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Best Free Adware-Spyware-Scumware Remover
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Introduction
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The internet is a dangerous place to be in the 21st century, with many people using increasingly ingenious ways to part you with your hard earned cash, whether it be by exploitation, surreptitiously harvesting your credit card and bank details for their own nefarious purposes, or tempting you to spend money on products and services that you neither need nor want. During the latter years of the 20th century, and the early years of the 21st, Spybot S&D and AdAware were kings, protecting you from all manner of malware that tried to infect your computer with the sole intention of parting you from your wallet. But as technology improves, so do the malware writers, and the kings of yesterday in terms of protection may no longer be up to the job. With every new generation of malware, there will be a new generation of software to combat it, and in my own tests, these are the best free products I recommend. |
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Discussion
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Top of the list is Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free (MBAM). MBAM is a top notch and reputable product. A fairly lightweight download (just over 10 MB) and simple installation means this is not a burdensome product. In my testing, even when the PC was severely infected with many nasties running, it started without any problem and scanned and removed those nasties effectively. The interface is very simple, the scans are very fast and detection is first class. A reboot to complete cleaning was still required for some malware, though this is a minor inconvenience, and required by most programs of this type. The only downside is it has no portable version, and if there is no working network connection in the infected PC you won't be able to download the latest virus definition updates. Second is SUPERAntiSpyware (SAS). Once upon a time this was a good product but recent releases have not been up to the mark. The interface is simple, updates are speedy but it still installs a start-up item which doesn't actually do anything at all. The scan speed is twice to thrice that of MBAM and the detection is less than half of it. The removal also left a lot to be desired. It left a few nasties running even when it showed them as removed. SAS also requires a reboot to complete the removal process. The upside is, it has a portable version which will help with the removal of infections from computers without a working network connection. I hope version 5 brings improvements. ~~~~~ Below is the old review which is still going to be updated ~~~~~
Top of the list once again is SuperAntiSpyware, which successfully detected and cleaned 121 threats on my test system. A fairly lightweight download and simple installation (5.99 MB) mean that this is not a burdensome product. If anything the general package whilst aesthetically similar, has improved, managing to detect and clean after a single scan rather than the two scans required previously. A reboot to complete cleaning was still required, though this is a minor inconvenience, and required by most packages. If I had to raise a criticism, it's that the freeware version still installs a start-up item which doesn't actually do anything at all. In the paid version, it loads the always on protection which is not available in the freeware version. This minor annoyance aside, it remains my top recommendation.
Promoted this time to joint second place is Emsisoft Anti Malware free edition, and let me be very clear that it is ONLY the free edition that I am able to recommend. Emsisoft Anti Malware was able to identify just 43 infections; though some of the more serious threats identified by SAS were included in these. If we disregard tracking cookies, then the margins narrow. However, detection rate is only half the battle, and unfortunately EAM was unable to automatically clean some of the more virulent infections found by itself. Nevertheless, it helpfully provides a link to forums for manual removal instructions.
The downside of EAM is the download size, being a huge 91.69 MB, immediately followed by further updates. Anyone on restricted bandwidth or dial up may be advised to look elsewhere, but for an average broadband connection this should not be a factor.
Separating A2 and MBAM is almost impossible. I found them to be on a par with each other regarding their scans, but both require a technical proficiency that many may not possess; A2 requires manual removal of many threats, whilst MBAM forced me to jump through hoops to get it working.
PCTools SpywareDoctor SE also performed well in scanning, finding 24 threats (excluding cookies). Unfortunately, cleaning the system proved more problematic. Despite reporting successful cleansing, SD failed to terminate processes already running, and did not in fact clean some of the more annoying infections. It would also be useful if SD prompted a reboot after cleansing, though it did not do this, and only experience dictated that this would be a good idea.
SD does, however, include real time protection, which most other products don't, and this protection did block those infections that it had failed to clean. Nevertheless, a further scan and clean with SAS was needed to fully clean my test system. A fine effort, but sadly falling short of the mark. Do note that the free version is no longer available from the PCTools website. It can be obtained as part of the Google pack, or from *here. *Warning: This is a Cnet download link. Downloads from Cnet (Download.com) now require the use of a proprietary installer.
