Whats the best free Anti-Spyware options?

Saskia

So far Ive ran AdAware, Search & Destroy and Hijack This (where can I have my log checked by the way?). Are there any other free options to make my PC safe from prying eyes as, as you can see from another post, Im a bit paranoid about sending invoices by email. Thanks

Saskia

Anyone?

I need to get my PC ultra safe today. Thanks

aidan_walsh

See sig.

Deliverance XXV

ALL LINKS ABOVE!!
Hey man these are the apps I use and together with safe surfing and constant updating I have NEVER came across spy/mal/adware or any viruses.

If you use Firefox/IE make sure and get the McAfee SiteAdvisor add-on

AdAware SE Personal (The first one you should download!)
AVG anti-virus (Average anti virus but for free it's brill! Only USE one anti-virus)
Spybot Search and Destroy (Very thorough)
Spyware Blaster (Great for blocking spyware)
Windows Defender (Vista standard)
Windows Firewall (Zone Alarm ain't Vista compatible yet:mad: )

I also use CCleaner to clean computer!!

morgana

I've recently changed from Spyware Doctor after their disastrous version 5 release (BSOD, general slow-down, etc.) to Spyware Terminator http://www.spywareterminator.com/ a free malware checker including real-time protection. So far so good - it seems to do the job, a nice looking program, quick background full check, quite customisable with regard to real-time protection options.

Deliverance XXV

Oh and don't worry about Hijack this unless you actually have a problem that your spyware apps cant fix;
eg. Unusual slow-downs, pop ups etc!

Just google search 'hijack this forums' and you will get a heap of replies should your computer be in disaster but like I said, you will have no need for hijack this if you be careful!

jester77

I've the exact same setup as King Nothing. Just run regular scans and be careful of where you browse and you should be ok. Use AdBlockPlus if using Firefox.

ActorSeeksJob

Just to comment on some peoples choices

AdAware SE Personal - old and not as good anymore, good back in the day
AVG anti-virus - this is quite decent and free
Spybot Search and Destroy - nice program, but also old and a little dated, however it does have a very nice Immunization feature and a resident tea-timer guard.
SpywareBlaster - excellent
Windows Defender - pretty bad
Windows Firewall - pretty bad
Spyware Doctor - its ok, but not free, and easy to get better programs that wont cost you anything
Spyware Terminator - not a fan of this @ all, used to be in the "Rogue anti-spyware list", meaning it gave false positives and generally was not a good program.

I use the following, which a lot of pc security experts recommend :
SpywareBlaster
SpywareGuard
AVG anti-spyware
I get practically no spyware @ all with these programs.

If you want to post a HijackThis log here I can look @ the results and tell you if anything is wrong. Wouldn't hurt to do it even if u think your pc is fine

irishshogun

AVG also do a free anti spyware product now. I use it seems to do the job

warrenaldo

stay away from that spyware doctor - i tried it out and it slowed down my computer to no end.

Fanny Cradock

Yeah, see aidan walsh's sig.

However, I will add a few things:

Ad-aware is pointless as it detects nothing. Maybe the new version will be better!

As well as doing a good antivirus program (AV Comparativesscores AVira above AVG and Avast), AVG also do a good Antispyware program and a Rootkit detector.

Forget the windows firewall. Download Comodo or ZoneAlarm. Check out the results from these leak tests (about 1/3 down the screen) - Comodo beats off all the opposition (free and purchased firewalls). Windows firewall finishes last.

Ruu_Old

Fanny Cradock wrote:

Yeah, see aidan walsh's sig.

However, I will add a few things:

Ad-aware is pointless as it detects nothing. Maybe the new version will be better!

As well as doing a good antivirus program (AV Comparativesscores AVira above AVG and Avast), AVG also do a good Antispyware program and a Rootkit detector.

Forget the windows firewall. Download Comodo or ZoneAlarm. Check out the results from these leak tests (about 1/3 down the screen) - Comodo beats off all the opposition (free and purchased firewalls). Windows firewall finishes last.

Have to agree.

ActorSeeksJob

the new beta version of ad-aware isnt supposed to be that good unfortunately. Theres supposed to be a new version of Spybot coming out in future also which im looking forward to.

SouperComputer

Hitman Pro does a lot of the above, automatically.