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Ad-Aware provides protection from known Spyware including: Data-mining, aggressive advertising, Parasites, Scumware, selected traditional Trojans, Dialers, Malware, Browser hijackers, and tracking components.

What’s New in 2008:
* Improved Threat Detection
o Spyware, Adware, Trojans & Hijackers
o Fraud Tools & Rogue Applications
o Password Stealers & Keyloggers
* Enhanced Rootkit removal system
* Faster Updates & Faster Scans
* Less Resource Usage for optimal computer performance
* Easy to Download, Install and Use
* Lavasoft ThreatWork submission tool
* Compatible with Windows Vista (32- and 64-bit)

More feature details:
* NEW! Extensive Detection Database - Bigger and better detection to guard your privacy against malware attacks.
* Advanced Code Sequence Identification (CSI) Technology - Precise detection of embedded malware including Trojans, worms, spyware, bots, and other forms of deceptive malware.
* NEW! Enhanced Rootkit Removal System - Rootkit detection technology to find and remove hidden threats.
* TrackSweep - Control your privacy by erasing tracks left behind while surfing the Web on multiple browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Opera, with one easy click.
* Easy to Download, Install & Use - Effortlessly maneuver the complexities of malware detection and removal with our new user-friendly interface.
* NEW! Lavasoft ThreatWork - Directly submit suspicious files for analysis via ThreatWork, an alliance of global anti-spyware security volunteers actively fighting online threats.

An anonymous reader recommends a Computerworld article on a new report from Australian security vendor PC Tools. The company released figures on malware detection by its ThreatFire product, and in its user base 27% of Vista machines were compromised by at least one instance of malware. From the article:

“In total, Vista suffered 121,380 instances of malware from its 190,000 user base, a rate of malware detection per system [that] is proportionally lower than that of XP, which saw 1,319,144 malware infections from a user base of 1,297,828 machines, but it indicates a problem that is worse than Microsoft has been admitting to.”

Microsoft hasn’t responded yet to this report.

Source

PCs are under constant attack from viruses, spyware and identity theft. Every day you hear about a new threat to your PC. They’re coming faster than ever before, they’re getting harder to stop and traditional antivirus products are not able to keep up.

Will your antivirus software catch the latest malware that just came out today? In most cases, no, because it simply does not know how to detect it yet. But ThreatFire’s ActiveDefense technology does, and has proven to provide up to 243% more protection when combined with traditional AntiVirus products.

Download PC Tools ThreatFire 3.5.0.21

EMSI, who is the creator of the great free malware detection and cleaning program (also part of our recommended programs section), a-squared FREE, posts their Malware Annual Report for 2007.

In the last year, Emsi Software registered more new types of Malware than ever before. The famous Moore’s Law, which predicts a doubling of PC performance every 24 months, also seems to apply to the Malware sector. However, in this case the number of new dangers doubles in less than 12 months

Data and facts - Every PC infected 8 times

The signature inventory of pests recognized by a-squared Free and a-squared Anti-Malware had somewhat more than 500,000 entries at the beginning of last year. At the beginning of 2008 this has already reached a record of 1.1 million Malware signatures. Very few Anti-Spyware and Anti-Trojan products can keep up with us at this level. The number of reported infected PCs also rose accordingly, from 180,000 in 2006 to over 250,000 in 2007. Whereas 1.4 million Malware infections were reported by a-squared users in 2006, this rose to an unbelievable figure of 1.9 million last year. The shocking fact is: on average, every PC was infected with 8 different types of Malware!

Malware tendencies - Big money

Although most of the reported Malware came from the Spyware and Adware area, 2007 clearly showed a continuation of the trend towards professional Trojans. Malware is no longer being built for self promotion purposes, or for fun, but rather with the primary aim of earning large amounts of money. Most of the newly discovered Worms, Bots and Trojans no longer contain destructive routines.

Security must not be a privilege. Under this motto, Emsi Software provides the Malware scanner a-squared Free completely free of charge for private use. But it is not a very limited version, it is a full tool to clean your computer from Malware. Not only Spywares, as detected by classic Anti-Spyware programs, but also especially Trojans, Backdoors, Worms, Dialers, Keyloggers and a lot of other destructive pests, which makes it dangerous to surf the web.

* Remove infections of Trojans, Spyware, Adware, Worms, Keyloggers, Rootkits, Dialers and other malicious programs.
* 4 million users world wide rely on a-squared to clean their PC from Malware.
* Remarkable easy to use and completely free or charge.