Old timer Ad-Aware, coming in at 35.7MB performed reasonably, if not exceptionally, finding a further 24 infections even after cleaning with A-squared, 4 of which represented real threats, whilst the remaining 20 were cookies.
Doing less well in on demand tests were Spybot S&D, and The Cleaner 2010. Spybot was the other program that was actively blocked from running, and nothing I tried could overcome this. It does come with an on demand file scanner which can be run from the command line and set to scan your entire drive. However, after letting this run for over an hour and noting that progress had barely touched my relatively small installation system (2.1 GB) I cancelled. It would take an age to complete the scan, and would only examine files. Registry entries and services would be left untouched. The Cleaner 2010 found absolutely none.
Arovax Shield is still in development, and starting to mature, though there are still bugs to be ironed out. For example, once installed, and after the obligatory reboot to enable it to start it's services, it immediately complained that it could not find Firefox. This is no surprise since FF was not installed on the test system, though I fail to see why it should prevent it from doing its job. Maybe as time progresses this will become more viable, but in my opinion it isn't quite there yet.
And so that leads us to my standard "other recommendations". Internet Explorer has now reached version 8, which I am sure will become the most prolific web browser before too long, and as such will be the most heavily targeted. I stand by previous recommendations that an alternative browser (of which there are many free ones these days, including Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome and Safari) will offer a safer browsing experience.
And in order to shut the door after the horse has bolted, there are few more useful than HiJack This, which is still a tool requiring expert help, but can be invaluable in helping to clean an infected system. Fortunately, the expert help is still only a forum away.
And as always, let common sense guide you. Don't run a program from an untrusted source, and don't visit websites where infection is likely. You should also beware of popups from programs that you haven't installed, some of the fake anti-spyware I managed to pick up in my browsing sessions was surprisingly convincing. Remember, sometimes malware will scream into your face that it is there (see pic, not a genuine window amongst them). It will just not tell you what it really is.
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Related Products and Links
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Some issues have been reported on 64 bit systems
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Editor
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This software category is in need of an editor. If you would like to give something back to the freeware community by taking it over, check out this page for more details. You can then contact us from that page or by clicking here |
The comments section below is so lengthy that it has become difficult for our visitors to read. Future posts will now be edited for length and repetition, and personal attacks deleted. You are all welcome to join our Security Forum which is much better-suited for intensive debate.
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Comments
thanks for the heads up, i was going to install it to test it out but i thought i wound ask first. thanks!
The thing I dislike about Ad-Aware 2008 is that it loads a service and takes up space even when I have not opened it.
I agree, it installs an aditional service, several drivers and startup entries, it has a slow update that sometimes freezes while updating... the old SE used to be much better. I switch to SAS and MBAM and I'm happy with it - for now.
Hi
Thanks to Gizmo for providing 1 good option for realtime protection in this category.. I am talking about a-squard antimalware... atleast for 1 year for free...
I agree with the sentiment entirely, although I can't justify changing the article on the basis of the deal that Gizmo has negotiated because:-
i. Technically, the full version of A-Squared is still not free. It's a freebie for subscribers. Everyone else would still have to pay.
ii. I haven't tested the full version in a fair comparative test (I have installed it on my main machine, and scanned. The result - no threats found - though that's hardly surprising. My main machine is well protected and kept very clean.
If there's demand, I'll test the paid for version in my test environment, though I still think point i. above means it cannot be included here.
Steve
Hi
I agree with you that a-squared anti malware can't be included here and really you don't need to change the article for that because it's just a limited time offer for site visitors. but it's really a great offer.. there is one good reason to grab the offer is very few options for real time malware protection.. even if it's not as effective as super antispyware it will atleast give some real time protection and SAS still can be used as on demand scanner... I am just appreciating the deal...
Hi
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware 1.21 came out!
* (FIXED) Problem with update hanging up application on first run.
