Adware & Spyware Removal

Spy Sweeper safely detects and removes more traces of spyware including Trojans, adware, keyloggers and system monitoring tools. If items are found during a scan, the program offers a short description, as well as recommendations on how to protect yourself and your PC. You can choose to remove or quarantine the infected items. In addition to malware scanning, SpySweeper also offers a variety of real-time protection shields that prevent new malware from being installed, as well as unauthorized system changes to your browser settings, startup programs, Hosts file and more. You can run spyware scans automatically, on a regular schedule, and the program can automatically update itself with the latest definition files.

Spyware Doctor is an adware and spyware removal utility that detects and cleans thousands of potential adware, trojans, keyloggers, spyware and other malware from your PC. It offers various options, including Browser monitor and immunization against ActiveX controls, as well as automatic cookie deletion, quarantine and more.

STOPzilla is an adware and spyware scanner that offers real-time (memory) adware protection that monitors your system, intercepts any adware installations that it detects and alerts you about the issue. Additional features include several system protection modules to prevent unauthorized system changes, as well as blocking of malicious sites, advanced pop-up blocking, scheduled spyware scans, integrated updates and more.

Counter Spy detects and removes adware and spyware from your computer, and also features areal-time protection that alerts you when potential dangers arise, stopping most spyware before it can even install. The program includes a variety of security agents that act as bodyguards to protect areas of your system that are commonly used by malware to hijack your settings, add menu items, change your home page, modify your HOSTS file and much more. If any adware or spyware items are detected during a scan, you are provided with detailed information about the offender and can choose to delete or quarantine the item(s). In addition, Counter Spy includes tools to erase Internet tracks, securely delete files, explore advanced system settings, automatic database updates, scheduled scans and more. The program also integrates with an online community (optional) to report new spyware findings.

Super Ad Blocker can block just about any type of advertising, including, but not limited to popup ads, fly-in, slide-in, flash, rich media, pop-unders, messenger ads, and more. We have tested it with various ads as well as on popuptest.com and it was indeed the first product we have seen to block all the ads we tested. Blocked ad images in web pages are marked with placeholders and can easily be turned on with a single click. In addition, the program offers adware/spyware blocking, deletion of common internet tracks, as well as cookie management and a statistical overview (with graphs) of blocked ads. The optional Whitelist allows you to fully or partially exclude selected site from blocking, and you can also exclude secure server pages (https) from blocking. Super Ad Blocker runs in the system tray or as Internet Explorer toolbar. A very capable ad blocker that truly lives up to his name. The additional privacy cleaning features make it a great deal.

PrivacyKeyboard can provide your computer with strong protection against all types of keylogging programs (keyloggers) as well as keylogging hardware devices. Since it does not rely on signatures, it can prevent both known and unknown software and hardware devices from capturing your keystrokes and Windows application input. In addition, it offers protection against desktop and active window screen captures. The program runs in the system tray and offers a small virtual keyboard, that needs to be used for secure input instead of your regular keyboard.

SUPERAntiSpyware Professional scans and protects your computer for known Spyware, Adware, Malware, Trojans, Dialers, Worms, KeyLoggers, HiJackers and many other types of threats, and allows you to remove or quarantine them. It offers automatic definition updates, real-time protection and customizable scan options. Furthermore, the program includes a Repair feature that allows you to restore various settings which are often changed by malware programs, but usually not corrected by simply removing the parasite. Other features include an option to report false positives, scheduled system scans and more.

Prevx1 is an anti-malware scanner and real-time protection system that monitors your computer and prevents the installation of potentially harmful components, including Trojans, Spyware, Rootkits, Keyloggers and more. The program is built around heuristic detection and a community concept that can share newly detected threats with a central database. If the program encounters a suspicious activity, it will place the executed file into a `Holding Cell` from where you can move it into a `Probation` area or a `Jail` (similar to the Quarantine and Exceptions lists in other programs). Prevx1 includes a wide range of security shields that can protect you from malicious code executions, hack attempts, Registry modification and other potentially harmful events. A three level security setting determines the level of user interaction (pop-up windows) from novice to expert user.

PestPatrol is an adware and spyware scanner that scans your computer for known pests and quarantines them. It offers full system scans, custom and scheduled scanning. The trial version does not expire and lets you remove some of the detected pests, however it cannot remove any high risk items and does not offer real-time protection.

ZeroSpyware is an anti-spyware scanner that scans for and removes spyware and adware programs, as well as Trojans, keyloggers, browser hijackers, dialers, browser helper objects, rootkits and commercial surveillance software. Each detected component comes with a additional information, and can be quarantined or completely removed. In addition to on-demand scanning, ZeroSpyware offers real-time protection that can identify malware as soon as it is trying to install itself. The program comes with a Flash based interface and offers automatic updates and optional integration with online communities to exchange information on newly detected malware items.

