Impressive and free antivirus and antispyware package

Platform : Windows 2000, Windows XP

Type:

Manufacturer: Microsoft

Size: 6.4MB - 14.3MB

Rating: 3

Verdict: A great antivirus and antispyware program at no cost

System Requirements:
300MHz Pentium processor or equivalent 64MB RAM 10MB hard disk space Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher

Previously known as Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta 1, this anti-spyware software gets a new name with its second beta release.

It works like any other spyware detector, offering you the choice of either a Quick Scan or a slower Deep Scan. Choose the Deep Scan and you can select specific folders to be scanned, and/or your PC's memory.

It offers optional real-time protection, which activates various checkpoints throughout a PC's system in order to prevent spyware being installed.

Also optional is integration with the SpyNet community. This means that any potential spyware threats on your PC are sent to a central database, where the results are analysed and signatures made available to protect you.

It runs a little slowly, and in a quick test against the popular spyware tool Ad-Aware, it was beaten hands down. Things have been improved in this release, but it is still a long way from being a serious challenger to other anti-spyware tools (click here for a short guide on anti-spyware tools).

In order to download this software you need to go through the Windows Genuine Advantage validation procedure on your operating system. A little annoying.