Best Spyware/Adware Programs Nowadays??

I have been using the free Adaware 2008 and Spybot Search&Destroy for the last 2 years. A friend of mine told me not to even bother with spybot anymore because it isn't effective anymore nowadays and it would just be a waste of time. I just reformatted my computer/recovered it to factory settings, and I wouldn't mind not installing Spybot because I just have a feeling I will have more trouble with it than without. I have been using Adaware and the free AVG 2008 as my virus and adware protection and spybot warns me that it might have some conflicts with them. It gives me the option to Ignore, and so that's what I do.

QUESTION: But anyway, 2 years later, I imagine there must be newer more effective, less controlling, programs for spyware nowadays. Anyone have any suggestions, or should I just stick with the free AVG and Adaware?

P.S. I like program that don't suck up my computer resources, or slow it down, or have insane controlling power. Using Spybot, I can't deal with TeaTimer so I never install that part of it.

P.S.S Anyone have any other program suggestions that are really good to get, since I am setting my computer up now. Defrag programs, cleaner programs, registry cleaner programs, performance booster programs, etc...that are actually great and not problematic.... They don't have to be free programs, but I don't feel its necessary to have those pay-pay for programs when there are free ones that work just about as well.

Most of us agree that Spybot and Adaware have had their day. We don't recommend either any more. AVG's latest a/v isn't at the top of our lists either... it's been causing problems and false positives for many people since it was released.

As far as an antivirus... either Avast or Antivir would be a good choice and they're both free. I prefer Avast.. www.avast.com www.antivir.com

Malwarebytes antispyware scanner is very good. It also has a free version available for doing manual scans or a pay version that runs with Windows for pro-active protection.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

Spywareblaster is highly recommended for proactive defence. It's free (but needs to be manually updated every week or so). It's a passive program that won't interfere with any others on the computer.

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

Comodo firewall is a current favorite.. it's free (it has a built in antivirus but that isn't necessarily the best so don't install that part of it) www.comodo.com You select which parts to install during the initial install process... keep an eye open for the option to deselect making comodo your home page and some search bar they offer... neither is recommended.

Zonealarm firewall would be another option.. http://www.zonealarm.com/store/conte...firewall_b.jsp

Firefox browser is better and much safer than Internet Explorer. http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

As far as other utilties.. Ccleaner is a good little program for keeping the computer tidy by deleting unecessary, accumulated files. Use the default settings but I really don't recommend using any registry cleaners because they can cause problems. http://www.ccleaner.com/

Download speed performance can be tweaked (after some reading) with a little program called Drtcp..

http://www.dslreports.com/drtcp

There's a link to a test page there as well to help set up the proper parameters.

7Zip is a good little free compression utililty that replaces winzip and will also extract Winrar archives which are quite common these days. http://www.7zip.com/

Diskkeeper lite is a good, free defrag utility.. http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=1207


Irfanview is a great little graphics viewer/editor, also free..
http://www.irfanview.com/

And finally the Klite codec pack (standard version) will allow you to view pretty much any film/clip/movie/dvd you can find without downloading anything else.
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/...Codec_Pack.htm


Oh, and one last thing.. CDburnerxp is a good, free cd/dvd burning program.. http://www.filehippo.com/download_cdburnerxp/

If your spelling is as bad as mine: www.tinyspell.com

Too many features to list: www.winpatrol.com

Both are free.

Great! I'm definitely going to be using some of these program like 7zip. I don't like winrar and I'm glad there is a replacement. I used before but forgot about and stopped using the defragger, cleaner, and spywareblaster u recommended. They were good and I never had any complaints, I just forgot about them and stopped using them, but after hearing you recommend them, I've start using them again. I have the free Divx codec package, but if I have any problems I'll go with k-lite. I never heard of but I'm gonna try the comodo firewall. My spelling is good but I'll look into winpatrol, i never heard of that either.

I can't find the free version of Malwarebytes antispyware scanner, maybe they are charging now and weren't before.

Thanks

tis here
http://www.malwarebytes.org/rogueremover.php

Extracted this for your information.

2. Download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Malwarebyt...are_d5756.html to your desktop.

* Double-click mbam-setup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
* At the end, be sure a checkmark is placed next to Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, then click Finish.
* If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version.
* Once the program has loaded, select Perform full scan, then click Scan.
* When the scan is complete, click OK, then Show Results to view the results.
* Be sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
* When completed, a log will open in Notepad.

As for a defragger in XP, yep paid for it also.
http://www.raxco.com/products/downloadit/

Trial link

on it...

Thanks for the help guys!

I'm thinking the Diskkeeper Lite program might just be for XP, because I remember using it with no problems and it was a great tool, but it's not working on my Vista SP1 x32. i get this message "Diskkeeper Lite does not allow access via Terminal Services. Purchase the full version of the Diskeeper from www. diskeeper.com and you can be using this feature within minutes."

So I'll try out Raxco and if i dont like it, i'll just use the windows defrag. I've never really noticed a big difference before or after i defrag with any program anyway.

Do NOT RUN anything other than the native defragger in Vista or it will flat slow the boot up down.

No one has posted a fix for that yet either. So with Vista, I just set the native to its thing on a given day of the week and forget it.

Sorry, did not realise you were using Vista. :(

Oh. Thats good to know then. Thanks again.

Thanks to everyone who added to this post. I've changed my anti-virus, and malware protection. I still use Spywareblaster. Computer loads a lot faster and is just faster over all.
I also have Windows Defender. What do you think of that???

One of the better free proactive spyware programs and it doesn't seem to interfere with other malware scanners. Not so hot for getting rid of infections after the fact but you can have it running all the time and use Malwarebytes free for the occasional scan and to use it to get rid of anything that may get by your a/v and Defender.