* (FIXED) Problem quarantining large files.
* (FIXED) Greatly improved memory scan speed.
* (FIXED) Updated zib.dll to latest version.
* (ADDED) Scheduled scanning now creates log files.
* (ADDED) Advanced heuristic detections for multiple trojans.
* (ADDED) Direct Disk Access for enumerating folder contents.
* (ADDED) Direct Disk Access for breaking file headers.
Hello everyone,
I think A^2 free is a decent on demand scanner, but the status bar says it's done and then it still scans for quite some time so you can never really tell how much time is left on the scan, which is annoying to say the least.
Another thing that really bothers me about a-squared free is that when you update, sometimes the update seems to go OK & is of reasonable size, but other times, the update is about 10 MB or more. I think it's re-downloading old definitions that you already have. I can't imagine there being 10 MB worth of new definitions in an update.
The large updates are very bothersome on a 56k modem and if what I suspect is true, i.e., that I am re- downloading definitions that I already have, then that is just plain ridiculous.Something strange is going on with the update feature of this program.
John
sometimes A-squared loads a REVISED version of a previous definition file (i.e. they made some corrections to a previous definition file). Note that a-squared does not have one definition file that it downloads, it has many definition "modules" and if there is a revision to a particular "module", then it will re-load only that module and not all modules. Some modules contain more than 100,000 nasties, while others contain only a few nasties.
As I mentioned in the review, I too noticed the same problem with A-Squared's progress bar not representing the actual scan time.
Having made further tests, I stand by my recommendation that SAS and MBAM represent a strong and complete combination for on-demand scans, managing to remove all threats between them on my test system.
Steve
Hi
Can you give the specific results of these further tests?
Thanks
Specifically, A-Squared's on demand scanner detected a substantially lower number of threats than both SAS and MBAM. The machine was infected differently from the first round of tests (This time I went to crack sites, porn sites etc. which are almost certain to generate a number of infections).
Again, using IE (V6) I allowed activeX installations without question, downloaded and ran some questionable keygens etc. Again, the test sample numbered approximately 200 infections (not including viruses - which I didn't test for), and again, A-Squared detected approximately 30 - 40% compared with SAS/MBAM combination of around 76 - 80%.
After cleaning with SAS/MBAM, there were no infections left for A-Squared to clean, though as with my previous test, mechanisms by which threats may enter the system were still detected, though these included TightVNC (which was deliberately installed) and other legitimate processes. Whilst I don't deny that these could be used to surreptitiously infect your system, a degree of knowledge is required before cleaning to avoid breaking legitimate programs.
Having said that, A-Squared fully licensed forms part of the protection on my main system for it's active protection.
I will qualify my findings, however. When you are looking for infections found in the wild, they can be surprisingly difficult to find. Without resorting to an artificial test environment (something I want to avoid, since my tests are intended to represent real world tests) it is entirely possible that A-Squared would excel against threats which I simply did not encounter.
As with all the software mentioned here, you may have more success with some than with others. I report from my own experience, and as I have said before, others have nothing but praise for A-Squared.
Steve
Why is Spyware Doctor Starter Edition linked at the bottom of the article? Is this a good product?
Hi
Spyware doctor starter edition linked at the bottom because it's one of the very few options for realtime malware protection.. It's not as good as SAS and MBMA in malware detection.. but neither of these gives realtime protection so spyware doctor starter edition is mentioned as an option... spyware terminator and windows defender are another two less effective realtime options.. Comodo BOclean as well...
Hi
How are you so certain that Spyware Terminator and Comodo BOClean are less effective than Spyware Doctor Starter Edition?
Thanks
Hi
OK. Thanks. But wouldn't it be better to run IE7?
Hi
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware 1.22 came out!
* (FIXED) Error 721 (0, 93).
* (FIXED) Random freezing during scan.
* (FIXED) Minor problems repairing LSA registry values.
* (ADDED) New command line parameters: /fullscan and /fullscanterminate.
