Overview
If you're worried about Spyware and Adware, you should be. Almost every PC
in the world has been or will be infected by them. Why are Spyware and
Adware so dangerous? First of all, they cause your system to become unstable
and even more importantly, they put you at a severe risk of becoming the
victim of identity theft. Because the risks are so high, it's vital that you
protect yourself from these horrendous programs.
What is Spyware/Adware?
If you browse the Internet or read email, your computer is at risk of being
infected with Spyware or Adware. You don't have to download anything to
become infected; you merely have to perform normally daily Internet tasks.
Once infected, Adware and Spyware programs transmit your personal data to
the users who infected you. Everything from credit card numbers to your
social security number can be taken from your computer. Once they have your
information, what happens to it is up to them.
How We Tested
We knew Adware and Spyware were serious problems, but we didn't realize the
extent of it until we tested over one hundred computers that were supposed
to be protected with antivirus programs and firewalls. Our tests proved to
us that every single computer we tested was infected with some version of
Adware or Spyware.
Our Top Choices
If you really want to protect yourself from Spyware and Adware, you're going to want to go with one of our top two picks - SpywareBot.com and Adwarealert.com. During our tests, these two proved to be the most reliable and the most comprehensive. The other three performed well, but not as well as our top two picks.
Overview We started out by testing a number of computers for registry errors and as
we expected, we found that every single one of the computers we tested had
several registry problems. We then moved on to finding a solution to these
registry problems by testing a number of registry cleaners. Out of the
numerous registry cleaners we tested, five of them deserved mention.
You're working on your computer and you're in the middle of an important
document. Suddenly, your computer crashes and all of the information you
were working on is lost. What happened? Did you do something wrong? No.
Chances are it has something to do with the multiple errors in your registry.
Think you don't have any registry errors? Think this can't happen to you?
Think again!
What is a Registry Cleaner?
All Windows PCs eventually become inundated with excessive unnecessary
registry entries. These entries can cause your computer to become very
How We Test
Our Top Picks
Out of the five registry cleaners that we picked, two really outshone the
rest. Errorkiller.com and Registrybot.com were by far the best registry
cleaners out of them all.
| # |
Site |
FREE |
Site |
Popularity / Satisfaction |
Ease of Use |
Current |
Site |
1. |
|
|
A great Spyware/Adware remover. This one is our top pick. The site was easy to navigate, the Spyware/Adware remover was easy to use and best of all it was highly effective. Detected the most Spyware/Adware infections and returned no false positives. |
High / Very High |
Easy |
10 / 10 Best |
|
2. |
|
|
This is another great Spyware/Adware remover that made it to our top-pick list. Huge database and little to no false positives. Fast and easy to use and also very effective. |
High / Very High |
Easy |
9 / 10 Best |
|
3. |
|
|
Rounding out our top 3 is the official Spyware Remover. Loaded with more features than the top 2, but may be a little more than the average user requires. This app is perfect for the person who wants total control of their Spyware Protection. |
High / High |
Very Easy |
9 / 10 Best |
|
4. |
 |
|
This one was great at scanning for and detecting Spyware and Adware and did so rather quickly. Scans your computer for free and it was easy to use. |
High / High |
Moderate |
8 / 10 Better |
 |
5. |
 |
|
This one did scan quickly, but seemed to miss some of the Spyware and Adware infections that we knew to be present. Their Spyware/Adware database does not seem to be as large as some of the other databases we tested. |
High / Moderate |
Moderate |
7 / 10 Good |
|
| # |
Site |
FREE |
Site |
Popularity / Satisfaction |
Ease of Use |
Current |
Site |
1. |
|
|
This was our top choice. It was extremely easy to use, performed a thorough scan and was impressively fast. Errokiller.com had the PCs we tested working faster than they were when they were brand new. |
High / Very High |
Easy |
10 / 10
Best |
|
2. |
|
|
This was our second pick. It offered an extremely user-friendly interface and a comprehensive scan. This registry repair software worked rather quickly and offered a dramatic increase in computer speed when used. |
High / Very High |
Easy |
9 / 10 Best |
|
3. |
 |
|
This registry cleaner was very, very easy to use and also offered an in-depth scan, but it took a while to complete the registry fix process. Computer speeds were increased when the registry fix process was complete. |
High / High |
Very Easy |
9 / 10 Better |
|
4. |
 |
|
This was also a good registry cleaner. It offered a comprehensive scan and worked quickly. However, PC speeds were not as fast as when repaired with our top two picks. |
High / High |
Moderate |
8 / 10 Good |
|
5. |
 |
|
This is last on our list. While it worked well on the PCs we could get it to load on, we couldn't get it to load on PCs running on Windows 98 or Windows ME. |
High / Moderate |
Moderate |
7 / 10 |
|
