It's not bad enough that we have to worry about spyware, we also have to worry about spyware from companies that claim to protect us against spyware. A recent PC World article, "Poor Defenders," provides the results of test of seven heavily advertised spyware-removal tools and found that none were as good as the free Spybot Search & Destroy, and a couple even installed new spyware.
Included is a picture of Eric L. Howes, a University of Illinois library school student. Eric has analyzed more than 100 anti-spyware utilities for SpywareWarrior.com. He confirms something I've always suspected. The pop-up ads that claim that they have found spyware on your computer, have, in fact, done nothing and found nothing.
The moral of this story is, don't every buy anything advertised in a pop-up ad, and make sure to research software before buying. The two most well-respected spyware companies both offer free versions, Spybot Search & Destroy, as mentioned above, and Ad-Aware. Save yourself some money and stick with one of those two.
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