Labs

Once you download the beta, which ironically involves installing an ActiveX component (to check the validity of your Windows OS licence), the product is remarkably good.

Real-time protection monitors all the possible entry points for spyware and, along with Microsoft's own spyware research team providing automatic update definitions, the anti-spyware scanner can draw on collective SpyNet community data. Scheduling is well implemented

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in addition to on-demand scanning, and there's extra functionality aplenty. Highlights include the 'spam zombie protection' that prevents a compromised computer becoming a spam factory, and a system process explorer.

Despite having the same interface as Sunbelt CounterSpy, Microsoft AntiSpyware was quicker to complete scanning and updating tasks. Accuracy suffers by comparison, though: detection rates were 61 per cent; removal, 72 per cent; and blocking reinstallation of threats, 41 per cent.

All too predictably the proprietary politics knob is turned to 11: the browser security function works only with Internet Explorer and the browser hijack restore feature assumes your homepage and default search engine are MSN. Click-trail cleansing is welcome, but again while IE, Adobe Acrobat, RealPlayer and Windows Media Player are supported, Firefox and Opera aren't.

But the biggest problems are to do with support. The technical variety is non-existent, and if you're a Windows 98 user you can't play at all.