Protect your privacy by stopping spyware before it infects your system.

If you're anything like my mom (no offense, Mom), you tend to click on any good-looking Active X installer that comes your way, and hordes of spyware or adware then gets installed on your system. It's just one way spyware attacks. From time to time I'll install a killer little shareware app that installs some unwanted garbage on my machine.

Watch today's show to find out how to destroy spyware on your PC. It's an important thing to do if you want to protect your privacy and your personal information.

New approach to spyware

Until recently, spyware and adware detection was performed in a passive way: You scan for infections after they happen. This sucks because you don't know you have spyware until it's too late.

The best approach is to run a spyware-detection system resident in your computer's memory. Your computer constantly scans incoming files looking for potential spyware and adware signatures. It's the same method antivirus companies use to catch viruses.

Memory-resident spyware scanners are now hitting the market. Here are the players.


The test setup

To compare the scanning applications, I ran them on a Windows XP Professional machine with 10 known adware/spyware applications installed. Here's how each piece of software fared.

  • Ad-aware Plus
    Using a full system scan, Ad-aware detected and removed all 10 adware/spyware programs. However, the memory-resident real-time portion of the software did not detect the spyware.

  • Norton AntiVirus
    In a full system scan Norton detected and removed eight of 10 adware/spyware applications. Norton has yet to provide real-time detection the way it does with viruses.

  • Spybot - Search & Destroy
    Using a full system scan, Spybot detected and removed all 10 adware/spyware applications. I tested the third-party memory-resident detection and was able to nab a couple of adware/spyware applications.

  • McAfee Internet Security Suite
    Didn't detect any of the adware or spyware, but that's not really its job. It's still my favorite firewall.


My recommendations

I have yet to find an application that detects adware and spyware before it's installed on your PC, so my recommendation is not to pay for adware/spyware removal software at this time.

Simply use a combination of Ad-aware (freeware version) and Spybot - Search & Destroy to remove the offending software. I believe Norton is on the right track by combining antivirus software with adware/spyware-detection. With automatic updates and real-time detection, Norton could prove to be the ultimate removal tool for viruses, adware, and spyware. Only time will tell, and I'm sure McAfee has something up its sleeve as well.

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