In his Windows Secrets newsletter, Brian Livingston discusses the results of an interesting study performed by researcher Eric Howes who runs the Spyware Warrior Web site.

Now that 80% of home PCs in the U.S. are infected with adware and spyware, according to one study, it turns out that nearly every anti-adware application on the market catches less than half of the bad stuff.

According to Livingston, “…Microsoft has a potential winner on its hands”: Giant AntiSpyware removed 63% of the junk on Howes’s test systems. The next best performer, Webroot Spy Sweeper, removed only 48%, with LavaSoft’s Ad-Aware coming in third at 47%. One of the most popular free programs, SpyBot Search & Destroy, removed only 33%.

Nevertheless, I stand behind my “Seven Steps to System Security” because it is a proven approach. I do, however, plan to reissue that article with recommendations that users take additional steps to run MS AntiSpyware and CW Shredder.

Because in this war, you can’t have too many weapons.