Spyware sucks! Even the God dam! Spyware makers hate Spyware. You should be aware of that unlike viruses and worms, Spyware does not usually self-replicate. Like many recent viruses; however, Spyware—by design—exploits infected computers for commercial gain. Typical tactics furthering this goal include delivery of unsolicited pop-up advertisements; theft of personal information (including financial information such as credit card numbers); monitoring of Web-browsing activity for marketing purposes; or routing of HTTP requests to advertising sites. Many people have a misconception about Spyware that, since it don’t infect computer and rapidly spread it merely pose threat.

Call it adware, Spyware or badware—for general user it’s always harmful, since it does invade his/her privacy none the less. So here are some weapons that you may wish to armed with in order to stay one step ahead of those filthy, slimy Spyware. CounterSpy is first in this series:

CounterSpy
Current Version: 2.5.1032
OS: Windows XP/2000/2003/Vista
Price: $19.95/single user
Memory & CPU usage: Minimal

CounterSpy 2.x is a top notch Spyware, adware, rootkits, and other malware killer, but is light on system resources and memory. Not only the attractive interface and usability but as well thorough scan, delete, quarantine and removal of  Spyware will attract you. Class A scheduler, secure file shredder, and a history cleaner with standard active protection which also monitors ActiveX controls is definitely state of the art. CounterSpy’s definition update more frequently than most of the popular anti-spyware in the market, hence very small in download size.

There is a trial limit of 15 days which is fully functional and perfect for testing the application. A warning before you install the software: if you have Windows Defender installed on your computer you should know that CounterSpy will turn it off without any warning (only Windows Defender will announce that it has been turned off). During a full scan, CounterSpy will look into every area of the system and the checked areas include memory processes, files stored on the hard drive, registry keys and cookies. Spyware does not practically have any chance of hiding.

Downside: Though Counterspy is a great weapons-grade application against most deadly Spyware,adware and rootkits, yet does poses some small rough sides. There is no way to view scanned/quarantined full Spyware list with details. Also isn’t that a standard usability to provide a "select all", to the windows where you have to select files/Spyware for removal? Turning off windows defender without notice, isn’t a good behaviour for a anti-Spyware application.