A contrarian I am!

The most effective anti-spy progam remains Webroot's Spysweeper. There's a fully-functional 30-day trial that includes ONE update. Try it. Compare it.

Remember... old stand-bys like Spybot and AdAware SE are lately no more than mediocre tools at removing malware.

Spybot and AdAware both have issues dealing with restore-exploiting malware, rootkits, transponder variants. They are both slow to update (ESP. Spybot). They follow what I call the 14-day rule in that it seems to take about 10 to 14 days for them to deal with morphing threats discovered in the wi

That said, I still use the products, but I won't recommend either Spybot or AdAware as first-line solutions anymore. I think we are seeing here the same thing we saw with spam a few years ago. The malware vendors have figured out how to overwhelm INDIVIDUAL efforts to defeat them. Like, CWShredder (now maintained by Trend Micro), Spybot and AdAware, are essentially single individuals with mostly volunteer help. They don't have the resources to maintain the pace being set by malware vendors. (Spam filtering wasn't effective or reliable until armies of IT pros worked at the server level developing and maintaining complex rules to fight it.)

You can stop reading now unless you're interested in more info on this subject. This is the VERY short version of basic anti-spy tips.

NOTE: For effective removal of malware, you must first understand some basic proceedural issues:

* "Download" means SAVE TO HARDDRIVE, it does NOT mean "OPEN" or "RUN" so don't use the OPEN or RUN buttons when downloading, first SAVE the file. [You would not believe how many PC users don't understand this!]

* Install the program AND update it BEFORE doing the scan and remove. (Out-of-date versions can be worse than the disease and cause more harm than good!)

* Run in Windows SAFE MODE with NO network support after updating. (Tap F8 while PC boots.)

* You need to get to the removal programs. That means you must understand how to use a taskmanager to locate and terminate applications and processes that interfere with the operation of the PC. (And this is why an EXPERT is usually required to deal with badly infested PCs!) Access to another PC and a USB flash drive are essential tools to aid this process!

Recommended reference/information sites:

Bleeping Computer's Most Popular Tutorials - This page is the top totorials by popularity - http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/tutepopular.html

Eric Howe's Spyware Information Page - http://spywarewarrior.com/sww-help.htm

AumHa.Org's Quick Fix Protocols - http://www.aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm

HijackThis Automated Log Analyser from I Am Not A Geek - http://hjt.iamnotageek.com/

Important Software download sites

I Am Not A Geek Anti-spy Downloads page - http://www.networktechs.com/

Webroot's Spysweeper = http://www.webroot.com/products/spysweeper/ = [30-day trial with ONE update]

SpywareBlaster = http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html =[DONATIONWARE]

LavaSoft's AdAware SE = http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/ = [FREE limited version]

Spybot Search & Destroy = http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html = [DONATIONWARE]

HijackThis = http://spywarewarrior.com/files/hijackthis.zip OR http://spywarewarrior.com/files/HijackThis.exe = [FREEWARE]