Spyware Doctor

Spyware Doctor - Superior spyware removal software

Spyware Doctor - spyware removal is an effective product that provides superior spyware removal capabilities.

Spyware Doctor is not only one of the most popular spyware removal and real-time protection tools but also one of the most highly awarded software !
Spyware Doctor is an advanced spyware removal utility that detects and cleans thousands of potential spyware , adware, trojans, keyloggers and tracking threats from your PC.


Spyware Doctor can protect your personal information safe ! When you consider the amount of valuable personal information stored on your PC, including credit card and banking details, personal e-mails and documents,shopping and browsing habits, the risks of having software intruders become obvious.
Spyware Doctor can fully protect your PC ! Known consequences of spyware and adware include identity theft, computer problems, slow Internet access, changed homepage and favorites, and excessive numbers of pop-up adverts. Anti-virus software and firewalls do not fully protect your system against the majority of spyware and privacy threats.
Spyware Doctor can monitor your system ! Spyware protection should be an essential part of your protection to defend your privacy and computing habits from prying eyes and virtual trespassers.
Spyware Doctor can hold back all kinds of attackers ! Anti-virus software and firewalls do not fully protect your system against the majority of spyware and privacy threats. Because spyware is commonly bundled with software downloads, attached to e-mails, or transmitted through networks it can appear to be legitimate software, but once installed it can be nearly impossible to detect and remove without the help of a dedicated spyware removal tool like Spyware Doctor
Spyware Doctor 3.5 has just been released with new features and enhancements:
* improved handling of difficult threats and rootkits
* incorporation of a Startup Scanner
* incorporation of a White List Cookie Guard
* improved Graphical User Interface (GUI)
* improved Smart Update tool
Features of the registered version
Detect and remove spyware, adware, malware, trojans, keyloggers, spybots, adbots and trackware
OnGuard runs in the background to monitor and protect your PC from browser infections and tracking cookies
Immunize your system against more than a thousand known web-browser hijackers (BHO) and ActiveX threats
Real-time protection including defense against known phishing attacks, popup blocking and malicious site guard
Intelligent and deep scanning options allow you to thoroughly check your PC for Malware infections
Receive frequent live updates to detect and guard against new threats

Spyware Doctor Product Review
Spyware Doctor 3.2 , the latest update to PC Tools anti-spyware product, offers solid protection against spyware and a number of additional immunization features to block common security holes. It is light on additional features beyond this however, so we recommend that you use it in conjunction with another spyware removal product.

Usability

Spyware Doctor installed without any problems on our test computers.

The user interface is similar to the previous version we reviewed . It offers three three types of scans ?quick scan, full system scan, and custom scan. The program defaults to "full scan" mode (the setting we recommend). Just press the "Start scan" button and your computer is inspected for spyware pests, browser hijackers, and other parasites.

One thing to watch out for is to make sure that you click the "Live Update" button after you register the program - Spyware Doctor did not automatically detect the latest updates even though they were there. You can change this behavior in the "settings" area, but we are left wondering why this is defaulted to "off".

Removal

Scanning seems much more thorough with the latest version of Spyware Doctor. A full system scan took about 20 minutes on our PC.

The scan results screen is much improved in this version of Spyware Doctor. Each of the applications is broken out and a description is provided (if you run the unregistered version, you'll see a rather long log file dump that isn't particularly user friendly. The registered version is much better).

Spyware Doctor detected 82% of the test spyware we installed, and successfully disabled 73% of it. This was a very good score given that we've made a lot of new additions to the Gooroo Spyware Effectiveness test. Spyware Doctor even detected some rare malware programs (such as Second Thought) that other products ignore. Still, 82% is far from perfect - a trend we are seeing more of these days. This is one reason we recommend you use two spyware removal tools in conjunction with each other.

Removal took a long time on our test PC, much longer than other products, but this shouldn't be a problem if you schedule your scans to run at night (highly recommended).

Rollback

Spyware Doctor lets you rollback any changes it makes, in case the spyware you removed was required by an otherwise useful program.

Other Options

Spyware Doctor comes with a scheduler, but we would have preferred it if scheduling was set up automatically when the program is installed. As it stands now, you'll have to go in to the "OnGuard" settings and scroll down to find the scheduler buried way down at the bottom. The scheduler should be much more prominent

Summary

Spyware Doctor 3.5 is an effective product that provides superior spyware removal capabilities and a great user interface, but there are a few minor problems with usability (such as the scheduler being very hard to find). And despite receiving one of the two best scores in our Spyware testing, there were some gaps in coverage. For these reasons, we recommend that you back Spyware Doctor up with another program . This will not only ensure that you are protected from nearly all of the spyware out there, you'll also have access to more customer support and additional tools that are incredibly helpful at removing the most stubborn spyware.
What's new in this release?
This release of Spyware Doctor incorporates the following improvements and enhancements:

Spyware Doctor provides improved integration with PC Tools' online Infection Database.
If infections are detected on your computer, further information about an infection can be obtained directly from PC Tools' online Infection Database, utilizing the Scan Results summary screen.

Spyware Doctor can now run on user accounts with limited privileges.
Users of Windows 2000 or XP no longer require the need to be logged in using an administrator account with administrator privileges to run Spyware Doctor. Limited privilege user accounts can now be used with this application to scan and remove malware.

An improved Live Update tool.
The functionality of Spyware Doctor's Live Update tool has been enhanced to provide improved downloading capabilities, which include main application file upgrades for product functionality enhancements and Help updates.

A new Cookie Guard tool, which removes tracking cookies from a range of different browsers.
Browsers supported in this version include Internet Explorer, Mozilla/Netscape, FireFox and Opera.

Cookie Guard is available in OnGuard -> Cookie Guard.

A patent pending Keylogger Guard tool, which uses behavioral detection as opposed to signature-dependent methods to detect and block keylogger activities on your computer.
Newly released and custom written keyloggers designed for specific attacks, will not normally be blocked by conventional signature detection methods. Using our new behavioral detection Spyware Doctor can prevent these keyloggers from recording keystrokes and causing damage much sooner than keylogger blockers based on signature-dependent methods.

Keylogger Guard is available in OnGuard -> Keylogger Guard.

A Process Guard tool, which prevents known malicious processes from running on your computer.
Malicious processes can run upon the execution of a known malicious executable file.

Process Guard is available in OnGuard -> Process Guard.

A Startup Guard tool, which checks for and removes malicious files that attempt to run automatically on your system when Windows starts up.
Startup Guard scans the areas of your system capable of affecting files running at Windows startup: the Windows Startup folder, "Run" sections of the Windows Registry, Windows bootable files and the Windows Shared Tasks Scheduler.

Startup Guard is available in OnGuard -> Startup Guard.