I'm not surprised - I continuesly run a whole bunch of programs, since it has become obvious, that each individual program takes a different approach in removing spyware.And by no means - detecting spyware does not mean, that the program actually can remove it. And in some cases you actually have to read up, use specialized tools and work your way through registry, various exe files and dll's to find and remove the culprit.As comment to your results however - McAfee and Symantec have become bloated and overly resource hungry, by not even be expressively user friendly as they were in the olden days, when both of them were establishing their reputation.So even if they are free (for 6 or 12 months) I throw them off of any system, that I am being asked to clean up.And talking of new systems - maybe you should mention, that Dell has taken leadership to a new dimension. - Along with McAffee they deliver well known Spyware product MySearch preinstalled with every new system !

You are soooo wrong about Spy Sweeper. Check the forums.
I, like many others, started getting random rebooting of my pc after Spysweeper updated to the latest version.
I submitted a trouble ticket and they gave me a solution, which was to run a cleanup program they came up with, then install an even new version of Spysweeper.
They knew about this problem but didn't have the guts to put a disclaimer on their site that this could happen.
It also prevents Windows XP from installing SP2, which means I have to reformat my hard drive and install SP2 BEFORE I install Spysweeper.
Their "no comment" solution to this problem, and the fact that it has affected so many people, puts Spysweeper high on my Shit List

How did "Spyware Doctor" do in the test ? (It's the one PC World pushes.) ???

Firstly, thanks for the article. Secondly, I must agree with uncjerry (where's the "beef" - the Spyware Doctor test results?). Like others, I use many "suites" running together on one machine and as such, am particularly interested in "footprint", "memory leakage", speed, ability to customize scans (what, when, how, and specific actions to take/ignore), and how well the suites recognize existing rules. After testing how well they "play together", I go through an uninstall/re-install process to see if they remove their own leftovers and re-install quickly. Guess I just didn't see this in your article.

By the way, your competitor made the same mistakes in their article whch leads to my questioning the validity, thoroughness, and integrity of the testing process. Finally, could someone at your organization address the issue of impartiality whilst testing products whose sponsors pay you money?

Hello Narasu,

How is Sunbelt Software's CounterSpy faring these days? A while back PCWorld gave it the Editor's Choice. Is it still the best overall?

Thanks.

Webroot Spysweeper consumes so much time and resources when you first log into Windows that it isn't worth having. I'd much rather have something like CounterSpy, which is a lot less intrusive.

If anyone out there is using Webroot Spysweeper. Go to the options screen. Then go to program. there is an option to disable splash screen. will make boot time about a min faster and does not hurt the program at all.