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An interesting article, but it leads me to conclude the author ran the programs in their default configurations. That may be a fair test of newbie-usefulness, but doesn't begin to measure the full functionality of the programs, especially Spybot. The fact he wasn't able to find the "select all" option in Spybot's recovery console says for sure he was using the default (beginner) mode and not the advanced mode (it's not an option in default mode to help prevent disaster). And just reporting number of items found by one but not the other without analyzing what they represent in detail is misleading. For instance, Adaware is big on cookie checks, while Spybot doesn't flag as many cookies as potential threats, so I'd guess that might be the preponderance of the differences. The author suggests that himself by noting that 195 of the 293 items "missed" by Spybot but found by Adaware were files, and that "many of the files found were cookies". And again, more thorough checks can be enabled in Spybot's advanced mode. And there's no mention of the considerable arsenal of tools included with Spybot (it even has a process viewer and killer!), not to mention its Immunize and BHO options to help prevent a lot of undesirables from installing in the first place.
When it comes to removing actual spyware programs (not just cookies), my experience has been that Spybot consistently finds and removes more than Adaware does, though neither is perfect. Don't misunderstand, I like and use both programs. When called on to help out friends figure out why their computer has gotten so slow, I often run both. (It's amazing how much #$%& some people manage to acquire!). But if I could only choose one, it would be Spybot, with no hesitation and no regrets.
In a work environment, Rad's point about cost is valid, and not a small thing. While Adaware Standard is free for personal use, any commercial use requires a paid license. Spybot is free to all, though a donation would certainly be appreciated. Finally, with reference to the original focus of this thread, Spybot has better deployment options in a networked environment.
Joe
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