SwordOfSecurity
November 13th, 2007, 12:56 AM
Well as the title suggests, I'm looking for reliable free antispyware programs that work smoothly with Windows Vista (in specific Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit). I've known a handful over the years since I've experimented with a large variety of free programs, but the problem with this is that all were for Windows XP, and I plan to switch over to Vista.
Anyway, I've gone over a few of the free antispyware programs I've found interest in considering, and was wondering if anyone could offer their opinion on which I should choose and if they've been working great on vista or not (I've searched a few up myself, but found varied results in terms of compatibility). With that being said, I'll list the few that I found and added in a small note that reflects my current opinion on them.
On-Demand Scanning and Other:
SUPERAntispyware -- So far my experience with this program on Windows XP has been great, although there have been varied responses on problems that have occurred with it and Windows Vista that weren't really addressed since no new program updates have come. I've heard that 4.0 will be coming out soon, but have no idea when it will come out (thinking of waiting till it is released).
Spybot S&D -- I haven't been too comfortable with 1.5, as there have been continual problems since it's release. The only fixes provided came at a relatively slow rate, and still all problems have not been finalized out of beta. The main reason for even considering this is the immunization that now includes firefox, but that has also been identified to have some issues.
SpywareBlaster -- For this I haven't heard anything in terms of Vista compatibility with this, and I plan to use this as my primary source of immunization. The only issue I really have with this is its relatively limited amount of firefox protection opposed to Spybot. I've heard that there is an upcoming update for this, and am curious what the estimate time for its release is going to be.
Real-Time Protection:
Spyware Terminator -- This program was initially great when I had it for the short while I did when it was version 1.6.x to 1.9.x. However, there were some problems that occurred with its compatibility with other programs that I've had in the past, and the recent 2.X version has been filled with glitches as well as an overall slow progress in fixes. My chances of using this in Vista are a bit slim at the moment due to the existing problems which haven't been fixed yet.
Windows Defender -- I know that this program tends to be very inflexible and not the best in comparison to other antispyware programs in terms of quality, protection offered and detection, but it's basically the only program I know of that works perfectly with Vista and doesn't have any major conflicting issues. I am debating if I should use this if I can't find a suitable real-time protection program for spyware.
Comodo BOClean -- This program I don't know much about, and I'd like to hear everyone's opinion on this one. All I really have is a vague conception of what this program is like and how it looks.
Spyware Doctor Standard (Google Pack version) -- I just recently heard about this one, and don't know much about it except for the fact that it tends to have a lot of false positives. I looked into it a bit and found that it lacked some important real-time features in spite of its "standard protection".
Well that's my list which doesn't appear to have much. If you're wondering why I chose not to include AVG AS, A-squared, or Ad-aware 2007, it's because they all include an extra process running in the background (AVG AS's is possible to be disabled but it is a rather clunky program that has caused me problems before).
If anyone else has more suggestions for free on-demand and/or real-time antispyware for Vista, I'd be grateful if you could share it with me. Thanks to those who help me out on this one as it has been a rather tough decision for me so far.
Anyway, I've gone over a few of the free antispyware programs I've found interest in considering, and was wondering if anyone could offer their opinion on which I should choose and if they've been working great on vista or not (I've searched a few up myself, but found varied results in terms of compatibility). With that being said, I'll list the few that I found and added in a small note that reflects my current opinion on them.
On-Demand Scanning and Other:
SUPERAntispyware -- So far my experience with this program on Windows XP has been great, although there have been varied responses on problems that have occurred with it and Windows Vista that weren't really addressed since no new program updates have come. I've heard that 4.0 will be coming out soon, but have no idea when it will come out (thinking of waiting till it is released).
Spybot S&D -- I haven't been too comfortable with 1.5, as there have been continual problems since it's release. The only fixes provided came at a relatively slow rate, and still all problems have not been finalized out of beta. The main reason for even considering this is the immunization that now includes firefox, but that has also been identified to have some issues.
SpywareBlaster -- For this I haven't heard anything in terms of Vista compatibility with this, and I plan to use this as my primary source of immunization. The only issue I really have with this is its relatively limited amount of firefox protection opposed to Spybot. I've heard that there is an upcoming update for this, and am curious what the estimate time for its release is going to be.
Real-Time Protection:
Spyware Terminator -- This program was initially great when I had it for the short while I did when it was version 1.6.x to 1.9.x. However, there were some problems that occurred with its compatibility with other programs that I've had in the past, and the recent 2.X version has been filled with glitches as well as an overall slow progress in fixes. My chances of using this in Vista are a bit slim at the moment due to the existing problems which haven't been fixed yet.
Windows Defender -- I know that this program tends to be very inflexible and not the best in comparison to other antispyware programs in terms of quality, protection offered and detection, but it's basically the only program I know of that works perfectly with Vista and doesn't have any major conflicting issues. I am debating if I should use this if I can't find a suitable real-time protection program for spyware.
Comodo BOClean -- This program I don't know much about, and I'd like to hear everyone's opinion on this one. All I really have is a vague conception of what this program is like and how it looks.
Spyware Doctor Standard (Google Pack version) -- I just recently heard about this one, and don't know much about it except for the fact that it tends to have a lot of false positives. I looked into it a bit and found that it lacked some important real-time features in spite of its "standard protection".
Well that's my list which doesn't appear to have much. If you're wondering why I chose not to include AVG AS, A-squared, or Ad-aware 2007, it's because they all include an extra process running in the background (AVG AS's is possible to be disabled but it is a rather clunky program that has caused me problems before).
If anyone else has more suggestions for free on-demand and/or real-time antispyware for Vista, I'd be grateful if you could share it with me. Thanks to those who help me out on this one as it has been a rather tough decision for me so far.