Dear PC World:

First off, we fully understand why you chose to review Lavasoft's Ad-Aware SE Personal in your August 25th article, "Spyware Fighters."

You're right: it is popular software! In fact, Ad-Aware SE is trusted by more than 200 million computer users worldwide. But, what we don't quite comprehend is why your article ranked all of the reviewed anti-spyware software, both paid and free, together in the same group.

Not all software is created equally, but it's not like we have to remind you of that. Users, of course, can expect enhanced capabilities to be available in software that they pay for, when compared with freeware. In keeping with our mission, we're proud of the fact that we're able to provide free anti-spyware software to our consumers. And we know that even our free software tests in the same top range as some software that you have to pay for.

In the performance rating listed in your own article, Ad-Aware SE detected 5% more adware and spyware than the product ranked ahead of it, CounterSpy. Not only that, but Ad-Aware SE disinfected 10% more adware, and 25% more spyware than CounterSpy. It also did the best job, out of all of the software reviewed, of detecting malware samples.

In the full review, Ad-Aware SE Personal was called a "crippled program", because it doesn't have real time scanning. We don't market our Ad-Aware SE Personal freeware as having real-time scanning, and never have. If you want a fair competition, why not test our paid product, Ad-Aware SE Plus, which, by the way, has real-time scanning?

Sorry PC World, we just don't understand.

Ranking and Price List, according to "Spyware Fighters":
1. WebRoot Spy Sweeper 5.0 Beta: $30
2. PC Tools Spyware Doctor 3.8: $30
3. Sunbelt Software CounterSpy 2.0 Beta: $26
4. Lavasoft Ad-Aware Personal 1.06: Free
5. Safer Networking Spybot- Search & Destroy 1.4: Free
*Ad-Aware SE Plus, which offers real-time protection, is available for $26.95.