« Return to: Best Defenders
| Paid Stand-Alone Programs | Prevents changes to Registry run keys | Prevents additions to startup folder | Prevents changes to current home and start pages | Prevents changes to default start and search pages | Prevents overwriting of the HOSTS file | Alerts and/or blocks Messenger Service |
| Webroot Software Spy Sweeper 4.0 $30  |
Yes | Yes | Yes | No | 1 | Yes |
| McAfee AntiSpyware 2006 $30  |
No | No | No | No | No | No |
| PC Tools Spyware Doctor 3.2 $30  |
No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Sunbelt Software CounterSpy 1.029 $20 |
Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 2 | Yes |
| Trend Micro Anti-Spyware 3.0 $30 |
No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Free Stand-Alone Programs | ||||||
| Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware Beta 1.0.615 Free |
Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 2 | Yes |
| Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE Personal Edition 1.06 Free |
No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Safer Networking Spybot Search & Destroy 1.4 Free |
3 | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Internet Security Suites | ||||||
| Panda Platinum Internet Security 2005 $50 |
No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Symantec Norton Internet Security 2005 Anti-Spyware Edition $80 |
No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Zone Labs Internet Security Suite 6.0 $70 |
Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| FOOTNOTES: | ||||||
| 1 Spy Sweeper continually reported a read error when encountering a Hosts file that had been altered, allowing the modifications to occur without intervention from Spy Sweeper. | ||||||
| 2 Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware and Counter Spy alerted only on the last line involved in a Hosts file overwrite. For example, if the Hosts file is overwritten with another Hosts file containing eight redirects, only the eighth redirect on the list would be alerted on and blocked. | ||||||
| 3 Spybot produced a misaligned dialog box, which prevented the user from allowing changes resulting from legitimate software installs. Safer Networking says that it will fix this bug with an upcoming software update. | ||||||