Zap Spyware with Spybot Search and Destroy
Published Apr 29, 2008
This program has been around for as long as there has been spyware but we wanted to see if it's still relevant in today's spyware and malware-ridden web?
The download is just under 10Mb and can be found here. If you search for it make sure that this is the site you go to as their are other products with similar names that are not the same.
After download and install with the default options, we had a desktop shortcut which opened the program with the usual warning about removing advertisement used to enable some programs to work. If you have programs that work like this make sure you heed the warning or be prepared to reinstall them.
We created a backup of the registry and immunised the system and, if this is the first time you have used the program, it is as well to read the tutorial. We opened the tutorial and minimised it to check later.
We chose 'Search & Destroy' from the left hand menu
We chose 'Search & Destroy' from the left hand menu and then 'Check for problems' and left the machine scanning while we made (and drank) a cup of tea.
At the end of the scan, the program found a good selection of spyware and reference was made to the minimised help file to help decide which and what could be disposed of. If this is your first time with Spybot we recommend that you read at least the section in the help file tutorial on 'interpreting the results' so that you know what to remove and what not to remove.
We decided which threats we'd rather not have and clicked 'Fix selected problems' and the spyware was removed. In all, it took just over half an hour to complete the exercise.
Spybot is an old program but has always been well regarded and it is nice to see that this program has not been bloated (like so many others) with the addition of countless 'features' that are neither used nor needed.
At the end we were impressed again with the way the software worked. Although the program and its interface, may be a little old, Spybot remains a lean and mean spyware killing machine and we recommend that you download and use it. We also recommend that you use it often!
Remember, too, that this is anti-spyware and not anti-virus so you still need an up-to-date antivirus program.
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