It's tempting to think you can escape spyware, by avoiding the seedy side of the Internet, and only visiting respectable, up-market sites. But that would be a mistake. Alicia Keys MySpace page was hacked last November, for instance, and visitors could then have been infected with a variety of malware. Advertising servers have been used to serve spyware directly to visitors on big-name sites. And in the worst cases, just viewing a page has been enough to infect your PC. There's no escape from spyware, then, and sooner or later you're going to be attacked - which is why you need Webroot Spy Sweeper 5.5.

At first glance the program looks much like any other antispyware tool. There's the large signature database, for instance, helping it detect and remove over 200,000 individual threats. The on-demand scanner can perform an in-depth check of your entire system. But if you're in a hurry, then special quick or custom sweeps can give you a verdict in just a few minutes.

Webroot Spy Sweeper really excels with its Shields, though, special modules that watch different areas of your PC for malware-like behaviour. Has something just tried to install itself as a Windows service, for instance? Or a program that will start when Windows loads? Maybe a program has tried to rewrite your hosts file, change the Internet Explorer home or search pages? The 13 individually controllable Shields look out for these warning signs, and more, giving you the option to confirm or deny whether you want the suspicious action to go ahead. And so this invaluable extra layer of protection works against even brand-new, previously unknown threats, limiting any damage and perhaps preventing their installation altogether.

Upgrade from Webroot Spy Sweeper and you'll benefit from the powerful and accurate Sophos antivirus engine, delivering protection against everything from worms and Trojans to adware and rookits. A privacy module prevents login information, passwords, credit card numbers and more from being transmitted over the Internet without your permission, while a flexible firewall looks for and blocks inbound attacks. The price of this all-round Internet security would normally be £39.95, but as a registered owner of this version you'll pay only £19.95, an impressive 50% discount. Visit www.webroot.com/activate to order, or take the coupon to your local PC World and get £10 off the standard boxed retail price.