5 Free Anti-Spyware tools for robust cybersecurity

The internet has become a dominant force in the modern world with the rising privacy issues, a highly controversial subject on the web. However, privacy is your right; you must ensure that no one infiltrates your it when you use the internet. 

Everyone is a potential infiltrator of your privacy, from the government to cybercriminals and hackers. They can use devices connected to the internet to spy on you without your knowledge. 

Given the digitisation, your daily activities are dependent on the internet — work-from-home, online classes, online shopping, communicating with friends and family, etcetera. Therefore, it is necessary for you to be aware of the malpractices of the internet. 

Internet awareness is the need of the hour in today’s world. One such red flag that you need to look upon while using the web is Spyware.

So, what exactly is Spyware?

Spyware is malware that enters your devices, such as laptops, mobiles, etcetera, and gathers your data. It then forwards the data to a third party without your consent or knowledge to profit from stolen data.

Spywares are hazardous and harmful programs that operate on your computer and track your online activities. You cannot notice the Spyware on your computer and the way it tracks your online activities. 

Spyware might be disguised as genuine software and run in the background to capture online surfing data or steal passwords by monitoring keystrokes. 

They watch what you do, record what you see, save your information, and send it to a spyware server. 

It is as scary as it sounds. 

So, let’s look at the ways in which you can determine if your computer has a spyware infection.

How to determine if your computer has a spyware infection

Although a spyware infection can often go unnoticed, here are a few things to look out for to determine if your device is under spyware attack.

• If the performance of your computer has lately begun to deteriorate
• Websites take you to sites you don’t want to go
• If odd pop-ups appear on your screen
• Strange spam messages are being sent to your email contacts
• You discover that you are the victim of identity theft

To prevent these malpractices from happening, which may disrupt your daily life heavily, here are six free Anti-spyware tools that can keep your data safe without any monetary investment. 

The tools

SUPERAntiSpyware

To remove malware that has already entered your device, SUPERAntiSpyware can aid this situation. Once installed, it scans your device and files rapidly, allowing you total control over what this software can examine.  

What truly sets SUPERAntiSpyware apart from the rest of the pack is that you can configure it to scan the entire computer or only the areas where malware is most likely to be found.

Operating systems such as Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7 are all supported by SUPERAntiSpyware.

Pros

• Lots of scan options are available
• runs scans quickly using more processor power
• You can scan the system memory and all files

Cons

• The application doesn’t automatically update
• Scans cannot be scheduled to run automatically

Avast Free Antivirus

Upon installation, Avast Free Antivirus identifies and removes malware on your computer the instant malware enters your device, as it keeps working in the background, looking for new threats.

You can change many settings, such as enabling CyberCapture to block unknown files.

Avast is available for Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and macOS 10.11, 10.12, 10.13, 10.14, 10.15, 11, and 12.

Pros

• Checks for spyware automatically
• Works from Explorer’s right-click context menu
• Lots of setting to tweak

Cons

• The extra tools may not be of use at all.
• It takes longer to set up than some Anti-malware.
• With all the additional tools, it may be called cluttered.

Malwarebytes

Malwarebytes is another good option for spyware removal. The tool is easy to use and finds a lot more dangerous files than others. In addition to scanning individual files and folders, Malwarebytes can scan entire hard drives. Other options include scanning within archives, ignoring specific files and folders, and checking for rootkits.  

This software operates on Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7, as well as macOS 10.12, 10.13, 10.14, 10.15, 11, and 12.

Pros

• Finds more threats than similar Anti-Spywares
• Locates PuPs and much other malware
• You can customise the scan settings

Cons

• You need a premium for the automatic upgrading and scanning option
• Automatic quarantine is not a free feature

SpywareBlaster

SpywareBlaster differs from the other malware since it does not search for malware in the system but warns you about new threats before they enter your system.

It protects your web browsers against dangerous scripts, exploits, and cookies that track your online activity. This is accomplished by enabling a pre-built list of blockades which you may manually change at any moment against specific websites, cookies, and scripts.

Operating systems such as Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP, and 2000 are believed to support it. 

Pros

• Protects your system from new spyware threats
• enables restoration of damaged files

Cons

• Its inability to detect existing malware on the system

Spybot

Spybot is best suitable for users who want complete control over the program’s scanning and safeguarding against malware. It consists of various functions, such as the immunisation function, which stops common threats to every web browser.

Another advantage, it’s simple to disable cookies that may threaten your privacy, which can be done with just one click. Using its system scanner, Spybot can also “find and delete” malware.

It works best with operating systems such as Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, or Windows 7.

Pros

• Protect your files against incoming Spywares
• Scan any file or folder for spyware
• Availability of options you can customise

Cons

The only possible con of this application is that it might be very advanced and tricky for a lot of people to use, especially people who do not belong to IT and Computer Science backgrounds. 

Key Takeaways

Online privacy, without a doubt, is one of the most important concerns that netizens need to tackle. While using big, paid names like Norton and McAfee is a good idea to stay tension free, these free tools are at par with these big names and can be used for protection from Spyware on the internet.