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Anti-Spyware
- Best anti-spyware software PC Tools Spyware Doctor 6.0 *Est. $30
- Budget anti-spyware software Sunbelt CounterSpy 3.1 *Est. $20
- Security suite with the best spyware prevention Norton Internet Security 2009 *Est. $45
- Free adware/spyware removal tool Lavasoft Ad-Aware Free Anniversary Edition *Est. $0
- Free real-time spyware blocker Microsoft Windows Defender 1.1 *Est. $0
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- Free
- Decent spyware removal performance
- Doesn't block spyware
- No automatic scans
Reviews say Lavasoft Ad-Aware does a good job of removing adware/spyware that's already on your computer, but not of preventing it in the first place. And you have to manually run a scan to find threats -- the free Ad-Aware doesn't scan automatically. If you want to go the free-downloads route for spyware protection, experts say you're going to need a bunch of them because none of the freebies do everything well. Most experts say all the freeware should supplement paid protection, rather than serve as a primary defense. PC World's Erik Larkin says of Ad-Aware: "It should run happily alongside your existing antivirus (which likely has anti-spyware features of its own), and can offer an extra layer of protection for your PC." At minimum, you should supplement this freeware with a free spyware blocker such as Microsoft Windows Defender 1.1, which is included in the Windows Vista operating system and is available as a free download to validated Windows XP owners.
Most professional reviews focus on the paid Lavasoft Ad-Aware versions. The best coverage of the free 2008 Ad-Aware is from CNet's Download.com website where there's an editors' rating as well as input from hundreds of user reviews. PC World also has staff coverage of the 2008 free version. There's a very brief review of the 2007 free version of Ad-Aware at WebUser.
Our Sources
1. Download.com
CNet's Download.com editors give the free version of Lavasoft Ad-Aware 2008 four out of five stars, and the average rating of more than 300 user reviews is nearly as high. CNet.com notes that two improvements over the 2007 free version are faster scans and the updater working only when you tell it to.
Review: Ad-Aware 2008 7.1.0.8 Reviews, Editors of and contributors to CNet.com
PC World reviews the free 2008 version of the Lavasoft Ad-Aware and says while it's worth having a supplemental security, there's no real-time protection.
Review: Ad-Aware 2008 Free, Erik Larkin, May 27, 2008
3. WebUser.com
Although it lists a price, British website WebUser says the free Lavasoft Ad-Aware 2007 is fine for scanning older threats but less useful for real-time protection. Reviewer Neil Mohr says it "managed to miss a couple of our test spyware threats that the majority of others caught."
Review: Lavasoft Ad-Aware 2007, Neil Mohr, Sept. 13, 2007
This is a review of the paid Ad-Aware 2008 version (*est. $40), but there is some discussion of which features the free version lacks. Reviewer Neil Rubenking gives the paid Ad-Aware 2008 version a rating of 3.5 out of five after having given the 2007 version a two ("fair"), saying it's "steadily improving" but is still far better at removal after the fact than prevention.
Review: Ad-Aware 2008 Pro, Neil J. Rubenking, May 20, 2008
5. Amazon.com
There are just a handful of user reviews at Amazon.com of the paid version, mostly negative. A couple of reviewers say they used free versions of Ad-Aware with no problems, but the paid version gave them difficulty (although their gripes are varied).
Review: Lavasoft Ad-Aware Plus Anti-Spyware Reviews, Contributors to Amazon.com
6. ConsumerReports.orgDetails/Subscribe
Consumer Reports applies laboratory and hands-on testing to a dozen free and paid anti-spyware programs and ranks them in a chart. But the versions are old, and it rates the paid version of Lavasoft Ad-Aware 2007 rather than the free one. You must be a subscriber to view this report.
Review: Ratings: Antispyware programs, Editors of Consumer Reports, Sept. 2007
Anti-Spyware Runners Up:
2 picks by top review sites.
2 picks by top review sites.
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