Webroot’s Spy Sweeper is an effective standalone tool for detecting, removing, and blocking spyware.

Spy Sweeper can can detect spyware running in memory, stop browser hijackings, examine your startup settings, remove tracking cookies, and eliminate registry changes made by intruding programs. Spy Sweeper does a good job eliminating tough-to-remove spyware that often evades detection or removal with lesser products by removing it during the next boot cycle. It can even detect when new spyware tries to install itself while you are surfing.

After removing offending spyware, Spy Sweeper will immunize your computer against certain kinds of "repeat offenders" such as browser hijackings and tracking cookies. No problems were discovered on either Windows XP or Windows 2000.

Usability

Spy Sweeper has the kind of slick interface one expects with modern utilities. You interact with the program primarily through a toolbar on the left that offers you a few simple choices … but in practice, only one, "Sweep Now", is necessary.

After starting a sweep, Spy Sweeper will perform an in-depth scan of your system. A few minutes later you’ll be shown all spyware that was detected on your system. Spy Sweeper isn’t the fastest anti-spyware of the bunch, but this isn’t because of poor performance. Rather, it's because it scans every file on your hard drive instead of taking hueristic short-cuts that can lead to missed spyware.

Removal

When the scan is complete, Spy Sweeper gives you a detailed report of all the spyware on your system. You can easily choose to leave certain programs installed. You might want to do this, for instance, because many free programs (such as Kazaa) will not work without their embedded spyware. If you’re the curious type and like to poke under the covers, Spy Sweeper will give you a brief description directly in the window, along with a "more details" button that will bring up an informative description of the piece of software in question.

Quarantine

So what happens if you do remove spyware and find out later that it was necessary to run one of your favorite applications? Spy Sweeper quarantines spyware in a special folder in case you’d like to recover it later.

Other Options

Spy Sweeper offers a number of other options, including the requisite scheduler, the ability to scan certain drives (useful for USB flash drives), and immunization functionality.

The immunization functionality can be customized. You can activate or deactivate shields which will guard against home page hijackings, tracking cookies, and in-memory spyware. In particular, this Spy Sweeper's option could come in handy on slower computers, which need all the performance you can squeeze out of them.