I just was notified of my upgrade to the new Ad-Aware Plus 6, so I downloaded it and installed it. I had uninstalled 5.83 since it was so out of date. After a day of using the internet, I decided to see what each program would detect. SpyBot picked up five items that Ad-Aware 6 did not. I must report the scan from Ad-Aware is really fast now, and that you no longer need an additional program to get it updated like "ref update". I think the updates and development from the people at SpyBot have outpaced the new Ad-Aware 6. It will be interesting to see how soon updates from Lavasoft are provided to get their product current and up-to-date. I just wanted to let you all know that SpyBot seems to hold the lead in spyware detection. Take care and all the best!

Thanx for the feedback,capt.

What items did spybot pick up? Usually.. after a day of surfing spybot only picks up things that arent really dangerous. A real test would be to download and install as much spyware as you can.. run each program to see what cleans it up and what doesnt.

SMUOD, it was just the common ad/media tracking junk that I always pick up after a day of website visiting. You are quite correct about doing a real difficult test, but I just wanted to see what a normal day of internet surfing would show. In the past there was always something that Ad-Aware would pick up that SpyBot missed. The updates from SpyBot changed all that though. SMUOD, to be honest I want Lavasoft to be successfull, because of the past service they have provided me.

I would also like ad-aware and every other anti-junk app to work well. Great utilities help us keep our systems clean. I imagine a day where spyware comes with everything.. Eventually ad-ware or spybot or johnys junk remover will be as common as antivirus.

If AdAware comes out with a new free version I will try it. I understand this will happen within a few weeks. It would be interesting to see what each program would remove on a machine loaded up with spyware, but I'm not gonna be the one who tests them:) I have lost a lot of faith in Lavasoft to be honest. That's another subject though. I like the new trend of spyware preventers like SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, or something like that. If enough web users were educated and used these, the spyware makers would soon be losing money and out of a job. :p

In case you missed it, AdAware updated today (30/1). Out of curiosity I repeated capt's test, scanning with both tools (using Spybot's 22/1 database) and both came up clear. I appreciate that these are not scientific tests and I probably only visited a handful of sites. It will be interesting to see how things develop but one thing is clear, if you try v 6, uninstall 5.83 first and read the Help files carefully because there are a lot of options to set up. Only thing I'm still not clear about is what AdWatch does now it doesn't unload cookies on the fly. I haven't read the relevant part of Help yet.