Malware can cause some serious problems on your PC and there are no guaranteed ways of blocking it other than not connecting to the internet. However, Hazard Shield does a pretty good job of blocking threats before they are able to run on your PC.

Hazard Shield also comes with some useful integrated tools. The most popular is the file killer which can remove virtually any file on your system. Its most useful for removing locked or in-use files that Windows won't usually let you access. There are several other tools including an uninstall manager, a process manager and a scheduled task manager.

Like all good anti-malware, Hazard Shield also provides Realtime protection which can monitor and protect your computer by removing threats before they have chance to cause any serious damage. Best of all, it's very very light on resources.

For such a lightweight program, you'll be impressed at the protection that Hazard Shield offers.

While the developers claim that "Free 100% Real-Time Protection" is something that most similar programs charge for may be stretching the truth somewhat, Spyware Terminator & Web Security Guard is very powerful spyware solution.

The program includes all the options you expect to find in such a product including options to manually carry out or schedule scans as well as options to deny or allow access to certain programs to your PC. The program is not just a spyware scanner however as it also includes an antivirus scanner. The developers have also seen fit to include a "Web Security Guard" which carries out the the job that most anti-phishing and pop up blockers in Internet Explorer and Firefox already carry out. This feature also features user generated website reviews along with warnings as to whether the site could be potentially harmful or not. Note that the developers warn that if you are using an unsupported operating system (such as Windows 98 or ME), you it may be better to use version 1.9 which offers the same protection but is much lighter on resources as the one drawback of this program is that it is rather slow to start and close and can hog your memory at peak scanning periods.

This is a comprehensive security solution that has all avenues of attack covered although if you're already using a virus scanner, you may be better to stick with it as it seems the weakest part of what is generally an excellent package.

Spyware Doctor removes and provides real-time protection against just about any threat you can think of including spyware, adware, trojan horses, keyloggers, browser hijackers, phishing attacks and other malware threats. For Internet Explorer users, it also provides a built-in popup blocker and malicious site guard.

Scanning is quick and covers many areas of your PC including Windows registry, file system, processes and tasks, browser, network configuration and cookies. Since the scan is pretty quick, the most effective way to use it is to install it for use on Windows startup to ensure that your system is clean before every use. However, this will make your boot-up time longer and can sometimes be frustrating as you wait for Spyware Doctor to report that there's nothing new to remove since yesterday anyway. You may also find that it conflicts with other anti-virus or anti-spyware programs and you may be prompted to remove them or find that they have been effectively disabled by Spyware Doctor.

It's also important to ensure that Spyware Doctor has constant access to the internet as it is updated daily with the latest threats. However, these threats can sometimes be exaggerated out of proportion such as in the case of keyloggers which Spyware Doctor may warn you is a high threat but in reality, is benign.

According to the developers, even with the latest anti-spyware protection, 88% of new scans uncover a new malware detection – often after just 24 hours.

With new threats and variants emerging daily, SpyEraser has been designed to keep up to date with the latest threats and provide powerful detection and removal technologies, including Live Guard real time online protection.

Sophisticated scanning technologies and threat analysis tools even detect new variants of existing threats, as well as new ones, as they evolve. With its intelligent alert warning system and full quarantine, backup and restore features, SpyEraser is an excellent defense from malware pests.

Ad-Aware is one of the most popular anti-spyware tools, with millions of downloads worldwide, and I bet this number will be increased with the release of Ad-Aware 2008.

Before that day arrives, Lavasoft has decided to release the first public version of Ad-Aware 2008 also as a testing beta, counting on the users’ feedback to give its big shot the final shape before starting to ship it. You can now freely download this beta and test it on your own, always bearing in mind that beta apps can be a bit buggy and unreliable – though it seems this is not the case of Ad-Aware 2008. If you find any bugs and would like to report them, simply sign as a beta tester for free on the Lavasoft website.

This new version has improved its performance and stability. During my tests I could clearly tell the program is now faster in system scans and lighter on PC resources. Other important improvements include full support for 64-bit systems and Windows Vista, an enhanced rootkit removal system and integrated antivirus protection, which in spite of being only-Pro features, you'll be able to test thanks to a Pro trial serial number you obtain when signing up for the beta program.

