Looking for an efficient anti spyware and adware

[Wightout]

I cant stand a lot of those bloated programs that do everything but tuck me in at night.

Looking for something simple and efficient, they seem to be rather hard to come by. Free wouldn't hurt too =P.

Any advice?

This is for my GF's laptop and I for one am rather baffled in this area as I use a mac >.<

Her comp has been running really slow lately, and i am thinking that a run thru with some software on the spyware, adware, and malware side might bring up someof the problems.

 

[John]

I've been using SuperAntiSpyware Pro for over a year now. The real-time protection does not bog you down at all, you get the scheduling option, FCP, amazing support, and so much more. In fact it's my hosed machine cleaner of choice. You have the option to purchase it with lifetime program and definition updates for $19.95 if you install the free version and let it update, or if you install/uninstall either version.

Here's one of many threads praising SAS Pro and it's real-time protection:
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=198524

Version 4.0 will be out soon and it offers direct disk access scanning (bypasses all of the Windows API/Kernel to detect and remove difficult spyware), faster scan times, and even lower memory usage over what little it already consumes. You can acquire the version 4.0 pre-release by registering for their forums and checking out the Pre-release section. Nick Skrepetos is also active on several security forums (especially Wilder's), and it's not uncommon to get an email reply to a question in less than 1 hour. SAS is a remarkable piece of software with a dedicated team of researchers and developers. It's the best $20 that you'll spend on any security app.

There is also a free version available with identical detection rates. SUPERAntiSpyware Free and Professional Comparison

 

[law9933]

free scanners
a-squared
AVG Antispyware
SuperAntispyware
Ad-Aware
Spybot S&D

free blocker Spyware Blaster

clean out the junk ATF Cleaner

defrag the HD