I use four products to search for nasty spyware: Ad-aware, Spybot, Spy Sweeper, and Spyware Doctor. PC Mag just gave a second Editors Choice to Webroot's Spy Sweeper in the Feb. 22, 2005 issue. It got everything they threw at it except one, which Spybot caught. The Internet Explorer shields that come with the full version are very good. I pretty much use Firefox 1.0 for nearly all my surfing, but it's nice to know that Spy Sweeper has IE covered when I do have to use that piece of junk.

I think one has to use a minimum of two programs to catch spyware on a computer and they still might miss one or two. I'd use three to four.

CompUSA had Spy Sweeper on sale for $19.99 instead of $29.99 this week. If you go and buy it, look for the packages that say "Copyright 2002-2004" and have the PC Mag Editors Choice September 7, 2004 logo on the front. The CD for the latest version, 3.5, is in there. The older packages have older versions that you have to update via the Web. A hassle IMHO.