The only drawback I found to the program is a rather outdated interface. It hasn't changed at all from previous versions and honestly, it could improve a lot with just some small tweaks.

If you want to have a sneak peek at the new Ad-Aware 2008, take advantage of this beta version and give it a go.

If your computer's performance suddenly starts to get worse and the whole system behaves in an abnormal way, you're likely to have some kind of malware in your hard drive. Anyway, just to be sure, you can launch this program and see for yourself.

RunScanner analyzes your system (with two possible alternatives, quick or full scan) and displays all running processes in Windows file system and Registry. Each one of the elements has some icons to its left that provide you with more information about it, although you'll have to check that online as the program doesn't include a help file.

Scans are very quick (even the full one) and can help you discover what's wrong with your system. Just bear in mind that this is not a definitive solution and that you need to be sure of what you're doing before actually deleting anything. Just in case, the program includes a backup option to unroll unwanted changes.

RunScanner also features a process killer and a hosts file editor.

In the never ending battle against spyware and adware that infects Windows with alarming regularity, Spy Emergency is a comprehensive security option.

This program claims to cover just about anything - malware, spam, spyware, adware, virus, trojans, worms, homepage hijackers and much much more. In other words, it's just about the most all-round solution you can find for attacks and other nasties that try to attach themselves to your system. The program follows the regular format of most anti-spyware software but doesn't overwhelm you with unnecessary options and dials. Clicking the "Start" button initiates scans and at the completion of a scan, you're asked to review the results and decide which items you want to remove. Items are ranked in order of potential threat so you can see at a glance which ones pose the biggest threat. Another plus to this system is that unlike many spyware checkers, it's remarkably light on system resources which makes it a good option for those on older machines.

Although I'm not convinced it's removing everything it should, it's still a very comprehensive product that has all possible angles of attack covered.

Free Online Armor detects and removes spyware, trojans and attacks Phishing threats. It works by studying the behaviour of programs running on your system and if it detects something suspicious, immediately blocks it from operating or warns you. The program then verifies this behaviour alongside its own database of threats to identify exactly what it is.

When Free Online Armor detects a potentially dangerous program it displays a warning message. However, it avoids overwhelming the user with a large number of alerts because on first use, it asks you to define a white list of safe programs. In addition to this basic function, Free Online Armor also includes a firewall and tools for detecting trojans, unauthorised executable files and protection for e-mail and browsing etc.

This is an all-in-one protection suite although don't be surprised if it doesn't detect all that it promises because it is free and as such, is not designed for those that need very high protection levels.

Spyware is one of the major evils plaguing the Internet today, and infects thousands of PCs across the planet every day. The malware, which hides itself in applications and files passed via the Net, can wreak silent havoc on your PC unless you install some kind of protection. While the free version of Ad-Aware can’t prevent this nasty code jumping onto your computer, it is arguably better equipped than any other program at tracing and wiping spyware from your hard drive.

The application boasts a very simple interface, and scanning your machine is as simple as clicking a couple of buttons. The scan then takes place pretty quickly (depending on the amount of data on your hard drive) while consuming very little memory, before presenting you with a list of all the spyware elements uncovered by the program, and the level of threat they pose to you and your PC. If you’re anything like us, then you’ll be gobsmacked at the amount of malicious applications lurking on your machine. Luckily, these are simply quarantined and removed by AdAware. What's more, if you decide to upgrade to one of the premium Ad-Aware versions, the program is able to block spyware from installing on your PC, as they real-time products.

Although the software won’t recognize every last piece of spyware out there, it provides the most thorough tracking of any program out there, and with quick and simple downloadable updates, you can ensure that you always stay one step ahead of the evils of the Net.

In the ever increasing battle against malware, you can never have too many good malware removers and detectors. Malwarebytes Anti Malware scans disks and devices connected to your PC and removes all types of malware.