Hi
well, I am not certain about that, but this is what my experience says.. it may be different from the fact.. I remembered when I was using both (spyware terminator and spyware doctor) spyware doctor always had a high detection rate as compared to spyware terminator... but I don't like either of these two because spyware doctor is really heavy on resources and spyware terminator needs crawler toolbar to be installed to be more effective and it also slows down the computer... I am happy with just on demand scan of SAS and occasionally MBAM....
I deliberately used IE6 because, to date, IE7 is still an optional download, and since IE6 offers less protection than IE7, it was easier to pick up the drive by infections.
Bear in mind the browser used does not taint the results of the tests themselves, but simply reduces reduces protection at infection stage.
One could just as easily have asked "Why not use Firefox", but it's a certainty that I would have picked up far fewer infections if I had. I needed a vulnerable system to properly evaluate the protection offered by individual products, and didn't want to compromise the results with protection that is, effectively, built into the OS.
Steve
I have to admit, I used to use Spyware Terminator on my main system, but when I did a system cleanup (uninstalling old software etc) it was one of the programs that went. Quite simply, I did not notice any real benefit in the realtime protection, and updates were becoming more and more infrequent.
Having said that, I've been using computers for 25 years, having started on an IBM 2966 mainframe and progressed through the ages, and I have always taken an interest in the computer world generally, so I developed a healthy paranoia and ensure that I scan and clean weekly, as well as being very cautious about sites that I visit etc. Since we are here (in part) to help guide less experienced users, it is only right and proper that they have easy access to realtime protection, too.
You can expect the links to be updated soon, and Spyware Doctor SE may well be replaced by Comodo and Threatfire in the links section. I welcome feedback beforehand on this point.
Steve
Hi
I agree Comodo BOClean and threatfire are good alternatives to spyware terminator and spyware doctor.. using sandboxie will further minimize the need for realtime protection...
Hi
"Comodo BOclean as well..." I mean Comodo BOclean is also a option for realtime protection....
Hi
What you suggest about antispyware capability of AVG and Avira ? I have seen many users using AVG only and not using any additional antispyware software... Have you ever tested their effectiveness as spyware remover ?
PC tool's ThreatFire did not work very well with my Vista system. It froze up several times, but eventually recovered and started to work OK. But I didn't like the fact that it requres the user to join an automatic reporting community and if you try to unselect it, it removes your ability to get updates.
Hi
I personally feel that joining an automatic reporting community will not do any harm to your security or privacy..... Because threatfire is behavior based blocker, automatic reporting community will increases it's effectiveness and reduces the number of false positive alerts.. Otherwise behavior based blockers generally generate lots of alerts. you can compare this with any other HIPS. threatfire has very few false positive alerts as compared to others...
As far as I'm concerned, a "revised" version of a previous definition file *is* a new definition file. It makes no sense to make us download a whole module if you only need part of a module updated.
I don't care if it's called a file or module, I just don't want to download large update files on a 56K modem.
The updates from A-squared are generally much larger and take much longer than any other ant-spyware, anti-trojan, or anti-virus program I have ever used. For me, this is a major drawback of the program and I would love to see the updates get smaller overall, and on average.
Other than the update file size, I don't have any problems with A-squared but I am going to also use Superantispyware and Malwarebytes as on demand scanners based on Steve's tests.
John
Yes, I agree with you. My point was that there is nothing erroneous with the update process you described (i.e. it is not downloading the same definitions over and over). Nonetheless, A-square's method of updating can be bothersome with slower Internet connections.
Hi
Have you tried any real-time products against the malware? That would be very interesting.
I would think that Spyware Terminator should be better in this, because of it's HIPS and alerts to new executables.
That's a good question and a very interesting one. In this category both AVG, Avast (and also the free Bitdefender ?) should also be tested, providing they are free, very popular, they provide anti-spyware protection and last, but not least, they are THE recommended products in the AV category, together with Antivir. Steve said somewhere he didn't have a AV installed so the reply to your question is "no, he didn't test them". But I would also like to know the answer to that.
Hi
I think AntiVir should also be tested.