Spybot S&D - can't check for problems

I used Spy Sweeper for years and have been happy with it.  Unfortunately, until I get rid of TM, I can't use it.  The one nice thing about TM is that its registry cleaner doesn't harm anything.  Tried Spy Doctor, but it took forever to load.  Thanks again for all of the advice.  What do you think of Zone Alarm AV/Firewall?

i have no knowledge of zone alarm's anti-virus.

as for the firewall, Joe53 is in a much better position to advise you here, but i believe he will tell you:

zone alarm has become exceptionally "bloated", and on this basis alone, he gave up on it.

but perhaps more significantly [and a more recent development], it turns out that the FREE version is significantly inferior to the paid version, when it comes to "leak tests".

while the following is about half a year old, see Joe's post, and the links he gives in message 1 here:

http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=si_virus&message.id=61701

Why to avoid Zonealarm's Free Firewall

It is apparent from posts in other boards on this forum that many are still using and recommending ZA Free. As a long-time user of ZA Free, I can understand this. It was once a simple and good free firewall. Alas, those days are long gone.

The whole point of a third party firewall is to prevent malware from making outbound connections. The gold standard of outbound protection by which third party firewalls are judged is the leak-test, of which there are many. Independent leak-testing sites that I have found all reach the same conclusion - ZA Free just doesn't make the grade:

1) firewallleaktester.com found that ZA Free blocked only 3/18 leaktests in 2006
http://www.firewallleaktester.com/tests.php

2) Scot Finnie found that ZA Free blocked only 5/16 leaktests in 2007
http://blog.scotsnewsletter.com/2007/06/05/more-on-software-firewalls-for-windows/#more-55

3) matousec.com rated ZA Free as "Very Poor" in its latest leak-tests in Nov/07
http://www.matousec.com/projects/windows-personal-firewall-analysis/leak-tests-results.php

4) ZA Free installs by default "Spyblocker" which includes the ASK toolbar (paid versions do not). This is adware.

Clearly Checkpoint wants us to purchase one of their paid ZA products (which do fare better in leak-tests).

Fortunately there are free firewalls available (Comodo, Online Armor) which compare favorably to even paid firewalls in leak tests.

I haven't tried Online Armor's free FW, and it does not yet support Vista (but that is coming). Includes HIPS.
http://www.tallemu.com/free-firewall-protection-software.html

Comodo Firewall Pro comes in 2 flavors (both free):
- v 2.4 (Win2000/XP): This is the simpler version. Highly recommended.
- v 3.x (XP/Vista): Comes with HIPS, and an internal anti-malware scanner. Demands more of the user. Not recommended for novices.
I have used both versions, and am impressed with both.
http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/download_firewall.html#fw2.4

[Edit] Update (July 10/08):

Zonealarm is no longer even submitting its Free FW to matousec for testing (not surprising, considering how badly it fared with leak-testing). Even the paid version of ZA now has a protection level rating of "Poor":
http://www.matousec.com/projects/firewall-challenge/results.php