Spyware Detection Recommendation

Need to find a good spyware detector/remover

[MatthewHSE]

I've got a computer that's exhibiting some really strange behavior. The only thing I can think of is that some spyware was installed on it sometime or another. Knowing that many people here are security-concious, I thought I'd ask for some recommendations for a spyware detector and remover. Should be fairly user-friendly, since I'm not the greatest when it comes to recognizing necessary system files and such. :)

All recommendations will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Matthew

[dazz]

Try AdAware, which you can download free.

Ive heard spybot is also good too.

[Goober]

Hi Matthew,

I second the programs mentioned. Don't worry about deleting the wrong files, Ad-aware is the pretty user friendly, the Spybot Search and Destroy is just a tad more difficult.

Good luck!

Goober

[2oddSox]

I'll second AdAware and Spybot S&D. Both are free to download and free updates. I normally run one after the other - what one misses, the other generally picks up. Make sure your AV definitions are up to date also. I had 4 e-mails with virus attachments just this week.

2odd...

[edit] hehe, I'll third it, as goober seconded it [/edit]

[MatthewHSE]

Thanks guys. Think I'll try Ad-Aware and see what that does for me. I read some of the download.com reviews of Spybot and some were saying that it itself contains spyware and the program can't be uninstalled. Any ideas on those reports?

If anyone else has any suggestions I'd love to hear them . . .

Thanks again,

Matthew

[photon]

Here's a link on Spybot's site that addresses this misconception: http*//www.safer-networking.org/index.php?lang=en&page=news/news20031103

[bcolflesh]

Spybot Search and Destroy is the one you want - it's sometimes months before Ad-Aware has definitions already found in SSD - SSD is a much more efficient and effective tool at this time.