Spyware Doctor 5.5

Spyware Doctor is a spyware remover and provides real-time protection against spyware, adware, Trojan horses, keyloggers, spyware cookies, adbots, spybots, browser hijackers, and phishing attacks. Spyware Doctor is easy to use and requires few PC resources. Its scanning speed is delivered by multiple specialized scanners. Almost any function of Spyware Doctor can be updated through the Smart Update process. The OnGuard feature is designed to provide real time protection and deploys several tools that actively monitor and protect the PC from spyware attacks. This version of Spyware Doctor includes an installer for Google Toolbar. The installation of this toolbar is optional. Version 5.5 includes a faster engine, uses less system resources, and enhances detection.

The latest release of PCTools Spyware Doctor 5.5 addresses a number of nettlesome software glitches we experienced with version 5.0. However, the free trial version is not fully functional--a fact you will discover only after downloading, installing, and then running a complete system scan.

In our trial scans, Spyware Doctor repeatedly flagged several dozen harmless cookies as potential threats, more than any other antispyware product we tested. We were also unable to learn more about each threat or why Spyware Doctor flagged each. Clicking each threat opened our default browser to a generic threat page on the PCTools site.

Should you decide to remove the Spyware Doctor trial, the uninstall process isn't clean, leaving behind traces of PCTools software in both the directory and in the system registry.