Entered CNET Catalog: 01/03/2007
SKU: 10991
Manufacturer: Encore Software Inc.
Manufacturer description
Winner of multiple awards from leading tech magazines, PC Tools Spyware Doctor provides the best protection against unwanted spyware other privacy threats. Defend your privacy from prying eyes and virtual trespassers with the most up to date and complete protection for your PC. A recent anti-spyware product comparison found Spyware Doctor to be the most effective in blocking spyware. The advanced tools work intuitively to block potential threats from entering your computer, while allowing trusted software and websites to run without unnecessary and intrusive alerts. Spyware Doctor can quickly and seamlessly update all critical aspects of the program, along with the threat database, through the proprietary update feature. You get the latest tools and signatures without waiting for a new version release or the need to reinstall the program, giving you the most up-to-date protection available. Spyware Doctor employs advanced technology that can safely go deep into your computer to detect and destroy spyware. Multiple and specialized scanners are designed to identify a wide range of privacy threats while intelli-signatures catch known and new, yet to be defined threat variants. Spyware Doctor is designed to quickly install and run without interrupting your computer activity. The straightforward interface walks you through the program where you can choose to easily customize the expert settings yourself or have them run automatically.CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 03/22/2007
Setup
From the start, we found the Spyware Doctor download process to be confusing. The Start Spyware Scan Now button on the PCTools site is the button to start the file download, but that could be made more clear. Once downloaded, Spyware Doctors launches an installation wizard that walks you through the process. We like that the Spyware Doctor Smart Update is automatic, and this is accomplished before first use. But the download files themselves are a la carte, with the option not to download and install any one piece, and you have to hit Next to continue the process. Dial-up users may be tempted to download only a few of the recommended updates, which would be a mistake.
Note: The free trial copy of Spyware Doctor will not remove any spyware found until you purchase the full product. You can also download the free Spyware Doctor Starter Edition via Google Pack, however you'll also be downloading a fair number of other apps that you may or may not want.
Should you want to remove Spyware Doctor 5, there's a handy uninstall icon provided in the All Programs list. After uninstall, however, we found several traces of Spyware Doctor still in the system registry. This surprised us, since most of the antispyware apps we tested had totally clean uninstalls.
Interface
In general, we found Spyware Doctor 5 to be buggy. On different machines, the Spyware Doctor 5 sometimes crashed upon launch, or froze while finalizing a scan; in a few cases, we had to use the Windows Task Manager to kill the executable and start over. Once running, the Spyware Doctor's interface is intuitive and easy to use. All of its features are clearly labeled and accessible. In addition to the expected spyware scanning, there's a host of system immunization and real-time monitoring features available in the OnGuard section. Spyware Doctor includes a powerful scheduler that allows you to automate full system scans, quick scans, and even live program updates.
But for every action--if we initiated a scan, or wanted to enable a feature, for instance--we noticed several personal firewall alerts; Spyware Doctor appears to call home for every detail. Even so, after a full system scan, our attempt to learn more about an item that Spyware Doctor had labeled as a high-risk cookie went unsatisfied. The link for "more information" opened our default browser and took us to a PC Tools page, but it was a page that talked generally about phishing threats and not specifically about what Spyware Doctor found on our machine.
Features
Other than antispyware protection, Spyware Doctor 5 doesn't offer a lot of additional features; the improvements, we're told, are internal. The enhanced antirootkit protection within Spyware Doctor 5 is disabled by default. There's a warning on the configuration screen that enabling this feature requires vigilance, as the PCTools antirootkit heuristic findings may include false positives.
Real-time protection can be enabled or disabled, a curious distinction. One might disable real-time protection, for example, to lessen the impact on system resources, relying upon a thorough scan of the system to root out any spyware that had recently installed. But we found during various scans that Spyware Doctor never consumed more than 20 percent of our system resources.
Performance
Overall, Spyware Doctor earned a slightly below average rating among the 10 antispyware apps we tested. Spyware Doctor 5.0 did find more cookies than any other product we tested, although in a number of cases we were unable to confirm the severity of the specific cookies on independent antispyware sites, leaving us to wonder whether these suspicious cookies were truly dangerous. In exclusive testing by CNET Labs, Spyware Doctor's active shields identified and blocked six out of eight spyware samples we attempted to install, missing only Compare-prices.zip and Marketscore. When scanning and removing existing spyware samples, Spyware Doctor also caught six out of eight, missing Compare-prices.zip and Clickpix. But when it comes to spyware removal, in a majority of the cases-- five out of eight--Spyware Doctor didn't completely remove the registry load-point entries even on spyware it identified, lowering the product's overall score. In our tests, Spyware Doctor left traces of Compare-Prices.zip, ClickPix, JustFindIt toolbar, MarketScore, NewDotNet/eZula.
Support
Upon installation, PcTools offers Spyware Doctor users a Quick Start guide, a general one-page guide to the program's basic features. Online, we found the Spyware Doctor FAQ to be adequate. After viewing the FAQ, you can answer whether the questions and answers were helpful. Saying "No" moves you to an e-mail feedback page. PCTools offers 24-7 telephone technical support at 1-800-764-5783.
