# The Best in Anti Virus and SpyWare



## fatcat6499 (Apr 20, 2004)

OK I know Im only 13. But dont hold that against me I run my own computer & Electronic Repair "buisness" Anyway... Ive been working with computers for a long time and I've tried EVERY thing when it comes to Anti-Virus Protection And Spyware Removal. The best 2 FREE programs you can ever find on the internet is SpySweeper, and AVG Anti-Virus Guard.

AVG

Spy Sweeper 
(For the free edition which I found to be just as good as one thats gona cost you $37 its on the right hand side)

OK. Now heres the thing. I know they say Norton Anti-Virus and AdAware are the best and dont get me wrong they are good. Its just when I ran those 2 programs then ran AVG and SpySweeper They picked up stuff the others missed. And thats the truth.

Contact me for all of you computer electronic questions

AIMunked1689
e-Mail:[email protected]


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## takatomon (Mar 2, 2004)

that would be true of probable EVERY program as probably none of them catch everything. i've never used spysweeper, but with spybot, adaware and AVG, each has caught things that the others missed.

just yesterday, i tried "HiJackThis", and IT caught at least two clearly "these don't belong here" programs that NONE of the other three caught.

the best thing i think would be to have several different programs to catch what the other ones miss.

from what i've read, norton and macaffe are the worse AV programs as they miss alot of things and even more important, they are the programs that hackers attack the most.


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## Fyzbo (Feb 6, 2002)

I just downloaded spy sweeper and was very dissappointed to find that it only allows one update after that it requires you buy a subscription to keep getting updated definition files. I'm running it now I will let everyone know how it goes.


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## Fyzbo (Feb 6, 2002)

so I ran ad aware, but didn't remove the items, then ran spysweeper removed all items then ran adaware again. Spy sweeper found 9 cookies that adaware did not, and adaware found 3 cookies that spy sweeper did not. Cookies were the only thing preasant on my pc so I don't know about software or registry items. So as already stated, the best bet is to run multiple programs. Personally I choose spybot and adaware as they provide free updates.


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

fatcat6499 said:


> The best 2 FREE programs you can ever find on the internet is SpySweeper, and AVG Anti-Virus Guard.


Thats an awfully bold claim there without any evidence.....most of the tests I've seen by real labs put AdAware and Spybot well above SpySweeper, and AVs such as Nod32 and Kaspersky above AVG (I don't think either of those AVs are free though).


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## fatcat6499 (Apr 20, 2004)

welll uhh... real labs is crap


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## takatomon (Mar 2, 2004)

AVG might not be as good as the top 3 or 4 AVs, but as stated, it is free (AVG 6.0 at least) so it's by far the best "value". like adaware and spybot, it too offers free updates which even AVs that you pay for usually quit doing after a year. that's pretty good customer service for something available for free.


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## w1zard99 (Jul 25, 2001)

I agree with most of what was said but as far as avg I have machines come into the shop everyday with avg and 9 times out of 10 i can install norton or mcafee or vcome system suite 5 and find more virus than avg does. To say its the best is just not true. :down:


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## telecom69 (Oct 12, 2001)

It is as we know on here a very talked about subject,the fact is any Anti-virus is only as good as its database.....true?, there will always be some pick up things that others dont so its best to find one that suits yourself and stick with it,as for myself I chose AVG, at first because it was free,but over time it has proved to me thats its pretty good,as far as the spyware trackers go Ive been using spyware blaster for a while now,available here http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html as I found by using this I never get anything caught in ad-aware and spybot,so it looks to me like a handy little application


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## Marc` (Apr 17, 2004)

While I haven't personally used AVG, I have seen it used on PC's belonging to friends and colleagues. In my opinion it does not come up to the standards set by, say, NOD32 and other good anti-virus software. However, it does offer extremely good value for money being free. I suggest a check of the Virus Bulletin ( www.virusbulletin.com ) for a rating of how various packages perform.

Marc


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

I usually use AVG too, because it is free. But SpySweeper better than Spybot? I wouldn't just take security advice I find on a forum without any proof to back up their claims.


