Top 5 Free Antispyware Tools

gili | Oct 31, 2007 | View Comments


Spyware is among the most prevalent PC annoyances I am aware of. It threats our online privacy, not only by monitoring our activity; but also by potentially collecting personal information such as passwords and transmitting them to unauthorized 3rdparties.

Luckily, although spyware threat is definitely on the rise, so is the quality and capabilities of the available Antispyware tools. Interestingly, some of the best Spyware preventers and removers are 100% free. Today, I would like to quickly go over those tools, aiming to make you aware of them, so you can pick which of them to add to your PC security toolkit.

Ad-Aware

A must-have Spyware remover, Ad-Aware is a powerful yet easy-to-use tool that scans your PC files and its registry and allows you to remove potential Spyware. If you are a Webmaster or blog owner who runs the Alexa Toolbar on Internet Explorer, be aware that Ad-Aware will recommend to remove the toolbar and its associated files after scanning your PC :).

Trend Micro HijackThis

Another masterpiece. HiJackThis is a Spyware detection tool that identifies programs and registry keys that can potentially be exploited by Spyware. HijackThis is specially useful in situations in which your web browser was”hijacked” by an annoying website that takes over your home page and refuses to be wiped away from it. That said, please note that HiJack this is not easy to use and prone to errors, and thus i strongly recommend that if you are not profficient with HijackThis usage, you’ll better consult more knowledgeable folks (this forum is a great place to post your HikackThis logs and ask for some guidelines from experts).

SpywareTerminator

A free and easy-to-use Spyware monitoring and removal tool. Spyware Terminator features a “clean” user interface and a real time protection service, that allows you to block malware as it tries to get installed in your PC. One caveat is the fact that Spyware Terminator is currently not officially supported on Vista.

SpywareBlaster

SpywareBlaster is a Spyware preventer which disallows the installation of malicious programs and tracking cookies. A good choice if you are not using the aforementioned Spyware Terminator.

Spybot – Search & Destroy 1.5

A long timer, Spybot – Search & Destroy is a good Spyware detection and removal tool that you can use in conjunction with Adaware of Spyware Terminator. Spybot also allows you to fix Registry inconsistencies, a feature that you definitly might want to use from time to time.

Although i am a big fan of free software, i can’t avoid recommending two moderately priced antispyware tools that offer some good value. Those are Trend Micro Antivirus Plus 2008 AntiSpyware and WinPatrol. So if you are looking for a commercial antispyware or have a few spare bucks to spend you might want to consider them as well.

Now is your turn, what’s your favorite antispyware tool? Your comments and suggestions are welcome.


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  • JA
    i WILL GIVE YOU THE BEST SECURITY SYSTEMS MACFEE  aOL sYWARE PROTECTION nORTON 360 and if you like free protection here is one avg
  • munsif
    my computer has giot infected with backweb lite, adware and viruses such as trojons, total 25 infections have been detected, but the windows anti spyware 2009, which has been automatically comwe to my computer, is not working , there is a cd available at shop, i.e. avg, and norton 2008, what to to do.

    munsif ali, age;39, male from pakistan
    09203313524436
  • I am also a big fan of Spybot S&D. So far it has worked flawlessly, and it not nearly as annoying as Ad-Aware. Plus, I believe that you can use it commercially w/out license restrictions
  • I prefer nod32 it's very powerful and doesn't use much cpu
  • When I first time check my computer with Ad-Aware I was surprised how spy keys founded.
  • I think I'm fairly similar to Mark in that I use Ad-Aware & Spybot S&D; pretty much exclusively. I've never been someone to have too many tools! I spend the majority of my blogging/design time on my Macbook Pro anyway :)
  • I've generally found Ad-Aware to be fine for me - just be careful you download the authentic version and not a spyware-ridden program pretending to be it. Also I would recommend a firewall like ZoneAlarm that can regulate program access to the Internet so that if anything tries "phoning home" you can catch it out.
  • Normally, I'm not a big M$ fan, but is there any reason that Windows Defender was left out of the mix?. It's free, easy to install, and actually seems to work.
  • I use a mixture of Ad aware & Spybot S&D. Between them you can't go wrong. Nice article by the way.
  • So many dont know about WinPatrol!
    Ive been using Bitdefender for a while now. I like it.
    Its my first all-in-one and I like the real time updates.
    Great Article!
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