Quantcast
PC World: Technology Advice You Can Trust
Find a Review
Free Newsletters
Receive the latest reviews, how-to's, news, and more.
Weekly Brief
Daily Downloads
Daily Technology News
WiFi Finder
Locate wireless services by a specific address, city, state, country, airport, or zip code.
RSS Feeds
Get our latest content via convenient RSS feeds.
Latest News
Today @ PC World
Become a PCW Member
Join the community and start enjoying the benefits:
  • Get tech advice from thousands of PC World Members
  • Rate and recommend the latest tech products
  • Share your thoughts in blog and article comments
  • Get free excerpts and exclusive discounts on Super Guides

Downloads

Freeware, shareware, and trialware files for your PC

Search For

in Downloads

Spybot Search & Destroy
License Type: Free
Price: Free
Date Added: Mar 2007
Operating Systems: Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP
File Size: 4920KB
Downloads Count: 7993406
Author: Safer Networking

Perennial favorite antispyware tool has lots of settings.

Spybot version 1.4 has on-demand scanning, real-time prevention, and detailed settings--all for free (donations accepted). The problem is that, these days, Spybot doesn't perform as well as other programs.

In tests performed by AV-Test.org for the "Spyware Specialists" story, Spybot performed worst of the five products tested. While detecting a solid 80 percent actively running adware and spyware, it detected only 2 percent of inactive threats. It disinfected a median 45 percent of adware but a far-below-average 20 percent of spyware. It also offers no protection against actively running rootkits. On the other hand, Spybot's Tea Timer real-time protection performed well in behavior-based detection tests. Spybot also successfully detected additions to HKCU and HKLM Run keys (Registry keys targeted by many malware threats) and changes to Internet Explorer Search and Home pages; however, it did not detect changes to the global startup folder.

Spybot's interface is deep with options, but its settings window buries within it a dizzying number of check-box options for file recovery, scan speed optimization, and startup tasks. Techie types who want minute control over individual line items might like these options.

Spybot also falls short where all free security programs do, and that's in free telephone tech support. Spybot does provide e-mail tech support--that's better than the free version of Ad-Aware, which doesn't offer any support. I also experienced an irritating interface glitch that obscured the buttons on a dialog box asking me (presumably) to allow or deny a change to a Registry file.

Despite the bugs, some PC users will continue to use Spybot out of thrift or sheer loyalty; but other programs provide better protection against current threats.

-- Narasu Rebbapragada

Registry Mechanic
Significantly Improve PC Performance and Stability – Guaranteed. Free Trial!
Spyware Doctor
Free, secure Spyware scan. Winner of the Best Anti-Spyware. Rated 5 Stars!
Kaspersky Antivirus 7.0
Award Winning Antivirus Protection. Free 30-Day Trial! Official Site.
All Anti-spyware Tools Downloads
To re-sort this list, click a column heading.
File Name Downloads License Date
Remove spyware, adware, viruses, Trojans, keyloggers, and other malware threats.
15960 Free Aug 2006
Protect yourself while surfing or performing online transactions.
Reviewed
15701 Free Jun 2007
Avoid phishing attacks by exposing the company behind Web sites you visit.
Reviewed
15537 Free Jun 2005
Block pop-ups, avoid online scams, and use Google-powered search with this toolbar.
14997 Free May 2007
McAfee AntiSpyware ranked number two among paid stand-alone antispyware programs in our recent review.
Reviewed
14067 Buy Only Mar 2006
Dig up hard-to-find rootkits with this powerful security application.
Reviewed
12864 Free Sep 2007
Analyze your PC's security.
Reviewed
11275 Free Jun 2007
Find out the latest Internet threats, and find resolutions for them.
Reviewed
11180 Free Jun 2007
We test drive a beta of this new product and are impressed. Beware of bugs!
Reviewed
10992 Free Apr 2007
Though other apps provide more-expansive security, DropMyRights gives you simple yet effective protection against malware by limiting user rights-and it works with any program.
Reviewed
8214 Free Sep 2006
1 . . . 2 3 4 5 6 7

Today's Special Offers

Name City
Address 1 State Zip
Address 2 E-mail (optional)