Spyware Doctor 5.0 continues the good work laid down by its forebears. Indeed, we'd go so far as to suggest that Spyware Doctor might be the best anti-spyware utility available.

There's no doubt that Webroot Parental Controls is a thorough program. Any youngsters trying simple tricks such as altering the time will find themselves unstuck. While Mum and Dad may find it time consuming adding Web addresses to the Trusted Sites section, it's certainly worth it.

If you are fed up with spam, then ClearMyMail is the business. It stops spam in its tracks and, from our experience, does so without causing the almost as worrisome headache of rejecting valid emails without good cause. It is simple to set up for POP3 account holders, but offers lots of control if you want it. Some ISPs perform spam filtering and so only a handful of unwanted e-mails get through. ClearMyMail is probably overkill for this fairly rare type of user. Apart from not supporting webmail (yet), the service does introduce one small unknown. All e-mail is being run through not one but two services, namely the ISP providing the account and ClearMyMail's, which are two possible points of failure. This wouldn't worry most people, but it's worth being aware of.

Simple to use and inexpensive, Steganos Safe 8.0 does exactly what it is supposed to do, and does it well to boot. This is the sort of protection you can't afford to be without if you have data you need to keep private.

Norton Internet Security 2009 represents a dramatic improvement over its predecessor. Security has been improved but the most noticeable gain has to be responsiveness: less intrusive than Norton 360, sometimes it's hard to tell if NIS 2009 is running. The protection it offers is hard to beat though its spam controls could be better. Recommended.

If you’re after a simple, stable and reliable desktop firewall application to suit either a corporate or home environment, look no further.

There are utility bundles and there are utility bundles, but BitDefender Total Security 2008 is definitely up there with the best of them. If you want high levels of security, excellent ease of use plus great VFM you should definitely try BitDefender Total Security 2008 -- or at the very least the 30-day trial version. You won't be disappointed.

With a wide array of protections for your PC, Avast! works superbly to keep your computer safe, a rare thing in free software.

Solid watchdog tool gives a remote, over-the-shoulder view of the PC under surveillance.

K9 is an effective Web filter for parents. It's easy to use, won't take up noticeable system resources and can even guard against keyword searches. With nothing to pay, it's well worth checking out.

A raft of small but useful improvements make Norton 360 2.0 a useful addition to anyone's utility tool bag. It remains powerful and yet very easy to use. At the same time, it's not dumbed-down enough to deter power users.

Trend Micro Internet Security Pro ticks all the right boxes -- spam filtering is good, malware is competently blocked, it has network-management capability plus a slew of useful bonus features. In this regard, it's on a par with the market leaders. While it might be pipped at the post in terms of features and effectiveness by Norton Internet Security and McAfee Total Protection, its price advantage restores the balance.