Malwarebytes can also scan individual files and folders as well as whole hard drives, with the right-click context menu in Windows Explorer.

Best Spyware Protection Software Programs Out

Here are the best anti-spyware software programs out there today.

Tim Fisher has 30 years professional technology support experience.

He writes troubleshooting content and is the General Manager of Lifewire.

Jerrick Leger is a CompTIA-certified IT Specialist with more than 10 years experience in technical support and IT fields.

He is also a systems administrator for an IT firm in Texas serving small businesses.

It could be disguised as legitimate software or work behind the scenes to do things like track web browsing data or monitor keystrokes to collect passwords.

You might have a spyware infection if your computers performance has recently started to suffer, and especially if strange pop-ups are showing up, websites are redirecting to places you dont want to go, email contacts are getting odd spam messages that appear to be from you, or youre a victim of identity theft.

Below are several free anti-spyware tools that can scan your hard drive, flash drive, external hard drive, etc.

Other scanners remove some kinds of malware but not spyware, so weve omitted those from this list.

Best Spyware Protection Download Install Software

See How to Safely Download Install Software for some tips on avoiding spyware in the first place.

SUPERAntiSpyware should be your very first pick if you want to get rid spyware thats already on your computer.

It updates often, installs and scans quickly, and gives you complete control over what gets scanned.

Its able to check inside ZIP files, skip unknown file types (for a quicker scan), ignore files bigger than 4 MB, and skip over non-executable files (so that only EXEs and similar file types are scanned).

What really makes SUPERAntiSpyware stand out among the others in this list is that it can also be set up to only scan files that have been changed within the last so-many days (1 day, 5 days, etc.), ignore System Restore and Volume Information data, use more of the CPU for a faster scan (called Scan Boost ), and even scan the files that shortcuts point to.

SUPERAntiSpyware can scan the whole computer or just parts of it where spyware normally exists.

You can also run a Critical Point Scan to delete spyware thats currently running in memory or use the Custom Scan option to pick what gets scanned and where to check (flash drives, internalexternal hard drives, select folders, etc.).

This anti-spyware tool can also delete temporary Windows files before the scan is started, exclude folders from scans, scan from the right-click context menu, and close down any open web browsers before scanning.

The freeware version is 100 percent free but you do have to manually run scans and definition updates (they dont happen automatically).

However, these limitations are lifted with the professional version.

SUPERAntiSpyware works with Windows XP and newer versions of Windows.

Its easy to use and tends to find a lot more malicious items than similar programs.

When the scan is complete, its really easy to tell where the spyware was found, and selecting the ones to quarantine is just a click or two away.

Best Spyware Protection For Mac