Spybot’s free version doesn’t include an antivirus engine or real-time protection, so it won’t actually protect you from malware or detect any malware that’s already on your device. And it lacks many features I expect to see in a premium antivirus, such as a firewall, a VPN, parental controls, and a password manager. Spybot also doesn’t use machine learning to detect zero-day threats - a standard feature in most modern antiviruses. Its malware scanner performed poorly in all my tests, missing most of my malware samples (in comparison, brands like Norton and Bitdefender consistently catch 100% of malware in testing). Spybot Search & Destroy’s malware-detecting capabilities and internet security features are very disappointing, especially compared to other top antiviruses. On the other hand, Spybot Search & Destroy offers no money-back guarantees or free trials on its paid plans. Also, they all offer free trials and/or money-back guarantees. Each of these brands provides perfect malware detection and a better selection of additional security features to keep you safe online.

There are so many better antiviruses on the market in 2023 - including Norton, Bitdefender, and McAfee - that Spybot offers little value. For example, to provide web and anti-phishing protection, Spybot edits your Windows hosts file, but this is an inefficient approach and fails to detect and block many threats.

Spybot Search & Destroy does include a few security features - like web protections and dark web monitoring - but they’re nowhere near as good as the same features offered by top competitors. It also lacks many features you’d expect in a premium antivirus - such as a firewall, a VPN, and a password manager - which are included in the best antiviruses of 2023, like Norton and Bitdefender. Spybot Search & Destroy is a Windows antivirus program that’s pretty bad at detecting most malware and phishing threats, has a confusing user interface, and requires multiple downloads of separate components to work.

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