Spies like our PCs, spies as in Spyware that is.

Currently I’m trying to de-gunk a Dell notebook which had two anti-virus programs (one expired and just working as a firewall), but no Anti-Spyware program. It really needed one, because it was infected by one worm, and three key-loggers of various flavors – very nasty stuff. For a relatively new PC with 1GB RAM and Windows XP it was running as slow as molasses.

Just having an Anti-virus program is no good, unless it is a Security Suite which includes an Anti-spyware component. Symantec Norton Internet Security 2008 is one such Security Suite.

Unlike Anti-virus programs, you can run more than one Anti-Spyware program. Experts recommend running a commercial anti-spyware program, and also running one of the many free anti-spyware programs. Here it really helps to read reviews of the anti-spyware program, as the top program from two years ago may just not have kept up with technology, even though gets regular signature updates. I have run into minor conflicts while running two anti-spyware programs which both do background (real-time) scanning, but they were very minor.

Also, beware of fake Anti-Spyware programs. The Spyware Warrior website has a list of “Rogue/Suspect Anti-Spyware Products & Web Sites“.

Posted on July 6th, 2008 by mervyn