Lately, I haven't been satisfied with WD. I went searching for a better alternative and came across one that I liked, looked similar in interface to WD but with better features... did I download it right away? Nope! I don't even remember what it was called or anything about the website. Right now, I'm only using Spybot S&D with WD, Avast and NetVeda as my firewall.

Suggestions? I'm not necessarily looking for THAT elusive program I shoddily described, just anything that I can replace WD with. I've already tried the free v. of Ad-Aware, but it tends to freeze on my comp.

Take a look at SuperAntiSpyware -You can find it in our list with others here

Freeware Replacements For Common Commercial Apps

I like threat fire. I used to use spyware terminator, but it used up too much memory for me. BUt, I have very little memroy in the first place.

thanks, guys. I ended up going with a-squared, but I don't like that neither a2 or the free version of SUPER have realtime protection. Would it be okay if I just used avast as my real time watcher and got rid of WD?

Also, is spywareblaster still effective if I'm running Mozilla as a browser? I thought it only worked against ActiveX in IE.

No single product is 100% foolproof and can detect and remove all threats at any given time. The security community is in a constant state of change as new infections appear. Each vendor has its own definition of what constitutes malware and scanning your computer using different criteria will yield different results. The fact that each program has its own definition files means that some malware may be picked up by one that could be missed by another. Thus, a multi-layered defense using several anti-spyware products (including an effective firewall) to supplement your anti-virus combined with common sense and safe surfing habits provides the most complete protection.

SpywareBlaster is a program that blocks spyware tracking cookies in Internet Explorer and any browsers that use the Internet Explorer engine, including: AOL web browser, Avant Browser, Slim Browser and Maxthon (formerly MyIE2). It also provides protection for Mozilla Firefox, Netscape, Seamonkey, and Flock. SpywareBlaster restricts the actions of potentially dangerous sites by adding a list of sites and domains associated with known spyware, advertisers and marketers to the browser's "Restricted Sites Zone" and prevents the installation of ActiveX-based spyware, adware, browser hijackers, dialers, and other potentially unwanted software. SpywareBlaster does not run in the background. Instead it only requires installation and then enabling of all protection. After that you only have to check periodically for database updates using the built-in "Check for Updates" feature and then enable all protection again.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Protection Module (requires registration) which uses advanced heuristic scanning technology to monitors your system provides real-time protection.

The problem with these free replacements for Window Defender, is that they don't real time protection.
You have to run scan to make sure your computer is clean.
I am not complaining, super spyware and malwearebytes is some THE greatest programs one can get for free
but being like allspunup I believe he looking for a full time protection....
I have searched but haven't seen anything.
any more ideas out there???
thank you

There is nothing wrong with WD. As I already said no single product is 100% foolproof and can detect and remove all threats at any given time. WD does not utilize a lot of resources so I continue to use it to compliment other programs like Spyware Terminator which is free and does provide real time protection.

Notes:
-- Starting with v2.1.0.313, Web Security Guard is included in the download. After installation you will be prompted to Enable Web Security Guard Toolbar (recommended). This browser add-on (similar to Site Advisor) is enabled by default so be sure to uncheck the box if you do not want it.
-- If you already have an anti-virus application, there is no need to install the optional Clam Anti-virus integration.