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## muf (Feb 21, 2004)

Proof that Spy Sweeper is currently the best Anti-Spyware application.
http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,4148,2202,00.asp

I've used Adaware, Spybot, Aluria, Spywareblaster, SpywareGuard. All good products. But Spy Sweeper continually finds things these don't. There are occasions that Adaware finds something Spy Sweeper doesn't. But it's very infrequent. Because of that i still use Adaware for the 'just in case' scenario. spybot i run once a month and it's found nothing in over 6 months so i may uninstall it. Just as a side note, Spy Sweeper has only been around since March 2003 and had only 4,500 definition's in it's database. In only 13 months Webroot have expanded the database to over 23,000 definition's. In anyone's book that is some going!!! Also, Webroot are a very large commercial company and have the financial muscle and resources to develop Spy Sweeper. You won't find Adaware in the shops, but take a look on Amazon and you'll see Spy Sweeper. It's also available in the UK in PCWorld and Staples in a boxed version. A company that have got the resources to market a product in this way certainly won't be in second place.

To conclude. Adaware and Spybot both very good. Spy Sweeper is better in my opinion, and will continue to improve at a rate the others will find hard to match.

muf


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## blackecho (Oct 28, 2003)

um... just a little tidbit of info, spysweeper was rated number one in the spyware remover catagory in pc world... hope this helps...


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

If you check the reviews/ratings over at download.com, Spybot's ratings are 18% higher than Spy Sweeper's. I'm not saying Spy Sweeper is bad (from the reviews, it sounds great), I just don't think its fair to say that one product is better than all the others without any _proof_


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## Fyzbo (Feb 6, 2002)

Spysweeper may be great, but that's what happens when you force people to pay for software. Paid for software tends in many cases to work better than freeware.

Now if you don't pay for spysweeper then you don't get updates to the spyware definition files, which means that growing database is unavailable to you. After even a month without an update it will be grossly obsolete. After a year I guarantee that adaware and spybot(with free updates) will find more occurrences of spyware than spysweeper.

So in conclusion: If you want a good free solution go for a program such as adaware or spybot. If you are willing to pay, try out spysweeper.


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## Fastlane247 (Apr 7, 2004)

i just want to say i think norton is not half as good as most antivirus programs for a few resions:

Loads very slow
never finds viruses that most other antivirus programs do
never has updates until you already got the virus
and when it does find the virus it can never remove it

i currently use trend micro because i got it free with my mobo, now i am not saying it is the best but it is sure alot better then norton... i also only use adaware or spybot because i have had the best success with them plus they are easy to use aswell

When it comes to spyware i think using more then one program is better aswell because there is no such thing as a perfect program.. there are always going to miss somthing that others will find


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## muf (Feb 21, 2004)

I'm all for free programs, and where possible i'll use free unless there's something better that happens to cost money. Adaware and Spybot are the original kings of spyware detection. I've been using both of them for a number of years. Sometimes though something comes along that may better suite your needs. IMO the paid for version of Spy Sweeper has set a new level. This does not mean that Adaware and Spybot are still not great, they are! They've been the best for many years, it's just that something has come along that i have found performs better. Hey if you want to carry on using Adaware and Spybot and don't feel the need to try something else then fine. Just don't form an opinion of how good Spy Sweeper is without first trialling it. I've seen plenty of people try it and say they are sticking with Adaware and Spybot. I've also seen plenty of people try it and say it's the best they've used. The fact is that IMO Spy Sweeper is the best i've used. But to be honest, whether you use Adaware, Spybot or Spy Sweeper or even a combination of two or all three of them you will be well protected. Same goes with Spywareblaster and Aluria. Also two excellent programs.

Also, i just want to say that these are my opinions of the softwware and i am in no way trying to convince everyone to swap adaware and spybot for Spy Sweeper. If the next version of adaware improves on Spy Sweeper then that will be my primary antispyware application. Then in similar threads to this i would give my opinion accordingly. I'm not stuck on one product, i use what i feel best suites my needs and i continually am on the lookout for products that improve on what i currently use.

muf


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## blackecho (Oct 28, 2003)

yeah, free is always better...


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