Isn't your anti virus protection enought.. Why do you still need to get anti spyware protection?

Answer 1

You are talking apples and oranges. Your antivirus software protects you from viruses, like trojan. You need an antispyware program to protect you from rogue dialers, keyloggers, malware, worms, trace spyware and rogue cookes.

You need a firewall to protect you from incoming rogue packets, plus protect your private data from leaving your pc.

If you don't have a good antispyware that uses little resources here are three that I use.

Superantispyware, downlaod their free version as it is excellent in finding spyware missed by all others. Plus you will get auto updates.

http://www.superantispyware.com

A2Squared Malware from Austria, will protect you from, worms, rogue dialers, malware, spyware trace spyware, rogue cookies that can steal your data. or trace your usage on the net.

http://www.emsisoft.com

AdAware Se Persaonl, from Sweden, download their free version. This company has been around in the spyware detection since pc became commercial.

http://www.lavasoft.com

Minddoctor, France

Answer 2

You need anti-spyware!! Anti-virus will protect you from things that will damage your computer, but spyware will slow your computer down. Also, if you have spyware on your computer, and you do like online banking or anything that involves your money, people who installed the spyware would "look" into your computer, record what you are typing in, and use those numbers at your expense. Get an anti-spyware! Get either AVG Free Anti-Spyware or Spyware Terminator. Both of these are free. Good luck!

Answer 3

2

Answer 4

Indeed, as already mentioned, they are 2 completely different things, and as such require different tools to block or remove them.

In reality, you should be running a firewall to block attempts from others to get into your computer from the internet and mess you up. You should also be running a virus scanner and keeping its' definitions up to date. Finally, you should be running 1 or more anti-spyware programs and keeping their definitions up to date.

Everyone will have something different that has worked best for them, so I won't claim to have the "best". All I can say is that the following have kept me problem free for years:

antivirus - download the free AVG home software

firewall - download the free ZoneAlarm

anti-spyware - I use 3: AdAware and SpyBot Search and Destroy have already been mentioned. I also use a product called Spyware Terminator - it runs real time and automatically downloads updates.

All of the above are free, and that means legitimately free.

Answer 5

Well, dear sir, you've answered the question yourself. Anti-virus software protects you from viruses. You need anti-spyware (or anti-malware) software to protect you from spyware.

Take a look at the following FREE programmes. These are a few good ones to get you started. (I've included a link for a firewall too, just in case you aren't protected that way.)

Answer 6

Look at it like this, A sniper is trained to hunt down and in stealth
terminate profiled targets. anti virus is trained to do the same thing, hunt viruses, not spyware.

Answer 7

viruses and spyware are totally different things. viruses steal data from your comp, make it really slow, and just totally mess it up. spyware can give you many pop-ups, and can also slow down your computer. If you are looking for good protection from both of these, get AVAST!. It kills viruses and spyware.