Spyware Doctor Review

Given the other strong antispyware options on the market today, PC Tools' SpywareDoctor left us underwhelmed. Its OnGuard real-time blocking capability did little to prevent infestation in our testing. And its interface, which seemed straightforward at first glance, became a tedious, mazelike experience when it came to configuring settings beyond the basics. SpywareDoctor best feature is the detailed and informative descriptions it provides for the malware it detects, but that bright spot isn't enough for us to recommend it over a well-rounded and more effective product like Ad-Aware SE or our Editors' Choice, Webroot's Spy Sweeper.

After completing a scan, SpywareDoctor displays a dialog box to warn you about running processes that it considers risky and recommends that you terminate them—an all-or-nothing decision, as there's no mechanism for selecting individual processes. Oddly, we found that SpywareDoctor sometimes identified itself as a pest, and that electing to terminate it would close the application.

SpywareDoctor then organizes other traces it finds in a cramped listview. Unlike Ad-Aware and SpySubtract, it provides no easy way to select all the traces associated with a single malware component. Seeing enough of the description to make an informed decision requires double-clicking on a list item. The payoff is that the data you get from doing so is quite informative.

SpywareDoctor identified and successfully removed a number of adware and spyware threats. It even managed to remove the browser toolbars that many other antispyware products leave behind. But it missed enough that we were still confronted by a constant stream of pop-up ads while we surfed.

SpywareDoctor offers a wide variety of real-time blocking options, but configuring them requires navigating a variety of confusingly arranged panes. And in the end, turning on all the real-time blocking capabilities had little apparent effect on our test machine's susceptibility to infestations. The real-time scanning also placed significant demands on the system: When we tried setting its detection interval to the shortest possible value (5 seconds), it began consuming almost all of our CPU cycles and slowed the machine to a crawl.

Even though SpywareDoctor managed to detect and remove a fair number of the spyware and adware infestations that we encountered, shortcomings with its interface and real-time blocking record make it less than appealing when so many other choices are available.