I am using the free version.
Do I need to launch Spybot Anti-Beacon every time I turn on the PC?
Does it run in the background or do I need to leave it open?
Thanks
No, you don't need to leave anti-beacon open. It immunizes, so there is no reason for it to have to run in the background, either. They have a youtube tutorial here, which you can watch if you like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weuLIaHyUxs
But more importantly, in the comments team spybot answered a question similar to yours, so I'm going to post the question and their answer.
Do I have to keep program running in background or can I just close it? Will it work?
Safer-Networking Videos
1 month ago
Once Anti-Beacon has finished Immunizing, you can close the program.
2
Safer-Networking Ltd.
2 weeks ago
You can just close it, it's changes will be permanent. We recommend to either let it run automatically on system start to check if the changes are still active (offered during installation), or check manually after important Windows updates. Also, you can open it from time to time to check if there are new versions that cover even more (offered since Anti-Beacon 3.0).