The program is constantly updated with a list of the latest known malware threats across the net so you'll always be fully covered although the update prompts can be annoying and should be switched off. They may also slow down your PC momentarily but it's worth it to keep up to date. The program cannot be schedule to offer real time protection bit it can scan your system at any time. There is also a list for the files in quarantine and one for those which can be ignored. If an infected file is detected, the programs "Fileassassin" can be launched although use it with caution because it is potent and you may end up deleting essential drivers and files.

If you want realtime protection, you can register online although you'll have to pay for this service.

A powerful and quick scanner but it's a shame there's no realtime protection with it.

SpywareBlaster takes the approach that prevention is the best way to deal with Spyware attacks and in the main, it accomplishes this aim.

Most importantly, this program is completely free, simple to setup and and very straight-forward to use. It works by preventing the installation of adware and spyware by blocking them at source. In this way, you prevent attacks rather than having to scan for installed diallers, trojans and bots later with something like Ad-Aware. Of course, this is no easy task. One annoying aspect used to be that there was no auto update function but this has thankfully been solved in this latest version. Via these updates, the program is constantly updated with a blacklist of potential threats that the program monitors for. However, you do get the slight impression that nothing much is going on when it's installed. It doesn't seem to issue any update messages or warnings although it seems to be doing it's job properly. As a result, for many people, this program may seem a bit too flimsy to trust 100% but if run alongside something like Ad-Aware as a backup tool, you don't have much to lose by trying it.

A valient effort although I still wouldn't change it for the trio of Ad-Aware, SpyBot, and Spyware Terminator.

This intuitive application not only blocks spy software from tracking and logging your activities online, but it can permanently erase the digital foot prints left behind when you surf the Internet. X-Cleaner gives you the power to permanently erase potentially embarrassing files downloaded to your computer. It also scans for viruses that many anti-virus programs miss.

Hot features of the app:

• Detect snooping software like KeyKey, Spector, SubSeven trojan, and Bigbrother
• Remove Adware like Aureate,Conducent Cydoor, TopText, Gator
• Manage the list of automatically starting programs
• Secure file shredder
• Generates secure passwords
• Prevents Browser start page from being changed by porn sites
• Examine all Internet Connections being made to and from your PC

Spyware is one of the most annoying aspects about free downloads but hope is at hand with SuperAntiSpyware. It offers quick, complete and custom scanning of hard drives, removable drives, memory, registry, individual folders and more. It also includes options for trusted items and excluding certain folders for peace of mind.

Its main features include:

• Detect and remove spyware, trojans, dialers, worms, hijackers, rootkits, etc.
• Light on system resources and won't slow down your computer
• Repair broken internet connections, desktops, registry editing and more
• Real-time blocking of threats
• Multi-dimensional scanning detects existing threats as well as future threats
• First chance prevention examines over 50 critical points of your system each time your system starts up and shuts down

ThreatFire, previously know as CyberHawk, is a pre-emptive anti-spyware monitoring tool that aims to protects you from malware before it gets anywhere near your system. It does this by monitoring the behaviour of your PC in real time to check for strange or irregular behaviour.

This method supposedly offers faster protection as you don't need to wait for an anti-virus signature file to be updated as with conventional antivirus programs. However, ThreatFire can interpret any kind of new behaviour on your PC as a threat and it can be rather annoying to get warnings and prompts every time you install a new piece of software. However, you can configure it to "trust" certain activity so you can minimise annoying messages in this way.

Obviously, ThreatFire monitors your PC in real time, but you can also configure it to run on demand although it seems there's no way of knowing the progress of these scans. Note that because this program is designed to protect your PC, it can be hard to fully close it down. Even when you've closed the window, it will run in your taskbar and even closing it from there is not clear. Overall though, this is an interesting alternative to conventional anti-spyware.

Privacy Mantra keeps your computer clean from online and offline tracks. Most people are unaware of that every web site they have visited remains in the undeletable index.dat file, even after the Internet history and cache has been removed. Your system is also keeping information of executables you run, movies you watch and documents you open. Some of these prints can't be deleted manually as they are locked by the system.

