Reply #8: greataunt, the problem with adaware (free) and spybot S&D... [View All]

[Catch22Dem]

These tools only remove spyware AFTER it's already on your machine. For all of Microsoft's faults, they did do something right recently. They bought Giant Anti-Spyware about 6 months ago. They released Giant's anti-spyware tool under the name "Microsoft Anti-Spyware" and said they'd decide later if they'd charge for it. They recently said they're going to keep offering the product for free.

The great thing about Giant (now Microsoft) is it always runs. Instead of removing spyware after it gets on your machine, it runs all the time preventing spyware from ever installing. This is a feature you usually have to pay for with the other tools like AdAware. Microsoft Anti-Spyware is super-simple to get running, and you'll eventually want to delete all the other anti-spyware tools you've ever downloaded. Go ahead and give it a shot. It's free.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=321cd7a2-6a57-4c57-a8bd-dbf62eda9671&displaylang=en