Most folk use Spybot & Adaware, because they are free, but you do get what you pay for, which isn't much with these. Things like browser hijacks, malware, are often ignored by these programs as they just can't deal with them.

Out of all those I tested, the one that removed every piece of crap for the test computers, even heavily embedded malware was Spy Doctor.

For what it does it's pretty cheap at £20, and will find anything at all that is dangerous even slightly on your computer and get rid of it. And for the folk thinking, I have anti-virus.....that is for viruses......not spyware/malware/hijackers, etc.

The other bonus with the software is it runs a security guard in the back ground preventing pages with a history, or iffy code from loading in the first place, most of the time you never know about this.

You can download the free trial which will scan your system and list what it finds, to remove them you have to pay (of course) but it's worth the money when you see what it finds, although if it lists everything as 'LOW' then you have a pretty safe system already, but it's still handy for the background protection it supplies.

The software is kept up-to-date with updates. You can read up on it here, and get the download, even if it's just to see what crap is lurking on your system http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/