Conclusion
Within a year, Spyware Doctor went from version 3 to version 5, and along the way it appears to have encountered many problems, including some software glitches. We assume the software will be fixed soon enough, and we look forward to seeing future enhancements of this Spyware Doctor--including antivirus protection--in next year's review.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35
User Rating: 
1/10
Garbage! Save your money and keep looking
Pros: It was cheap! The cheap comes out expensive.
Cons: Lousy program doesn't update enough to cover the latest viruses. No live tech support, just lame emails that took a day to get an answer.
User Rating: 1/10
THEY ARE THIEVES Buyer beware
Pros: They will charge your credit card without your authorization.
Cons: They will automatically charge you to renew the subscription without getting authorization from you.. They are $^%% thieves.
User Rating: 
9/10
We experienced no problems. We highly recommend this.
Pros: At mjscomputers.net, we use SPYWARE DOCTOR when doing PC Health checks. It picks up spyware no problem and normally removes them with one click. No product is perfect, but this has certainly made our job a lot easier (see mjscomputers.net)
Cons: Can slow older (ie Athlon 1000 - Pentium 3 ) computers, but for modern laptops & desktops, it is better than Norton 360 etc.(in our opinion) It can be a little buggy, but you`ll soon learn that freeby scanners are not good enough.
A good registry cleaner normally helps but more often than not, a good windows reinstall is needed to get things back to normal.
User Rating: 
5/10
does not work with mcafee
Pros: does finds a lot of spyware and cookies, fast scan
Cons: No help from customer service
User Rating: 1/10
Pc Tools is one of the worst companies to buy from.
Pros: Company Problems
Cons: You will lose a lot of money with out being able to stop it
I purchased Pc Doctor 3 years ago, and when I bought a new computer I went with a different company to take care of my computer.
They do not ask you to up date after a year they just take money out of your account weather you have the program or not.
You will see a deduction of DRI*ELEMENTS.com taking money from your account, after the money is taken out you will see in your statement DRI*TOOLS.com took out the money.
This done without warning you what they are going to do.
It?s very hard to stop you can?t do anything on their web site.
Here is the number to stop it. 1-800-764-573 and when they ask for a code number hit 1 or 2 you should get a real person
User Rating: 
2/10
Incompetence Customer Service
Pros: Sort of works
Cons: except when it doesn't
User Rating: 1/10
Their employee stole my identity
Pros: Learned a lot about ID theft
Cons: Their employee stole my identity
User Rating: 
4/10
Watch out for rip off automatic subscription renewal at three times the price of buying again online
Pros: Seems to work
Cons: See summary
User Rating: 
8/10
Exellent program. Poor review.
Pros: Brilliant detection rate, and one licence now covers 3 pc's!
Cons: Slightly alarmist detection and on guard protection but is not as bad as any of the norton suite's.
Pc world did not find the detection rate for spyware doctor to be poor.
http://www.pcworld.com/product/specs/id,30426-chid,6318/specs.html
User Rating: 2/10
slows down computer
Pros: ironically, installation was easy - and uninstallation
Cons: slows down computer
User Rating: 1/10
I do not recommend this software
Pros: None, that I can see.
Cons: I have a pest a Dialer YP trojan, this program can not find it.
User Rating: 2/10
Used to be good, now very overated spyware product
Pros: fairly thorough but with lots of false positives
Cons: bloated, resource-hog, intrusive
User Rating: 
7/10
Can find hidden pyware like no other can
Pros: Good design, Easy to use.
Cons: No full feature trial version available
User Rating: 
10/10
SD5.0 is better & faster then SD4.0
Pros: Scheduled tasks works & SP5.0 load faster
Cons: None so far after 1 month
User Rating: 10/10
An excellent product
Pros: easy to load, easy to update, inexpensive and very efective
Cons: None that we could ascertain
User Rating: 10/10
Excellent protection for a good price and so easy to use, you don't even have to be a geek to use it
Pros: Cheap, real time protection and easy to use
Cons: It takes a while to open
The reason I made this review in which I don't do to any other software or stuff is because when I e-mail them on a virus problem that I experienced, their response time is so fast, the next day I woke up they have a reply already. Now a days, its hard to find that kind of customer service/ technical service or whatever they call it.
User Rating: 10/10
This product met my expectations.
Pros: Easy to install, fast and complete scans
Cons: Daily smart updates can be annoying, but it is a good thing.
User Rating: 9/10
A great solution for everyday computer protection
Pros: Really user friendly! Install and your ready to go!
Cons: A Little slow if you don't have the right PC
There are a lot of security softwares out there but this one is nice, simple, and gets the job done.
User Rating: 10/10
The best anti-spyware i have ever used!
Pros: Fast, effective and i dont even notice it running!
Cons: i would like skins
User Rating: 
3/10
Insanely Slow!
Pros: Somewhat effective
Cons: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
User Rating: 10/10
Works Perfect with VISTA
Pros: Largest signature/definition database ever
Cons: It's not free but you get what you pay for
The most impressive thing about Spyware Doctor is the database size, to date it finds 646,929 traces of spyware, no other software is even close. It also runs in real time so you don?t have to do manual scans. I highly recommend this software.
