14 DAY TRIAL // We all know what the Internet is. Or at least we think we know. In simple words, the Internet is a network of networks. And, of course, this chaotic "world wide web" could be used for different purposes. Information, television, music, business - everything you could ever imagine has become virtual. And we're talking about big money here.
Many people use the network's resources without ever wondering what's behind every website and every browser gesture they make. Without ever thinking what precious data they store for some hunters of the web. They're all potential victims of money making leeches that use spyware in order to achieve their goals.
Spyware is malicious software written to take control of a computer operation when online. Then, it sends your data back to the hacker (who can use it for himself or sell it to an advertising company, for example). It can also monitor the user activities for the gain of third parties. Along with the word spyware there are others related terms used to define these problems: trojans, dialers, hijackers, keyloggers, usage trackers, ActiveX applications (these one are a real headache in IE).
So, if you use a Microsoft Windows Operating System and browse the net with its included Internet Explorer web browser, you are a high potential victim of spyware. As spyware is quite a new kind of threat that anti-virus softwares do not yet cover fully I strongly recommend the use of a spyware remover to protect yourself from these threats. And when it comes to this I rest my case in front of "SpyBot - Search & Destroy" - the best on its field.
Spybot - Search & Destroy comes with two mode interface (default and advanced). I'll present the product through the second mode, showing this way all its features. First of all, I want to mention that the default mode only displays the first panel of the program. Activating the advanced mode, you will see in the left side of your screen all the other panels (settings and tools included). If you are a beginner you can simply use it in default mode without any real limitations.
The first panel gives you access to exactly what Spybot - Search & Destroy was built for: check and fix your computer for spyware problems. Any changes you have made to your system can be easily recovered (of course, if you made a backup) and you can simply prevent threats with the immunize function. There is also an update manager for the program and for its database, which can be automated to run at each program start.
The second panel is the "settings" one. You can scan for a certain type of spyware problems or just all of them; the program comes with a multilingual interface, has a scheduler and a skin manager and even a list of products and cookies that enables you to mark them as secure (this way the program won't remove them).
The tool set has (among others) a very useful "IE tweaks" option that allows locking the start page setting of Internet Explorer to user changes. It also features an uninstall info for all the software on your system.
The last panel "Info & License" displays a useful statistic of your scans and a donation request (reminding that this is a totally free software).
The Good
Dealing with a crucial matter - Internet security - Spybot - Search & Destroy is a real jewel, especially that it comes free. It's a must have for everyone!
The Bad
I for one didn't like the default mode - advanced mode switching. To be more specific I would have put those advanced settings directly to default. And I would have skipped that notification. But that's just me. The Truth
Spybot - Search & Destroy is a gold winning anti-spyware tool with a very simple and intuitive interface even for beginners. I totally recommend it.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
