Spybot - Search & Destroy application was designed to detect and remove spyware, a relatively new kind of threat not yet covered by common anti-virus applications. Spyware silently tracks your surfing behaviour to create a marketing profile for you that is transmitted without your knowledge to the compilers and sold to advertising companies.

If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you haven't intentionally installed, if your browser crashes inexplicably, or if your home page has been "hijacked" (or changed without your knowledge), your computer is most probably infected with spyware. Even if you don't see the symptoms, your computer may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging. Spybot-S&D is free, so there's no harm giving it a try to see if something has invaded your computer.

Here are some key features of "SpyBot - Search & Destroy":

· Removal of keyloggers
· User-extendable database
· Save removal of threats by shredding them
· Backups of every removed problem
· Exclude option to ignore specific problems s
· Permanent blocking of known tracking cookies for IE
· Permanent blocking of threating downloads in IE
· Command line parameters to automate tasks
· Number of targets > 600 > 600
· Number of detection files and entries > 10000 > 10000
· Detailed information about problems found Yes Yes
· Strict criteria to define targets Yes Yes
· Integrated update function
· Weekly updates
· Free email & forum support Yes Yes
· Settings to automate scan, removal and update
· System reports to locate even unknown threats
· Skins to adjust interface to the users liking

What's New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]

· Improved Scan Speed
· Reported a few weeks ago as one of the big issues users face, Spybot-S&D 1.6 integrates parts of the future 2.0 file scanning engine to speed up the on-demand scan.
· Up-to-date browser support
· Both immunization and the on-demand scan are able to access a dozen different browsers, which now includes the latest revisions of the most popular ones, Firefox and Opera.
· Easier On-Access Use
· Until now, our on-access part was able to block bad entries, but at the same time, confused many novice users by asking for confirmation on changes of other monitored system entries as well. While this is a great feature for all experienced users who want full control over their systems, we decided that we need to make this easier for the average user, and integrated automated decisions based on the system entry database built through our RunAlyzer, containing more than quarter of a million decisions.
· OpenSBI
· Safer Networking also announces OpenSBI, our attempt at opening up the...