When Earthlink announced they'd be offering a spyware solution last year, users were initially pleased. At least until they realized that "SpyAudit" only finds spyware - it doesn't actually remove it - for a number of reasons. What's more, users in our forums have been complaining for months that the product is a master at finding spyware that isn't there. In fact it's so overly sensitive, the software is apparently even the butt of jokes around the Earthlink office. But why doesn't it remove spyware?

There's several reasons; some legit - others less so. The removal of some spyware/adware can often disable the "parent" software, causing a host of new problems users would then look toward their ISP or PC manufacturer to repair. Since spending time and money on customer service has gone the way of the Betamax player, many companies simply have decided to avoid the issue entirely, while others offer half-hearted solutions.

Last year Dell decided to implement a company wide support policy to never recommend the use of spyware removal tools. Even if a user's PC could have clearly been repaired by the removal of some dubious software, Dell employees were not allowed to raise a finger to assist. They did eventually back-pedal on that decision, signing an agreement to distribute Pest Patrol - but only after a firestorm of negative media attention.

Of course they weren't just afraid of breaking something, they're also afraid of taking a stand against spyware developers, who've been known to sue anyone who infers their products don't meet the highest ethical standards. They've grown increasingly defensive as politicians have begun to get involved in the anti-spyware movement by drafting new laws. The result has been a flurry of semantic prattle over properly classifying intrusive applications as either spyware, or adware.

And naturally in the internet marketing business, many companies have incestuous relationships with software makers who may offer "contextual marketing" (as they like to call it) solutions. Removal of such software often creates a profit conflict. How many of these companies offering "spyware removal" tools have relationships with companies like Doubleclick? Likewise, what do you think you'd find if you ran a spyware scan of a fresh Dell PC straight off the factory floor?

So if Spy Audit only identifies spyware (albeit poorly) and doesn't actually remove it, does it have a purpose?

Well, according to an Earthlink Press release today, the company is keeping a running total of Spy Audit's findings. According to their first report, more than a million scans have been run, with the software on average finding 27.8 instances of spyware per PC on average. The report indicates the software has so far found some 29,540,618 instances of adware and adware related cookies on scanned PC's.

The end result? Earthlink gets their name in lights as a concerned netizen, limits their liability, reduces their support costs, and protects their marketing interests. Meanwhile, most of the adware is likely still sitting there.

"When Internet users have questions about spyware, we want them to turn to the SpyAudit report as a reliable source of current information about this growing threat to Internet privacy," said Matt Cobb, EarthLink's vice president of core applications, oddly failing to mention the important step of actually removing the spyware (which the press release doesn't mention either).

In their defense, Earthlink's "Total Access" package does include some Spyware blocking functionality. However if users are serious about spyware removal, the best solution is a combination of both Ad-Aware and Spybot: Search and Destroy. Both are free, and amazingly, both actually remove spyware.