagged a custom written java script as spyware. This is increasingly noticeable with file sharing programs, and deleting some of these files may render various programs useless. However, like many other anti spyware software, CA Anti-Spyware allows you to roll back or undo the spyware removal process so that if it does inadvertantly remove a required file, you can restore it. On the plus side, CA Anti-Spyware now contains a realtime memory monitoring agent and realtime cookie monitoring agent. However, there are other important protection features that are not available such as ActiveX protection, and spyware installation protection.
Product details... |
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#6
NoAdware
$29.99
|
Pros:
Easy to use
Contains some useful protection features ('shields) |
Cons:
May cause programs to stop working
|
Review Summary:
NoAdware contains 'shields' for: known ActiveX controls, known Internet Explorer hijackers, the Windows hosts file, and an Internet Explorer home page setting. NoAdware now has many important realtime monitoring features such as realtime memory monitoring, and installation detection. NoAdware has been known to identify important system files and files which are not considered spyware as spyware.
Product details... |
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#7
SpyRemover
$29.95
|
Pros:
Easy to use
Rollback/restore functionality
Ability to whitelist (ignore) specific spyware |
Cons:
Lacks advanced realtime protection features
No scheduling ability
No browser hijack shield
|
Review Summary:
SpyRemover did not impress us. It uses a very basic scan and remove process as well as a basic rollback/restore process if neccessary. SpyRemover also contains very basic realtime protection which scans running processes and registry changes. Realtime protection is disabled by default. There are better products available in it's price range.
Product details... |
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#8
SpyHunter
$29.95
|
Pros:
Easy to install
Easy to use |
Cons:
No realtime protection / monitoring
No scheduling ability
Limited spyware definition list
No rollback/restore functionality
No browser hijack shield |
Review Summary:
SpyHunter is a very basic spyware scan and removal program. It will only scan files and the windows registry. It does a decent job of decting and removing spyware, but there are no protection or monitoring features whatsoever with SpyHunter. There are better products available in it's price range.
Product details...
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