Spyware Doctor

Spyware Doctor Key Features: Award winning spyware detection extends its net to catch viruses, Trojans, worms, and other threats with minimal resource impact.

For years, Spyware Doctor has been an industry-leading solution for removing spyware (which monitors PC or online behavior and reports it to others). Now, PC Tools has added antivirus protection plus an add-on module, Browser Defender (Internet Explorer and Firefox), that helps protect you from malicious Web sites. A second add-on for badly infected systems is Behavior Guard, a real-time maliciousactivity monitor that identifies and stops never-before-seen threats.

Spyware Doctor installs quickly,giving you the option to enable Intelli-Guard (the real-time threat-detection tool) and run a system scan. Scans are fast, and results are detailed. Spyware Doctor has also enhanced its ability to scan and remove threats in Safe Mode. We like the add-on module approach, as it affords control of intrusion management level and consequent resource impact. (Without the add-ons, resource impact was minor but noticeable. This varies with system and Internet speed.)

However, we wish the program would inform users during install that these are available. (For Browser Defender, go to www.browserdefender.com; log in to your PC Tools account at tinyurl.com/ytz26m to add Behavior Guard.) Remove previous installations of Spyware Doctor before adding this one.