Download a-squared Free 3.1.0.23

Tip: This software is a nice complement to Ad-Aware 2007 and Spybot: Search and Destroy but the one thing that concerns me is that the default install has the “Join the Anti-Malware Network” option automatically turned on. With this setting on, the program will automatically upload infected objects to emisoft. This option should be disabled by default, IMHO, and the user asked if they’d like to participate. Keep this in mind if you choose to use this software. You can also disable the option to download additional languages. See the picture to the right (click to enlarge).

Security must not be a privilege. Under this motto, Emsi Software provides the Malware scanner a-squared Free completely free of charge for private use. But it is not a very limited version, it is a full tool to clean your computer from Malware. Not only Spywares, as detected by classic Anti-Spyware programs, but also especially Trojans, Backdoors, Worms, Dialers, Keyloggers and a lot of other destructive pests, which makes it dangerous to surf the web.

* Remove infections of Trojans, Spyware, Adware, Worms, Keyloggers, Rootkits, Dialers and other malicious programs.
* 4 million users world wide rely on a-squared to clean their PC from Malware.
* Remarkable easy to use and completely free or charge.

Download a-squared Free 3.1.0.20

Tip: This software is a nice complement to Ad-Aware 2007 and Spybot: Search and Destroy but the one thing that concerns me is that the default install has the “Join the Anti-Malware Network” option automatically turned on. With this setting on, the program will automatically upload infected objects to emisoft. This option should be disabled by default, IMHO, and the user asked if they’d like to participate. Keep this in mind if you choose to use this software. You can also disable the option to download additional languages. See the picture to the right (click to enlarge).

Ad-Aware provides protection from known Spyware including: Data-mining, aggressive advertising, Parasites, Scumware, selected traditional Trojans, Dialers, Malware, Browser hijackers, and tracking components.

With the release of Ad-Aware SE Personal edition, Lavasoft takes the fight against Spyware to the next level.

With Lavasoft’s all new Code Sequence Identification (CSI) technology, you will not only be protected from known content, but will also have advanced protection against many of their unknown variants. To further protect you, Ad-Aware SE Personal Edition also has the capability to scan and list Alternate Data Streams (ADS) in NTFS enabled volumes. In combination with the new scanning engine, Ad-Aware SE will scan your computer faster and more thoroughly than ever before!

Download Ad-Aware 2007 7.0.2.3 (FH)

Security must not be a privilege. Under this motto, Emsi Software provides the Malware scanner a-squared Free completely free of charge for private use. But it is not a very limited version, it is a full tool to clean your computer from Malware. Not only Spywares, as detected by classic Anti-Spyware programs, but also especially Trojans, Backdoors, Worms, Dialers, Keyloggers and a lot of other destructive pests, which makes it dangerous to surf the web.

* Remove infections of Trojans, Spyware, Adware, Worms, Keyloggers, Rootkits, Dialers and other malicious programs.
* 4 million users world wide rely on a-squared to clean their PC from Malware.
* Remarkable easy to use and completely free or charge.

Download a-squared Free 3.0.0.362

Tip: This software is a nice complement to Ad-Aware 2007 and Spybot: Search and Destroy but the one thing that concerns me is that the default install has the “Join the Anti-Malware Network” option automatically turned on. With this setting on, the program will automatically upload infected objects to emisoft. This option should be disabled by default, IMHO, and the user asked if they’d like to participate. Keep this in mind if you choose to use this software. See the picture to the right (click to enlarge).

Spybot - Search & Destroy can detect and remove spyware of different kinds from your computer. Spyware is a relatively new kind of threat that common anti-virus applications do not yet cover. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you didn’t intentionally install, if your browser crashes, or if you browser start page has changed without your knowing, you most probably have spyware. But even if you don’t see anything, you may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging that is silently tracking your surfing behaviour to create a marketing profile of you that will be sold to advertisement companies. Spybot-S&D is free, so there’s no harm in trying to see if something snooped into your computer, too

Download Spybot Search and Destroy 1.5.1

With the ability to scan your RAM, Registry, hard drives, and external storage devices for known data-mining, advertising, and tracking components, Ad-Aware 2007 easily can clean your system, allowing you to maintain a higher degree of privacy while you surf the Web.

Ad-Aware 2007 includes a redesigned engine, improved code sequence identification, incremental definition updates, one-click Web-history cleanup, multiple browser support, and other new features. Version 7.0.2.1 adds Windows Vista (32-bit) compatibility.

Download Ad-Aware 2007 7.0.2.1