Spyware Removal Tools

I’ve recently been involved in a very active discussion about spyware and spyware removal tools with about 60 of my closest friends online. Inspired by both the conversation, and the desire to see if a computer that I consider to be well cared for, and relatively free of such malware, I decided to test all three of the spyware removal tools that we are currently discussing.

So I installed and ran the latest versions of Ad-aware, Spybot and Spysweeper on my computer. I ran Ad-aware first, followed by Spybot and finally Spysweeper. Quarantines were emptied between each test.

Each of the three spyware removal programs found something the others missed, but the most startling of all was the one I ran last. Spysweeper found and removed more spyware than Ad-aware and Spybot combined. Despite having cleaned my system just moments before with both Ad-aware and Spybot (and having emptied the quarantined files of both), Spysweeper still managed to find 30 pieces of software and 762 associated traces. One of which, the Alexa toolbar, was supposed to have been removed by ad-aware, but wasn't.

To further validate the test, I ran the same series of tests on a second computer with similar results.

Still not satisfied, I tested two additional computers. This time in reverse, running Spysweeper first. I was disappointed to see that the results here were also similar. Both Ad-aware and Spybot detected spyware that Spysweeper missed.

I find Spysweeper to be a more complete solution then the others that I tested. But the bottom line is this: There is no champion. They all leave vulnerabilities in your armor, and they all must be used in cooperation with each other to be of any real value.

What I need, what the world needs, is a champion; a single piece of software that can do the work right, the first time; a champion that can immunize our computers and protect us from spyware once and for all.