Now, Spyware Doctor happens to be a product to which I would give a thumbs-up. The latest version of Spyware Doctor 6.0 has been created very carefully after taking into account all the reviews and views given by critics in the complete dissection and criticism of all of the shortcomings of previous versions. That is a reason why they have made doubly sure that the protection against any malicious computer threats -as well as any other security holes are completely blocked – has been added to the software. It is well worth its price because it is going to go through some of the toughest tests devised for Spyware and malware (which is a shortened word for “malicious software”).
Ease of setup /use
It was quite easy to set up Spyware Doctor on my computer. Let me explain to you my modus operandi. I set up the Spyware onto a brand-new computer, which has been freshly loaded and switched on. Any Spyware which immediately gives me the scary information that I have millions of hidden viruses which can only be removed by purchase their expensive anti-virus program is going to get thumbs down. This also counts as a negative review. I was glad to say that Spyware Doctor happens to be honest, and did not show any false quantities. It was now ready to go to the next stage of operations; that is, scanning in a Spyware, adware, malware and virus laden battlefield. It was very easy to install, and all the features were laid out in a very user-friendly way. The navigation bar which is placed on the left has some extra options. But as I was only interested in the scan computer, I kicked off a default scan, which happens to be a full scan, just by pressing the button. This one happens to be extremely slow to setup within this mode; I would suggest you run it only when you have plenty of work to do on the computer, because there might be a chance that it is going to take a couple of hours to go through every single file on your computer. I use my computer heavily and also it is an older model, so I put this mode on. But if you happen to be rushed for time (so what’s new) you can easily tweak the settings according to your requirements and wishes. It also has a mode in which you can custom scan and quick scan your settings. If you want, you can go through the whole rigmarole of 640,000 threats of Spyware, malware and adware floating around on the Internet.
It is very easy to load all the updates as it gets updated the moment you switch it on. By the way, it happens to have some unexpected, as well as welcome, features like making sure that any malicious applications do not launch by themselves, gets wind of any harmful attachments in your e-mail, does not allow unauthorized toolbars to install by themselves, and finds all the root kit programs which are unwanted and removes them.
Scanning performance
I know that there are about 600,000 signatures out there in the market, and this program has several ways and means to tackle all of them. Nevertheless, such a comprehensive scan means that this scanner is going to take much more time to hunt out all the bugs. Now as my computer happened to be a test one, it took about 15 minutes to complete the scanning, but the average computer user will not be tackling all the malware out there, and that is why it is going to be faster for you. Even so, it is very easy for you to schedule the computer scanning for a time then you do not happen to be using it actively.
Detection effectiveness
Now let me confess something: I do not expect too much from the anti-spyware that I am testing, because the average happens to be 40% to 55% detection, so you will agree with me that a 93% detection of the Spyware which has been installed in my test drive is an excellent score.
Removal effectiveness
The removal effectiveness was amazing especially when 86% of the Spyware was disabled. I know that every single Spyware was installed by me, and I could see just by one glance on the screen, that certain web crawling spiders in the shape of Spyware were exterminated. I also made a couple of additions, which are quite new in the market and it still got them too. It even managed to detect Spy Falcon which had decided to scoff at all the other anti-Spyware being tested and preferred sitting in my drive, unharmed and undisturbed. Until Spyware Doctor arrived! Not bad at all. It also made a lot of difference to the running of the computer by getting rid of all that harmful and tiresome malware. It missed a couple in the shape of French toolbars, but that was not a big deal. If you happen to be using Kazaa which is the world’s greatest way to get plenty of harmful spyware and adware upon your computer, this program is definitely going to detect it. But you will have to use the rollback option to make sure that it does not get wiped out. The same thing goes for RealPlayer, another way to get spyware on your computer.
Summary
PC Tools Spyware Doctor 6.0 is hands down the winner in our latest round of testing. It was successful at detecting up to 97 percent of all spyware and removing 94 percent of the spyware. This rating placed it well ahead of the second place program. Although it is slower than many other products, installing this threat detector on your PC will virtually guarantee that you are protected from almost any and all threats out there!
