April 15th, 2005
Spyware obstacle course
We revisited our Spyware Obstacle Course, running six antispyware contenders against eight pieces of spyware. We ran our first Spyware Obstacle Course last November, and Spybot took the win out of a field of five. In the four interceding months, antispyware apps have grown a little more refined. This time around, old favorite Ad-Aware stepped into the winner’s circle. In the pure identification and removal rankings, it tied with PestPatrol and Spy Sweeper, so we considered a few other factors, such as scan times and the notoriety of the spyware that these apps missed. If an antispyware app missed a really well-known piece of spyware, we marked it down more than one that missed a more obscure spyware component. None of the antispyware apps found and removed all of the spyware threats we threw against them. Read the article for the detailed results and the lowdown on our eight spyware obstacles.