Spinach AntiSpyware is an anti-spyware scanner that can clean your PC and protect it against thousands of spyware, adware, trojans, keyloggers and other malware. It provides a modern interface with easy to interpret results. The program also includes a Live Protection feature to block spyware threats before they infect your system, as well as a Cookie Shield and several system monitoring agents that watch for critical changes to your system and settings. Spinach AntiSpyware also includes several advanced tools to inspect BHOs, running processes, startup entries and more. The trial version allows for full cleaning of detected malware during the 15 day evaluation period.

SpyCatcher is an anti-spyware detection and removal tool that uses a database with tens of thousands fingerprints of spyware, adware, trojans and worms that can be updated automatically to provide protection from the latest danger. The program allows you to perform manual scans of your system, and also offers a real-time protection to alert you immediately if new malware is being installed. In addition, it comes with a unique Reinstall Shield feature that claims to defend against spyware programs which silently reinstall after deletion. Additional features include a System Detective to inspect startup areas, running processes, anti-phising technology and more.

SpyRemover detects and removes intrusive devices such as spyware, adware, keyloggers, Trojans, tracking devices, hacker tools, and other spy devices on your PC. The program comes with a restore option to undo changes and a categorized overview of detected malware. In addition you can view and disable startup programs. No documentation included. Note: This program is a (licensed) clone of SpyBot SD. It will most likely offer the same protection, however lacks many of the additional features offered by SpyBot.

AVG Anti-Spyware (formerly Ewido Anti-Spyware) is a spyware and malware scanner that protects you against against spyware, adware, trojans, dialer, keylogger, worms and other potential threats. It offers real-time monitoring and scheduled scans as well as additional security tools including a BHO viewer, TCP/IP connection viewer and file shredder. AVG Anti-Spyware lacks some of the features found in other programs, such as homepage and HOSTS file protection and other advanced shields, but it offers real-time protection for tracking cookies and suspicious files. Simple interface, easy to use, automatic updates. After the trial, some of the features will remain available as freeware.

RogueRemover PRO can detect and remove a variety of so-called rogue anti-spyware, anti-virus and privacy cleaning cleaning utilities. While these types of applications are usually not malicious by nature, they are known to produce false results in order to solicit sales, use fake awards and questionable advertising to promote an overall inferior product. RogueRemover can currently detect about 200 of these rogue programs including VirusBlast, VirusBursters and many others. RogueRemover PRO offers real-time protection and an option to block access to malicious sites via the HOSTS file.

XSpy Shield Gold is a spyware and malware scanner that aims to detect and remove malicious adware programs, as well as Keyloggers, Dialers, Trojans, Browser Hijackers and other parasites. It offers a good array of features and an easy to read scan report with information on each detected item, as well as manual removal instructions (if available). The program also includes a real-time XSpy Monitor that can intercept many common malware installations and prevent the parasite from being installed.

Ashampoo AntiSpyWare is an adware and spyware scanner that offers real-time protection, automatic updates and several other security tools, including Internet tracks cleaning, file wiping, rootkit scanning and a startup manager. The program supports full drive scans, memory scans and registry scans, and it can optionally scan inside zip archives. Ashampoo AntiSpyWare provides many of the standard features but does not provide the user with any further information for the alleged malware items that were found, making it difficult to assess the problem. It also came up with several false positives during our test scans.

Personal Antispy can help you find and remove keyloggers, trojans and other spy software that may be installed on your computer. It scans your system and lists all applications that are performing system-wide monitoring and also classifies other running applications with color codes. You can right click to stop a process, delete the file or open Windows Explorer for further inspection. Personal Antispy does not provide any ongoing protection but only when a scan is initiated by the user. The results are open to interpretation and require at least moderate computer knowledge.

Anti-Keylogger allows you to detect unauthorized keystroke monitoring programs on your computer. The functionality is based on operating principles common to all types of keystroke monitoring programs and not on a list of known programs or similar and can therefore detect any potential logger application. It offers 3 different scanning levels and also allows to exclude certain applications from the result list. Since the software makes assumptions based on programming techniques that are also used by perfectly harmless programs, you will encounter false positives, which you need to investigate further.

ImVajra Spyware Remover scans your computer for adware, spyware and other potentially unwanted programs and presents you with a report from where you can choose to remove, quarantine or ignore the found items. The program provides a short description of the potential threats as well as technical details in plain text format - which we did not find very user friendly. In addition to the simple scanning features, ImVajra Spyware Remover also includes a standard process monitor and startup manager as well as basic Internet and privacy cleaning features and system repair options that can help you recover from a malware infestation. Overall a rather basic on-demand spyware scanner that lacks many of the features found in similar programs.

Spy Detect will test your pc for installed spy software, keyloggers, web monitors and more. We tested the software with 6 popular keyloggers and PC monitors, only a single one was detected during the file scan. The additional Data Fill test, detected correctly that we had a hidden screen capture utility running, however other test with different applications went undetected. The current version is not recommended.