Sunbelt Software, meanwhile, whose CounterSpy product remains one of the undoubted leaders in the anti-spyware arena, took the more arduous path of developing its own scanning engine to cover the wider range of malicious code. The long-awaited VIPRE (Virus Intrusion Prevention and Recognition Engine) is the fruit of the company's labours. Currently still in beta, with full release delayed somewhat longer than expected, the product has built up considerable expectations and I was excited to be able to take an early look at its capabilities.