On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 06:09:13 -0800, Why Tea wrote:

> Are there any test results comparing the effectiveness of Windows
> Defender to other free anti-spyware, such as AdAware, etc?

Defender used to be Giant Antispyware which was considered one of the better antispyware products. Presumably Microsoft hasn't screwed it up too much.

NONE of these tools is adequate alone. You need at least FOUR of them and even then many of them will just clear the same products. I always install Spybot Search and Destroy, Spyware Blaster, the new Spyware Guard, Ad-Aware, and Windows Defender on home clients' machines. I also have now started installing A-Squared Free and AVG Anti-Spyware, as trojans are now the big issue in spyware.

Pretty soon I will start installing rootkit detectors as well, as it is expected this will soon be the preferred method of hiding spyware.

If you're not up on the latest security issues, the bottom line is: computer security is failing across the board. Just about every security company is admitting that computer security is a total loss at this point. The top of the line AV products are clearing LESS than FIFTY PERCENT of new malware.

If you want computer security, you don't run Windows. It's that simple.