All of a sudden, do you notice a plethora of pop-ups on your desktop, an odd wallpaper, toolbars, or just a whole lot of other programs on your computer that YOU NEVER INSTALLED? Chances are, your computer is infected with Spyware.
As defined by
Wikipedia,
"Spyware is computer software that is installed surreptitiously on a personal computer to intercept or take partial control over the user's interaction with the computer, without the user's informed consent".Luckily, there are many companies out there who are willing to help you get rid of these "pests" once and for all, and the following information should make it clear as to which ones are the most effective according our users here at DSLReports.
This years
POLL was a complete one sided victory for the program many, if not all, people have used to combat spyware -
Spybot Search & Destroy. Walking away with 22.8% of votes, it blew away the competition with quite a comfortable lead.
Spyware Blaster (12.8%),
Ad-Aware (11.2%) and even
Windows Defender (9.9%) got quite a bit of votes, but it was not enough to earn them the victory.
Spybot
"detects and removes spyware, a relatively new kind of threat not yet covered by common anti-virus applications". Spybot is simply an all-round anti-spyware program that will remove all kinds of spyware to keep your computer running healthy.
The Requirements for Spybot is not very demanding either, which makes older and newer systems have the same kind of protection they deserve. All you need is one of the following:
*Windows 95
*Windows 98
*Windows Me
*Windows NT
*Windows 2000
*Windows XP
*Windows Vista
Other choices included this year:
| Ad-Aware 2007 | 6.1% |
| SUPERAntiSpyware | 5.6% |
| AVG Anti-Spyware | 4.9% |
| BOClean | 4.9% |
| MVPS HOSTS File | 3.6% |
| A-Squared 3 | 2.5% |
| None | 2.5% |
| Webroot Spy Sweeper | 2.3% |
| SpywareGuard |
2.1% | |
| IE-SPYAD/IE-SPYAD2 | 1.7% |
| Bazooka Adware and Spyware Scanner | 1% |
| Spyware Doctor | 1% |
| eTrust PestPatrol Anti-Spyware | 0.8% |
| CounterSpy 2 | 0.6% |
| Spyware Terminator | 0.5% |
| Ashampoo AntiSpyWare | 0.1% |
| SpyHunter | 0% |
| SpyRemover | 0% |
Due to the nature of the results, Spybot clearly swept the competition. Most users preferred a "layer protection" which involved more than one anti-spyware program installed. The reasoning behind this is so that if one program doesn't catch everything, the other ones will.
Bottom Line: Whether your a beginner or an expect, when it comes to spyware, Spybot Search & Destroy is a "must-have" program.
got feedback?
got feedback?by blackdragon1 
edited by lilhurricane
last modified: 2009-02-24 14:06:15
