Spyware scanner - which is most effective?

[Mithrandir]

I've only used Superantispyware in the past, but I would like to know what you guys think and experiences on Win 7 and XP (or even Vista).

[kalniel]

MSE works great on Win7.

On XP I used a variety and ended up with Spybot S&D as my favourite, that was before MSE came out though.

[Phage]

I have MSE as resident. Then every now and again I'll throw a Malwarebytes over as well.

[Mithrandir]

Ah, I forgot about Spybot S&D. I used that before superantispyware.

I use MSE now but not sure if there is a more effective scanner.

[Champman99]

I think that Super is the best on demand tool, especially for hard to remove stuff. But only use it if I already suspect I'm infected, other tools used more regularly.

[forumposter]

personally I use MSE

[aidanjt]

It's funny how people still seem to wonder about MSE's effectiveness. TBH, it's been out for about 8 months now and we've yet to hear any MSE horror stories, so it's already doing better than the 'leading expert' AVs *cough*McAfee*cough*.

[lodore]

one scanner cannot detect everything so its best to have a few around. superantispyware and mbam are free for home users so why not use both?

both superantispyware and mbam offer lifetime licenses for around £20 and prevention is always better than cure.

[Saracen]

one scanner cannot detect everything so its best to have a few around. superantispyware and mbam are free for home users so why not use both?

both superantispyware and mbam offer lifetime licenses for around £20 and prevention is always better than cure.

You telepathic? That's what I was going to say.

I tend to use either ZA or Comodo for a firewall, either Avast or Avira for AV, and both Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware, in manual mode, when I feel like running them. And as you can use all the above free for personal use, it isn't expensive either.

[Chanfron]

I use

Malwarebytes
IOBit 360
Spybot
Superantispyware
Ad Aware
Spyware Doctor(from googlepack)
Spyware Terminator
MSE
Kaspersky virus removal tool(free standalone scanner, does not work if you Kaspersky already installed)
Combofix - this is a godsend

[jim]

If I want to check for a specific problem, I used to use SuperAntiSpyware, now I've switched over to Malwarebytes as I find it a bit more thorough.

I have run Spybot S&D as a resident in the past, but I'm not particularly keen on it and don't bother any more. At home I just rely on Kaspersky (the full package), never had an infection anyway on my home machine.

[Tomahawk]

I use Spybot/Adaware.. I've used MalwareBytes previously which seemed to work well for specific malware; but generally don't use it regularly.

[Singh400]

Spybot, Spywareblaster (prevention), custom HOSTS file (which recently stopped a huge attack in a forum I go to) & MSE.

I haven't been infected with malware in like 5 years plus.

Heard plenty about malwarebytes, never had to use it thankfully.

[CrazyMonkey]

Spybot, Spywareblaster (prevention), custom HOSTS file (which recently stopped a huge attack in a forum I go to) & MSE.

I haven't been infected with malware in like 5 years plus.

Heard plenty about malwarebytes, never had to use it thankfully.

May i ask what the huge attack was, and what is in your hosts file?

I praise MBAM.

AVG Antispyware (may no longer be a standalone product now..) should be (was previously Ewido which was excellent) however i dont know how well its developed since being taken over.

[Singh400]

May i ask what the huge attack was, and what is in your hosts file?

Another forum I go to. Had its ad supplier comprised that resulted in a trojan being injected into your broswer. After a massive thread, and people information sharing (ha, work talk) we figured out what address is was coming from. But when I said I wasn't infected, I checked my HOSTS and low and behold, that address was blocked.

[Bitemarks666]

I use and love malwarebytes