A tip for using Spybot S&D

If you use this link Sian, it`ll give you the tutorial for using Spybot there. It`ll explain it better than I probably can :wink:

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/tutorial/

Spybot has been rated No1 by download.com`s Spyware Centre: http://www.download.com/Spyware-Obstacle-Course/1200-2023_4-5135091.html

With downloadable software, free doesn’t always mean without cost. Many software companies resort to bundling free applications with spyware and adware programs for a cut of advertising money from third-party companies. These unwanted guests can slow down your system, track your Web-surfing habits, and even record private information. That’s why it’s so important to have the best spyware detectors available to root out these parasites before they choke your system.

To help you decide which programs to use, we assembled a spyware-detector obstacle course of the most nefarious spyware and adware available: nCase, BargainBuddy, ISTbar, DyFuCA, PowerScan, and Internet Optimizer–the Unsavory Six.

We then ran the most well-known heavyweights in the adware-removal category, including the free programs Ad-Aware and Spybot – Search & Destroy, as well as the paid programs Spy Cleaner Gold, Spyware Doctor, and Webroot Spy Sweeper, to see how well each performed.

We certainly liked it when our Unsavory Six showed up on the detection list, because it showed the program was thorough about listing each culprit. However, it was far more important that it remove the programs from our hard drive. We held the paid software to a higher standard because you need to pay if you want the full version or updated definitions.

Results of tests:

Rankings

1 Spybot – Search & Destroy

2 Webroot Spy Sweeper

3 Ad-Aware

4 Spy Cleaner Gold

5 Spyware Doctor

Overall, whereas the paid programs managed to detect most of our Unsavory Six, only Webroot Spy Sweeper removed them all. Though Spy Cleaner Gold gets the congeniality award for providing helpful manual-removal instructions, it still failed to remove two of our Unsavory Six. Spyware Doctor managed to identify (without removing) only one of the Unsavory Six. Of the paid programs, then, we will give the award to Webroot Spy Sweeper, but not without reservations.

Webroot Spy Sweeper was the only program to remove all the Unsavory Six. Its scan took the longest by far, but it may have been the most thorough. Because of one unsettling problem, however, we can’t hand the gold medal to Spy Sweeper. Upon launching Internet Explorer after the scan, we saw a search toolbar Spy Sweeper claimed to have removed. Though the browser-helper object wasn’t one of our Unsavory Six, this raised concern.

None of the programs offered foolproof detection or removal. Ad-Aware offered a nice interface, handy scheduling, and easy updating features, but left the noxious nCase and PowerScan. While Spybot had an ugly, sometimes confusing interface, it caught almost all the culprits we threw at it. That’s why we ranked it at No. 1.

In the end, though, we found there is no perfect program for detecting and removing all parasites. We recommend you download at least two of these programs to catch as much spyware and adware as possible.

:)