Spyware Reviews - March 2006

Here are our latest spyware reviews and spyware removal product comparisons. We put each product through our rigorous Spyware Effectiveness Test and publish our results in the table below. For other products that didn't make our top ten, click on the links to the left.

	Spyware Doctor performed extremely well in our March 2006 Spyware testing and offers a number of additional immunization features to block common security holes. It is one of the few tools we tested which removed both CoolWebSearch and the stubborn SpywareStrike/SpyFalcon threats. Ease-of-use, frequent updates and good customer support make this a good product for virtually all home users. PC Tools offers a free scan to determine if any spyware is on your system.
Try It Now!                      Lowest Price: $29.95

Below you will find side-by-side comparisons of the top spyware removal products. You can click through to read detailed reviews of the products, or scroll through to the end of this page to see summarized anti spyware reviews.

Outstanding Good Average Fair Poor Beware! Rank 4 5 6 7 8 9 10   Read Review Read Spyware Review Read Spyware Review Read Spyware Review Read Spyware Review Read Spyware Review Read Spyware Review Read Spyware Review Read Spyware Review Read Spyware Review Read Spyware Review Download Link TRY NOW TRY NOW TRY NOW TRY NOW TRY NOW TRY NOW TRY NOW TRY NOW TRY NOW TRY NOW Overall Rating Spyware Test Score 75% 79% 73% 70% 56% 58% 54% 50% 50% 49% Protection Ease of Use Stability Support Purchase Price $29.95 $29.95 $29.95 $29.99 $19.99 $80.00 $39.95 $29.95 $29.99 $39.99 Protection Overall Blocking and Removal Detect Spyware in RAM     Detect Browser Homepage Change   Scan Startup Settings     Detect Tracking Cookies   Detect Spyware when it tries to install     Detect Registry Entries   Remove Spyware during startup     Immunize Functionality limited     Usability Speed Includes Scheduler       Summary of Results Detailed Scan Results   Allows Rollback   Operating System Compatibility Works well with Browser   Customer Service Technical Support "No Questions Asked" refund policy         Documentation Updates Live Update Feature Update Frequency Updates Included in Purchase price 1 year 1 year 1 year 1 year 1 year 1 year 1 year 1 year 1 year 1 year Rank 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

More Spyware Reviews

Aluria Spyware Eliminator (read review) Aluria Spyware Eliminator performed extremely well in our Spyware Effectiveness testing. Frequent updates and excellent customer support make this a good alternative to Spyware Doctor.

Webroot's Spy Sweeper (read review) Webroot's Spy Sweeper is one of the better products out there, with an impressive 73% removal rate. It even completely removed CoolWebSearch, something few other products do. However, it is a resource hog and the constant popup alerts make it difficult to keep this program running at all times. Spy Sweeper would make an excellent backup program to be run in conjunction with another spyware remover.

ZeroSpyware 2005 (read spyware review)

ZeroSpyware is a very full-featured program and has by far the most attractive and usable interface out of the many products we tested. It is also unique in that it offers a link to customer support directly within the user interface. However, although it scored in the upper tier in terms of sheer effectiveness, it was far from perfect with only a 68% disable rate. We would recommend using this program in conjunction with a more powerful spyware remover, perhaps as an upgrade to Microsoft AntiSpyware.

Microsoft AntiSpyware (read spyware review)

While once a top-rated product, Microsoft AntiSpyware is no longer effective enough to act as a standalone spyware remover. While it made a significant improvement to our spyware-infested PC, it couldn't eliminate all of the pop-ups and other invaders.

Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE (read spyware review)

Lavasoft's adaware SE is a huge improvement over previous versions in terms of usability, but still lags behind in terms of sheer effectiveness. It is a better product than most others on the market, but its lack of scheduling ability, average real-time monitoring, and complex user interface detract from its sheer power.

McAfee AntiSpyware (read spyware review)

McAfee Antispyware provides average protection against spyware. The product sports a beautiful user interface, but has a number of annoying installation and usability quirks. It is more expensive than other products, and McAfee's marketing team takes every opportunity to upsell you on their other software, which results in a product that borders on "adware" itself.

Pest Patrol (read spyware review)

Pest Patrol is a good product with superior protection, although it is priced higher than our other top picks. We found that it had a somewhat confusing interface. It may be a better pick for business settings as it had an over-enthusiastic tendency to flag file sharing applications as spyware.

NoAdware (read spyware review)

A controversial product, NoAdware is heavily advertised on the internet as an effective spyware removal tool. Our tests indicate differently however. We uncovered a product that was unable to detect real spyware on our computer, and instead tried to fool us with "false positives". Unfortunately, some of the spyware is claimed to detect were actually operating system files and legitimate software, including Apple's Quicktime player. We were disappointed with NoAdware and recommend that you stay away from this product.

Spybot S&D (read spyware review)

Spybot S&D; v1.4 leaves a lot to be desired in terms of effectiveness and other programs do a better job of restoring an infected PC to a healthy state. Spybot provides only average protection, infrequent updates, and non-existent support. Lacking so much as a scheduler, this barebones program is hardly worth the download.