Spyware Doctor Starter Edition
By Hugh Duddy

Spyware Doctor is a computer tool that scans your hard drive for any signs of threats and attempts to quarantine or remove them from your system. Microsoft's Spyware Doctor which was introduced by PC Tools is one such spyware removal program.The Google Pack also contains the Spyware Doctor Starter Edition. There is no free spyware doctor available for users, but basic scanning software that detects spyware may be obtained free of charge.

Even if you have an antivirus program installed, you still need a spyware detector since most antivirus software are not equipped to deal with spyware. Spyware usually works in different ways from viruses. As the term suggests, spyware monitors your activity on your computer and accesses your personal information, which can be along the lines of which websites you visit or even the financial information that you choose to disclose on websites.

More harmful in terms of the infrastructure of your system can be the unauthorized installations that spyware programs launch on your system without your knowledge or consent. Many of these installations can cause instability on your system, or even system crashes, if they are not detected and removed in time.

Spyware Doctor and other similar programs that clean your system of spyware and malware are not very easy to use, since many of them require restarting your system several times during the repair procedure. They are also likely to require numerous scans as they go through your hard drives to remove spyware.

However, these repeated procedures are worth the effort as you can be sure at the end of it that your system is completely clean and free of spyware and malware. Many of them also have the advantage of allowing you to run full scans while your computer is in Safe Mode, which reduces the risks of existing spyware or adware affecting your system further.

Unlike most antivirus programs where the free versions give you the basic protection that you need against virus attacks, most spyware scanners that run full scans and have the ability to contain and remove spyware installations do not come free.

One of the best commercial anti-spyware programs that you can purchase is Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus 5.5. The package costs $39.95, and you can also choose to purchase the program without the antivirus protection at a cost of $29.95. This is advisable only if you have another preferred and trusted antivirus program installed on your computer.

If you have purchased an antivirus software package that does not come with an uninstall option, you can continue to run the antivirus program and purchase Spyware Doctor without its antivirus settings. The latest version of Spyware Doctor has many advanced features, such as being able to downgrade high risk spyware as medium or low risk if it determines that the spyware in question is not functional.

You can also opt for short six-minute scans at regular intervals, and conduct the more elaborate thirty minute scans at your convenience. Since most scans on spyware doctor take an hour or more, this is a considerable improvement over the earlier versions.

For more info on Spyware Doctor Starter Edition and Spyware Doctor Reviews head over to EasyPCSecurity