Privacy Mantra will erase and wash away most privacy threats in your machine including, Internet history, cache, cookies, index.dat files, auto-complete forms, search assistant, recent documents, open/save dialogs, run files, Mozilla Firefox, Google Toolbar and more. Privacy Mantra allows the user to easily download the latest database of threats. This reliable cleaner will not only protect your privacy but also free disk space by deleting junk files.

The best way to stop malware infecting your system is to catch it before it strikes. Yes, if George Bush has spyware or adware protection installed on his PC, you can bet it will be pre-emptive like STOPzilla. STOPzilla provides real-time protection, detects, blocks and removes spyware and adware, stops pop-ups, and erases cookies and history. It's constantly updated against the latest threats so you're guaranteed round the clock protection as long as you are connected to the net.

The thing I most appreciate about this program is that it's really easy to configure. The cartoon logo may give the impression that it's not a serious piece of software but it is actually very easy to use yet pretty solid. Although Firefox, and even IE, now have pretty good pop-up blockers, it's particularly effective in this area blocking almost everything that has not been assigned to your safe list.

STOPzilla is easy to use, powerful and requires little configuration - what more can you ask for from an anti-malware program.

Words such as "backdoor", "spyware" "worm", "rootkit" or "keylogger" have become increasingly common, and its not pleasant to realise that you have one on your computer. Mamutu (a combination of the words Malware and Mutu together) is designed to stop the malware from spreading.

In effect this is simply a process killer. Thanks to the easy to use interface you can see what processes are running on your system and close those that seem suspicious. In addition, Mamutu controls real-time worms, Trojan horses, spyware, backdoors, dialers and handling programs and so on. The only obstacles are the need to register (you just need to give your email).

This is a useful choice for anyone concerned that their current malware protection system is not picking up harmful threats.

AntiHook is a program designed to act as both an anti virus and rootkit detector in one. The protection system works in real-time so it follows a "prevention is better than cure" approach to tackling viruses and rootkits.

One thing I particularly liked about this program is that no updates are required. With most anti-virus programs, they're always kicking into action to update when you least need it. The developers say that AntiHook utilises "advanced behaviour-based technology" so no ongoing data definition updates or high subscription fees apply here.

Another welcome feature of this product is that it's one of the few anti virus programs that does not conflict with other security programs. However, that's no guarantee that it won't clash with yours since there are literally hundreds of solutions out there but the fact is that this program works discreetly and does not consume many resources.

If you don't want to install a separate anti-virus and rootkit detector, this is a lightweight and sicreet solution although you may find that it does tend to miss certain pieces of adware and malware.

One of the most dreaded bugs or viruses that your PC can be infected by is the AboutBllank virus. AboutBuster allows you to specificially hunt and destroy this specific bug as well other hard to find spyware in particular, CWS.HomeSearch, CWS.MfPlay and CWS.SeDLL.

Most of these annoying pieces of spyware completely take over your navigator and take it different and sometimes harmful, directions. The program works by making a super fast analysis of your hard drive during which time it will soon detect whether or not any of the major culprits are on your system. It eliminates them on contact so you won't even been prompted whether you want to do that although you will be presented with a report as to how many were found.

The problem is that most of these types of Spyware are already detected and found by programs such as Adaware and SpyDoctor which also perform a range of other optimisation tasks which make this program look rather limited in comparison.

Nevertheless, if you suspect you've been infected with a browser hijacker and have had no success previously, this program is definitely worth a try.

Spyware Doctor Enterprise is designed for organizations seeking a centrally deployed and managed solution that works in real time on a network server to detect, remove, and continuously block malicious spyware from 10 to thousands of computers.

This program allows you to protect thousands of client computers on an Enterprise network.
The level of protection can be managed from a centralized PC including installation and maintenance, threat management, monitoring, analysis and removal. You can also schedule scans on demand and request security updates for each PC. The security features in Spyware Enterprise are also pretty impressive as you can assign servers to a managed domain, meaning you can automatically switch from one to another in case of hardware failure.

This program will appeal to network administrators both new and old as it features wizards to help you get up and running for the first time with configurable database backups for those who want more control.