Spyware Doctor 5 is the latest in a successful range of PC cleanup tools and this version now comes with a larger database of threats, an improved menu system and more efficient scanning of a computer.

It’s extremely user-friendly and will deal with most threats without requiring your intervention or the need to worry about what each of them does.

A preliminary computer scan is started upon installation, at which point you’re told exactly what files have been flagged with warnings and the type of threat they are. You're then given the opportunity to remove them.

Scans can be run manually at any point in the future too, with a choice available depending on the how comprehensive you want the search to be. Scheduled scans can be set up and the software works quietly and effectively in the background without hogging too many resources or requiring a lot of user interference.

There are individual guards protect a web browser, network or certain files but beginners not wanting to worry themselves with the finer details can let Spyware Doctor do its thing on the default settings.

Certain features can be disabled manually and the history for each individual type of threat can also be viewed. The supplied information pertaining to each threat is pretty comprehensive, which can be handy in working out which parts of a computer are vulnerable.

However, for the most part the onGuard protection will help prevent problems from occurring in the first place. In a test environment we found the cleanup process to be well automated but did notice traces of a few threats left on our computer after a reboot.

Owners of Spyware Doctor 4 or other software in this series will also some features have been stripped out, however, this new version comes with built in virus protection, with additional firewall support coming up later this year.

The $30 (around £15) price tag isn't much for a great peace of mind and, in this latest version, you’ll still find that Spyware Doctor remains one of the most straightforward dedicated Spyware protection tools around today.

Vista Compatible: Yes