Spyware - something to worry about?

I think the answer is a resounding - Yes! as I am sure you will agree. However, is it something that is being effectively being dealt with using the tools currently available, or are we struggling to cope? I would like to think that we can use various tools to give us a good amount of peace of mind.

Whilst sitting here in Redmond (getting my kool-aid) I was pondering spyware. Okay I wasn't really paying attention in a session and playing with the various spyware tools installed on my laptop. Lots of you have asked during Malware and other presentations, "what tools are most effective to deal with spyware?". I have in many instances suggested tools such as Ad-Aware and Spybot. Several people have also commented on a 'shortcoming' of the new IE enhancements within XP SP2, that you could disable add-ons but not delete them. Well, I would like to suggest that you also take a look at the new Microsoft Anti-Spyware tool.

If you haven't already done so, download the tool: https://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx and have a play. It is free and please keep in mind that it is a Beta tool at present, but I (and many others) have been merrily using it for a while both internally and externally. I understand that there have been hundreds of millions of downloads of the tool since it's release.....