If you ever searched for free anti spyware programs on the web then you definitely know there are literally endless number of such software. At least it looks so because search engines list tens of millions of websites offering free anti spyware solutions.

However, don't let this outrageous number of proposals fool you. Because if you tried researching further, then I'm sure you happened to get the following experience:

1. Free anti spyware programs actually are free to download only. Once you begin installation, you're asked immediately after accepting Terms of service to enter a valid serial number. Which, as you might guess, is not free;

2. In other cases free anti spyware allows installation without any asking for serials, but then again, most of it features are grayed out or not included into the demo version. Spyware removal is one of those disabled functions. What's the point in using free anti spyware which needs serial number to activate malware removal option? This is not free software, isn't it.

3. In rarer cases free anti spyware is available in trial versions. Trial mode allows the use of all the features included in paid software, but for a limited time only. Usually we speak about a couple of weeks or a month, and half a year of trial usage would be an exceptional case. I must confess that I know very few anti spyware programs that offer fully functional trial versions.

4. And the most popular marketing technique is selling paid products describing them as free anti spyware. This is often done by dishonest affiliates who try to attract visitors to their sale pages by the magical power of the 4-letter word, while in reality offering nothing for free.

5. There's one more type of free anti spyware which I strongly advise you to stay away from. Lots of scams and fake security programs are promoted as free – and they often really are free – but why install pure crap even if it's free? Still worse, fake anti spyware software is used by criminals to spy on PC users and use their computers for illegal purposes (like sending spam or attacking servers).

Hopefully now you see how many fake free anti spyware programs are available online. This only make the task of finding a truly free anti spyware more time and effort consuming. However, two approaches make is much easier to come across a decent-performing free anti spyware.

• Young software companies producing solutions for IT security are interested in getting more customers to support their business. Because traditional advertising and promotion takes a lot of time and investment, they create free editions of their paid products to attract customers, create a word of mouth and overall get the ball rolling. This approach to marketing spreads the information like forest fire. Evidently, whenever you come across a nice free anti spyware which solves your security problems, removes stubborn malware and leaves present impression about its interface, functionality and design, you will definitely recommend the product to your friends and relatives, and also share you experience with online community via social networks and blogging. This type of advertising is much more effective for new companies and therefore they release free anti spyware to support their customer-oriented reputation.

• Free anti spyware is also available in the form of command-line scanners. A-squared and DrWeb are examples of software manufacturers providing such freeware tools. Command-line scanners may have a broader spectrum of detectable and removable malware than desktop products, but at the same time they lack certain most popular features like automatic updates and real-time protection. Yet they are effective as emergency tools when malware outbreak occurs. In case if no software can be installed due to corrupted Windows, command-line anti-malware scanners come at rescue. Besides, they are not time-limited as trial versions of desktop software.

You should however remember that despite the major advantage of free anti spyware, any such product lacks significant features, most often those are automatic updates and rwal-time resident protection. This means that a manual interaction is required to operate such software on a regular basis. Furthermore, free anti spyware may have no scheduler to postpone hard drive scans, which is essential for any security software.

To conclude, I advise that you have one or two free anti spyware programs, but use them as on-demand scanners (say, once a week). They're OK as emergency malware removers, but unless you're on a tight budget, getting a full-featured desktop anti spyware with 24/7 support should be considered to ensure an ongoing protection of your PC or laptop.

Next: Best Free Anti-spyware