Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus 5.52	4.4 (Best)	$39.951	Go to website	Read Review	5	4.5	3.5	4.5
Panda Antivirus + Firewall23	4.3	$49.954	Go to website	Read Review	5	4.5	3.5	4.0
Norton Anti-Virus 20082	4.0	$39.99	Go to website	Read Review	4.0	3.5	4.0	4.5
AVG Antivirus 8.02	3.3	$34.99	Website	Read Review	3.5	3.5	3.0	3.0

5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Poor

Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus is a top-rated malware, spyware & virus removal utility that detects, removes and protects your PC from thousands of potential spyware, adware, trojans, viruses, keyloggers, spybots and tracking threats.

Spyware Doctor with Anti-Virus 5.5 full review

Try to get past these guards

Malware can infect your system many different ways. The use of separate engines to keep Malware off your system sets Spyware Doctor 5.5 apart. If one of the six different Guard engines miss, the others back it up. Guards, Guards Guards!!

• Browser Guard protects your Internet browser by detecting and blocking malicious changes from being made to your settings guarding against browser hijackers.
• File Guard monitors for any malicious files on your system and prevents them from being accessed.
• Immunizer Guard ensures that no known malignant ActiveX object can install onto your PC without warning while you are on the Internet.
• Network Guard blocks malicious changes to your network settings to stop threats from hijacking your network connection.
• Process Guard detects and blocks malicious hidden programs.
• Start Up Guard monitors and blocks malicious applications from configuring themselves to automatically start on your system.

Easy to use

Spyware Doctor underwent a big interface update from 4.x to 5.x and it couldn't be much easier to use. Scan results are categorized by threat type and an easy "Fix" button is provided as one step to clean up the mess.

Support

When we ran into problems on one of our computers PCTools was responsive and got back to us with a solution fast.

Software Quality

With malware the thoroughness of the file clean-up speaks to the quality of the software and research departments. Some anti-malware software only removes the most malicious part of the malware program. The problem with this is that over time your computer slows down with all that extra stuff clogging it up. Spyware Doctor does a very thorough job and cleaning up your PC getting it back to performing as new. Then the many Guards step in to prevent any new infections.

Top Pros and Cons

Panda Antivirus + Firewall 2008 full review

Advanced Protection

Panda's TruPrevent technology gives it one leg up on competitors. This technology prevents previously unknown threats by monitoring the behavior of all programs. This is vital in today's internet climate with new threats emerging daily.

Easy to use

Panda doesn't require advanced security knowledge. Although we did have to tweak a few settings Panda gets close to set it and forget it. No problem installing this for non-techie people, Panda's set-up is easy and scan results are well organized.

Support

We didn't find ourselves needing a lot of support. Panda was responsive to our questions by e-mail.

Software Quality

Working with a lot of software, we've become sensitive to software quality items such as how intuitive the interface is, how good the online help is, how easy it is to understand error messages, etc. Good software gets this right through customer feedback. We found Panda's software to have very good quality.

Top Pros and Cons

Norton Anti-virus 2008 full review

Norton is back

Norton may be the most popular and recognizable name in anti-virus. They have taken some lumps over the last few years but have kept up with the times and deliver very good virus and spyware protection in a high quality software package.

Easy to use

Norton has a polished user interface, we like the way they handle prompts and other user interactions also the online help is excellent.

Support

Like BitDefender support was very good offering phone, e-mail or chat support 24/7.

Software Quality

Norton Anti-virus 2008 is the culmination of years of software development therefore it has very good software quality.

Top Pros and Cons

AVG Anti-virus 2008 full review

Protection with a twist

AVG provides above average protection and is making strides toward the top of the AV market. An interesting twist is the addition of link scanner and web shield that pre-scans web sites before you visit. In the long run this could be a very effective prevention method.

Easy to use

AVG 8 includes a significant interface upgrade from 7.5. AVG is now as easy to use as any antivirus.

Support

We found AVG's online help and e-mail support responsive.

Software Quality

AVG is catching up in software quality, while they have a bit to go before catching up with the leaders version 8 has brought it in line as a serious contender.

Top Pros and Cons

Other vendors we took a hard look at

Zone Alarm Anti-Virus

Zone Alarm re-brands the Kaspersky Anti-virus and Anti-Spyware and provides great protection but the scan results could be very confusing to some people. Also performance was lackluster, scans took a long time to complete. Go to Zone Alarm Web Site

Kaspersky

Kaspersky also provides excellent protection quality. It is very adept at cleaning up an infested system without crashing. In order to get the best protection we had to go through and tweak a lot of settings this is not user friendly enough for us. Techie users that like to tweak may love the product. Go to Go to Kaspersky Web Site

McAfee

McAfee has fallen behind on spyware and malware detection. The default installation leaves some threats categorized as "PUPs" that we think should be cleaned by default. We were suprised by the lack of some features as McAfee is one of the top players in the business market. When it came to the home computer we were sure that you'd be much better off with a free version or one of the above recommended software tools.

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