Anti-spyware and adware tools can help protect your computer from displaying random pop-up ads, experiencing system freezes and mysterious Visual C++ Runtime errors, and more, but one program is not enough. To better your chances against spyware and adware, you really need to use at least two removal tools. There are constantly new spyware apps being created, and the company behind any individual anti-spyware product might not be quick to issue new definitions for their software to protect you. To be thorough, then, you want to use more than one anti-spyware utility. This will double up your chances of staying free of such spyware, even as new ones come out.

I have personally one spyware app find things another one missed. It happens all the time.

I would recommend one of your spyware defenses be CounterSpy, by Sunbelt Software. It was the featured product in the April 2005 edition of PC World. CounterSpy was given PC World’s top rating in a comparison of several different spyware utilities. Of the 9 utilities, CounterSpy had the highest detection rate while also providing real-time protection.