User Rating: 1/10
excruciating
Pros: Packaging/Sales
Cons: Unsatisfactory technical support
After multiple exchanges the only remedy was "delete and down load" packaged in various forms. Program would only partially reload.
User Rating: 3/10
cant find water at the rivers edge
Pros: good interface,thats all..
Cons: bad attitude at pc tools
User Rating: 4/10
I do not recommend this software.
Pros: PC Tools Spyware Doctor was easy to install and has good computer interface.
Cons: Spyware doctor caused all my programs to freeze up intermittengly.
I installed Spyware Doctor 2007 and had non-stop problems. The program caused my computer to freeze up across the board in all applications. I have used Webroot Spysweeper and Counterspy V2 and had no conflicts. Spyware Doctor did catch adware and malware that the others missed. However, I would not recommend Spyware Doctor at this time.
User Rating: 4/10
Beware of PC Tools
Pros: It seems to work, but ...
Cons: Underhanded business practices and the real time protection just isn't practical.
Other than that, Spyware Doctor is alright, and I don?t have a problem with the product itself. My problem is in the way PC Tools does business. Besides charging my credit for their software, they added a separate charge called a Foreign Transaction Fee. I?ve been back to their site and can not find any mention or warning of this extra charge being added to the final bill. I just popped on my bank statement, right along side of the software charge. This is the kind of deceitful trickery that got Pay Pal in trouble years ago. It?s the principle of the thing that makes me angry. I plan on calling their toll free number and giving somebody a hard time, just to help get my money?s worth out of it.
User Rating: 2/10
The Worst Antispyware
Pros: Good interface
Cons: It does nothing except hog the memory
Save your money and get free apps such as: Superantispyware free, spybot, windows defender and etc.
User Rating: 10/10
Powerful OnGuard Protection!!!
Pros: It has a powerful OnGuard protection and has a pause function during scans
Cons: removal of spywares not as efficient as Ad-Aware
User Rating: 7/10
OK -- another option for defense
Pros: Pleasant interface. Fast scan.
Cons: Doesn't do it all.
User Rating: 8/10
Still one of the best!
Pros: Lighter on system resources and faster than 4.0
Cons: Lacks a scan progress indicator
SD v, 5 also plays well with Norton 360, Norton Internet Security 2007 and Zone Alarm 7.0.
User Rating: 3/10
questionable product
Pros: looks nice
Cons: very deceiving
User Rating: 3/10
PC Tools + Vista=Disaater.
Pros: There aren't any!
Cons: Too many to note!
User Rating: 1/10
PC Tools - the Company - Is the Problem
Pros: For the free version in the Google Pack, it caught one anti-spyware of ten that free AdAware did.
Cons: PC Tools's Free Limited Spyware Doctor is a program I'd refer to as "rogue anti-spyware" in the sense that everything in it is geared to frighten the user in buying the paid version.
User Rating: 7/10
SD 5 is getting there
Pros: Historically a good solid company.
Cons: Released V5 to the public too soon.
I am have now been running Spyware Doctor release 5 for approx. 5 months. I did run into a few minor problems which were addressed in a timely manner. I would upgrade my rating from seven to nine. I have had no problems with this product recently. The forums have quieted down considerably. I run Spyware Doctor with antivirus and the PC Tools Plus firewall. I have not had any infections show up on my PC whatsoever which is what counts. I believe this product will begin to come up in the ratings and will once again be a top performer. In my opinion it has been and still is one of the top detection tools and removers. I use it for real time protection and scans and back it up with a couple of other antispyware products for on demand scans. I am running it on XP and it runs well on Vista from what I have read in the forums. Some folks do have problems with older computers that lack punch.
I have now been running Spyware Doctor release 5 for approx. 5 months. I did run into a few minor problems which were addressed in a timely manner. I would upgrade my rating from seven to nine. I have had no problems with this product recently. The forums have quieted down considerably. I run Spyware Doctor with antivirus and the PC Tools Firewall plus. I have not had any infections show up on my PC whatsoever which is what counts. I believe this product will begin to come up in the ratings and will once again be a top performer. In my opinion it has been and still is one of the top detection tools and removers. I use it for real time protection and scans and back it up with a couple of other antispyware products for on demand scans. I am running it on XP and it runs well on Vista from what I have read in the forums. Some folks do have problems with older computers that lack punch.
Updated on Feb 1, 2009I have left all PC Tools products behind. The new releases presented new problems. The support came from the forum only. Replies to email from the company were slow to follow if at all.
I now run Norton Internet Security 2009 and have had NO issues. Norton has come a long way. Symantec now owns PC Tools and while some see that as a negative I tend to think it may improve their product.
User Rating: 1/10
Don't wast your money on this program
Pros: Easy Interface
Cons: Crashed and slowed down my system
User Rating: 2/10
Absolute rubbish that belongs in the bin.
Pros: It detects all spyware as well as preventing you to go to bad sites with known spyware.
Cons: Totally drains resources and slows down your machine. Seems like an unfinished product due to its missing file to run live-update.
