Labs

CounterSpy impressed us so much when we reviewed it for the first time in Shopper October 2006 that we gave it a Best Buy award. This latest version has seen some cosmetic changes in the interface, but it's nice to see that the range of privacy utilities is still included, such as the History Cleaner and Secure File Eraser. It can also scan your system to check for unsuitable security settings, advising changes when it finds them.

By default, it locks certain settings, which are often the target of spyware. For example, spyware may attempt to change your web browser's default homepage, but CounterSpy monitors this and prevents unauthorised changes. Different

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security levels are available, from Trusting up to Paranoid. You can customise these, too.

We expected great things of this program's spyware detection. However, since the last time we tested it, we have upgraded our tests, making them tougher and more extensive. This shows in the results. CounterSpy failed to detect a single piece of spyware during the download phase of the test, although running a manual scan identified over 60 per cent of the bad files. It caught a few more pieces of spyware after we attempted to run them. This is a little disappointing, although it still puts this product ahead of rivals including Spy Sweeper and Spyware Doctor. When it detects a spyware infection it offers to create a Windows Restore Point, which is helpful.

This is one of the least expensive products available, so if you had to choose a dedicated, commercial anti-spyware program, this would be on our shortlist. It's currently available with a 50 per cent discount if you upgrade from a competing product. AVG Anti-Spyware Free was more effective, though, and has the advantage of costing nothing. Steganos AntiVirus 2007 is £7 more than CounterSpy but provides better anti-spyware protection, as well as more general anti-virus defences.