This article has originally been conceived as a list of the best software offering protection against Spyware which, by definition, is not a virus. However, most, if not all vendors of antivirus software these days now ship antivirus programs with spyware protection. In turn, there are few standalone high quality spyware protection tools.
We have originally looked at the candidates list below and have merged the information with Bright Hub’s article Top Antivirus Software for Windows 7. You can optimally protect your Windows 7 computer just by adding capable anti-virus software because Windows 7 ships with integrated Windows Defender, the top antispyware utility from Microsoft.
If you opt for automatic Windows updates, your Windows 7 computer will additionally be scanned trough MSRT (Malicious Software Removal Tool), which after download automatically runs in the background and delete itself if it didn’t find memory resident unwanted programs.
Additional top standalone anti-spyware is found in Spybot - Search & Destroy. Combing your antivirus software with (updated) Windows Defender and installing Spybot results in pretty good protection against Spyware and PUPs, potentially unwanted program, another class of annoying or unwanted programs distinguished from viruses often installed by accepting a seemingly harmless EULA.
