internet utilities

I first bought the Enigma's Spy Hunter, but its performance was so disappointing plus poor support that I gave it away. On the other hand Spyware , blocks spyware in real time, has the biggest definitions list of spywares, fast scanning with remaining time, good support, inexpensive that was the best choice.

If you want the best this is it.

This product requires no effort to use. It installs quickly and is immediately ready to sweep through your files. On the initial sweep through, it corrected a serious problem caused by adware. When it reviewed the files on my kids computer, it identified 24 adware and similar programs that had been installed with some of the web packages my kids use. The programs are quarantined for now but both our computers are finally working the way we need them to.

Spysweeper by Webroot is now at version 3.0.

The good news........Webroot provided me with V3 under their
ONE YEAR of free upgrades AND updates.

Version 2 was good, but version 3 has a lot of cool new features, like all the new "shields".

So, when some Mal-ware program tries to change your browser home-page, an alert comes up and asks you if you authorized such a change.

Other shields include a HIJACK shield, IE tracking, IE favorites.

One especially neat one is the STARTUP ITEMS shield.
Before a program becomes a startup item, this shield pops up and asks you for authorization.

NOTE 1 : At this point in time, no single anti-spyware product appears to protect you from ALL potential mal-ware threats.
In fact, I have 4 different, FULL VERSION, products.
I alternate between these 4 programs almost daily.

There is a major amount of detection overlap but not a COMPLETE overlap. Each of the 4 programs finds stuff that the others didn't.

NOTE 2: I've debated folks in newsgroups about mal-ware detection s/w. Several folks comment that since there are FREE s/w packages, so why would anyone PAY for s/w?

First of all, remember, no single package detects every s/w threat out there (that I am aware of).

IMHO, the most indepth ones are NOT free s/w packages.
However, the freeware ones are good to an extent.

As for my personal PC's security, I use the following s/w packages: 1 firewall, 1 virus-scanner and 4 anti-spyware packages.

NOTE 3: Watch out for wolves in sheep's clothing!

There are several "self-proclaimed" ANTI-spyware packages that actually INSTALL mal-ware onto your pc! You in fact, are shooting yourself in the foot by installing such programs.

NOTE 4 : My favorites?
a. Spysweeper
b. Pestpatrol
c. Mcafee Anti-spy