Rogue Products: Read Before You Buy

At last count, there are over 345 anti-spyware programs on the market. You will see on our review page that we recommend only two (Webroot's Spy Sweeper and Aluria's Spyware Eliminator).

So why don't we cover the rest? Aside from the sheer volume of copycat software products that offer little or no additional value over these two products, the vast majority of the products on the market are considered "rogues".

Update: XoftSpy was on the rogue list, but we are currently reconsidering this.

Rogues fall into two categories:

1. They claim to remove spyware, but actually install it (and sometimes charge you for their product!)
2. They've stolen their code from another vendor (most notably, from Spybot S&D. This is somewhat funny, as Spybot S&D is not in our opinion a very effective product ... but they are a legitimate software company).

Here's a very good article about one person's experience with rogue products.

Here is a partial list of rogue products. You should NOT purchase any of these products. Buyer beware!

Spy Wiper
AdWare Remover Gold
BPS Spyware Remover
Online PC-Fix SpyFerret
SpyBan
SpyBlast
SpyFerret
SpyGone
SpyHunter
SpyKiller (read review)
SpyKiller Pro
SpywareNuker
TZ Spyware-Adware Remover
SpyAssault
InternetAntiSpy
Virtual Bouncer
AdProtector
SpyFerret
SpyGone
SpyAssault
Pal Spyware Remover