Although it would appear that an upgrade from 5.5 to a 5.8 revision would be relatively minor for most people, the new Webroot Spy Sweeper 5.8 is actually a major upgrade. Webroot Spy Sweeper used to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, commercial anti-spyware tools that would protect your system from the latest threats. The original 5.8 was released in July, but temporarily taken down for various strategic reasons (technical not talking to the marketing team, etc). The new Webroot Spy Sweeper 5.8 contains an improved scanning engine, as well as the ability to check your system in the background, whilst you're gaming in the foreground.

Webroot have also released a new update to Desktop Firewall 5.8, which contains new features such as automatic network detection, better recognition of trusted software and more.

Webroot Spy Sweeper 5.8 and Desktop Firewall 5.8 link.

Who needs to purchase security software when developers are giving their applications away for free? Last week we put the new and update PC Tools Spyware Doctor 6 Starter Edition online, which is a free anti-spyware tool that is supplied with unlimited definition updates. You're not suddenly going to turn your PC on one day and find out that the software has expired and, thus, your computer is now unprotected. You can also grab yourself a free firewall from PC Tools.

PC Tools AntiVirus 5 Free is the latest security tool from PC Tools and ships with unlimited definition updates. The latest version ships with a Memory Guard that gives you protection against a virus or Trojan that opens in to your memory when you accidentally open an infected file or email attachment.

PC Tools AntiVirus link.

With numerous free and commercial applications offering to provide protection from spyware, where do you begin to look? Ok, there are plenty of free applications out there, most of which offer reasonable protection and there are also many commercial applications available, all varying in performance and price. A good place to start is with a trusted commercial developer, someone who specialises in PC protection and who have been doing so for number of years.

PC Tools Spyware Doctor 6 Starter Edition is full commercial anti-spyware technology and available as a world exclusive download from vnunet.com. Best of all, it  ships with unlimited definition updates, so you're always protected from the latest threats. The latest v6 has had a user-interface re-design and includes additional protection against the latest threats.

PC Tools Spyware Doctor 6 Starter Edition link.

If you own a Mac and run OS X, you're probably proud of the fact that it's almost impossible for your machine to be infected by a virus or a trojan. However, it's not completely impossible. The more popular the Mac becomes, the more likely it will happen. If you do not have an anti-virus client installed, you'll be the first to be infected.

PC Tools iAntiVirus is both a free and paid-for anti-virus client from a reputable software developer, designed to protect your Mac from the latest threats. It's completely free for personal and non-commercial use and there's a paid-for version with support and a commercial license.

PC Tools iAntiVirus link.

What's happening with PC Tools? Most software developers are lucky if they release a new app every few months. With PC Tools, we've seen Spyware Doctor 6, Registry Mechanic 8, Personal Firewall 4 and a brand new Disk Suite 2009, in the last four weeks. This can only be a good thing and, as users get free updates within their subscription period, no-one can complain they have to pay for an upgrade.

PC Tools Internet Security 2009 is a complete suite of security software designed to protect your PC from the latest threats. Using technology from their popular software, it contains anti-spyware, anti-virus, a powerful firewall and anti-spam modules. Of course, this means you need to choose whether you want a complete suite or just the individual apps.

PC Tools Internet Security 2009 link.

A few short years ago, Webroot Spy Sweeper was arguably the biggest anti-spyware application available. However, Webroot migrated in to the corporate market and, apart from within the US, they left few resources for promoting their products to consumers. They also have a rather obscure way revising their products. The original Spy Sweeper 5.0 was released over two years ago, when PC Tools were still promoting Spyware Doctor 4. Since then, they've moved to 5.3, 5.5 and now 5.8. Although it appears to be a minor number revision, this new version does contain a number of new features and is the biggest update for a year.

Webroot Spy Sweeper 5.8 is commercial anti-spyware software and this new version includes enhanced support for detecting spyware, the ability to check and scan your computer in the background whilst you play a game in the foreground and protection for the latest Vista PCs.

Webroot Desktop Firewall 5.8 was also released, with a number of improvements. It's a free firewall for home use.

Norton products seem to receive a lot of mixed press. Personally, I had Norton AV installed for years, until recent activation 'improvements'. Bought a 3-PC edition and quickly realised that if you install within a virtual environment and, even after a successful uninstall, the license requirements remain on the Norton servers. You had to write (yes, post a letter) to Symantec to show proof of ownership and a description of the problem, for them to give you back the right to install the software on a further PC. Result? Norton AV removed, never installed again. Not good PR for Norton products.

Norton Internet Security 2009 and Norton AntiVirus 2009 have been released as public previews, along with a host of new features. The interface has had an overhaul and both products use fewer system resources (we've heard that before). They both use more proactive methods of preventing intrusion and attack. Both are free to try until 23rd of September 2008, but remember they are still beta previews.

Norton Internet Security 2009 and Norton AntiVirus 2009 links.

With various commercial developers releasing their 2008 and 2009 editions of anti-spyware tools, the guys over at Safer Networking are working towards their next big release of the free and popular anti-spyware tool, Spybot Search & Destroy. This security tool has been around for ages and there's a very good reason why it's second in our 'most popular' downloads list.

Spybot Search & Destroy 1.6 was made available recently and this contains a number of new features, including parts of the forthcoming file scanning engine planned for v2, which is under development. Other new features include support for the latest web browsers.

Spybot Search & Destroy link.

Safeguarding your files, work and other important data isn't easy. Indeed, sell or give away your computer and you'll need to spend time erasing and then formatting your drive, to prevent the other user from recovering data. However, there are other options. For example, why not simply encrypt an area on your drive where you can store your most sacred files, such as your accounts, contact info and so on. You can go even further and encrypt an entire drive, on an XP or Vista machine.

TrueCrypt 6 is free file and drive encryption software and, with the latest version, you can now encrypt and create a secure area on your drive where you could store an alternative operating system, without anyone knowing that it's installed.

TrueCrypt 6 link.

Last week we mentioned that Spyware Doctor 6 had been released with little fanfare. Dig around and you can find the new features, but PC Tools have kindly sent through a PDF with the information.

The key improvements are in the application and the speed in which it will scan, detect and remove threats. If your system is laden with spyware, Spyware Doctor 6 is far quicker at finding and then removing the threats. ThreatFire technology has reached Spyware Doctor 6, so preventative methods are built in to the technology to seek and prevent against potential threats, before they infect your PC. Other minor features include support for the improved Security Centre within Windows Vista SP1 and more.

Spyware Doctor 6 link.