Spyware Removal Tools

There's no such thing as a free lunch, nor is there such a thing as free software. Often, "free" software comes packaged with marketing collection programs, usually known as "spyware." These programs remain resident on your computer (even after you might remove the original application), and will monitor your Internet browsing behavior. It will then report this information to a marketing company. Additionally, this software may interfere with your computer's activity by displaying targeted advertisements or redirect you to unwanted web sites.

"Wait a minute! But I never installed these programs!" Yes you did, when you installed that free software, like Kazaa -- at one point during the installation, you were presented with a long, verbose page of legal information that many of us simply click through. Buried within all that fine print was an authorization saying that you allowed the software to be installed, and your Internet behavior to be monitored.

"But why doesn't my anti-virus software pick this up?" Because you technically agreed to the installation of these programs, your anti-virus treats them as legitimate programs.

There is an excellent free program that you can download and install, that will search through your computer and remove these spyware programs. It's called Spybot Search and Destroy, and you can download it here.

(Be aware, though, that some of that "free" software will only run while you're also running its partnered spyware, so if you still want to keep using Kazaa, for example, you'll have to accept the presence of spyware and the headaches it gives you.) 

Downloading and installing Spybot S&D

   You may obtain the latest version of Spybot S&D by downloading the application for free by clicking here to visit the Spybot S&D page on Download.com.

  Click on the animated green icon that says 'Download Now' in the upper left area of the page. When the File Download box appears, choose the option to save the program and when prompted, select to save the program on your Desktop.

  Locate the spybotsd13 file on your desktop and double click on it to start the installation process.

  Read and accept the Terms of the Agreement and follow the defaults settings when presented with options and after the program finishes installing you will be presented with a screen similar to the one below:

   You can leave the single box checked and click on Finish. Spybot S&D will start automatically.

  You will presented with a box that looks like the image below. Read the message then click OK.

  The next box you will see is asking you if you'd like to backup the registry of your computer. The registry is large internal database that stores critical settings for your computer. If it is damaged during the spyware removal process and a registry backup is not available, your computer may need to be erased and re-installed. If you press Create registry backup, your computer will make a backup copy then go on to the next screen. If you press Next, you computer will immediately go on to the next screen.

  In this next screen, you have the ability to update Spybot S&D. To do this, first click the Search for updates button. After your computer connects to Spybot S&D's update server on the Internet, the Download all available updates button becomes available if updates are available, as pictured in the image below. Click this button to receive the latest program updates.

  The program will then update itself, shut itself down, then reopen itself. You will see the Legal stuff box again and after clicking OK, you will be in the main program, ready to be used. Before beginning the scan, exit out of the program and go on to the next step.

Step 2: Restarting your computer in Safe Mode

For instructions on restarting your computer in Safe Mode, please visit the Safe Mode page. Please make sure you follow the instructions that are relevant to your operating system.

Step 3: Scanning and removing spyware

Once the computer has booted back up in Safe Mode, launch Spybot S&D by double-clicking on the Desktop shortcut icon.

You should now see the main screen that looks like the image below and you can now scan your computer for the presence of spyware or other malicious programs. To start the scan process, click on the Check for problems button (Highlighted in the red box in the image below). The scan process will take between 15 minutes and 1 hour to run.

On the screen that appears next is the results of the scan. We are now going to save the log of the results to a text file on your desktop. Right click in the results area and choose Save results to file, as shown in the image below, and save these results to a file on your desktop. Please have this file saved on your computer if you are planning to attend the PC Clinic.

Each group of objects identified already has a check mark in the appropriate box. Click on the Fix selected problems button to remove everything that was found. Spybot will ask you if you are sure you would like to do this. Click Yes. You may also be told that some problems could not be fixed until you restart, and Spybot will ask you if you want Spybot to run the next time your computer boots up, as shown in the image below. Choose Yes and restart your computer in Safe Mode as instructed on the Safe Mode page and rerun a system scan with Spybot.

Once the objects have been removed you may close the Spybot application. You may now reboot your computer in to Normal Mode, as per the instructions on the Safe Mode page.

Downloading and installing Ad-Aware

   You may obtain the latest version of Ad-Aware Personal Edition by downloading the program for free by clicking here to visit the Ad-Aware page on Download.com.

  Click on the animated green icon that says Download Now in the upper left area of the page. When the File Download box appears, choose the option to save the program and when prompted, select to save the program on your Desktop.

  Locate the aawsepersonal file on your desktop and double click on it to start the installation process.

  After you have read and accepted the terms of the License Agreement, follow the defaults settings when presented with options and after the program finishes installing you will be presented with a screen similar to the one below:

   Make sure that none of the boxes are checked and click on Finish.

Step 2: Updating Ad-Aware

Launch Ad-Aware by clicking on the Desktop shortcut icon.

You should now see a screen that looks like this:

Click on the Check for updates now link (highlighted in the red box in the image below):

Click on Connect (highlighted in the red box in the image below):

If you see a screen that indicates the availability of a new definition file, click on OK to download and install the new update. When the update has finished downloading, click on Finish.

Exit out of the Ad-Aware program.

Step 3: Restarting your computer in Safe Mode

For instructions on restarting your computer in Safe Mode, please visit the Safe Mode page. Please make sure you follow the instructions that are relevant to your operating system.

Step 4: Scanning and removing spyware

Once the computer has booted back up in Safe Mode, launch Ad-Aware by double-clicking on the Desktop shortcut icon. You most likely will also have an entry in the Start > Programs menu.

You should now see a screen that looks like this:

You can now scan your computer for the presence of spyware or other malicious programs. To start the scan process, click on the Start button (Highlighted in the red box in the image below):

On the screen that appears next, make sure that Perform full system scan is selected and then click on Next (highlighted in the red box in the image below):

The scan process will take between 15 minutes and 1 hour to run. Once the process has completed, you will hear a distinct sound and also notice a flashing bug along with an overview of the various critical objects recognized. Click on Next to begin the process of removing the detected objects.

You will now see a list of objects that were identified as spyware on your computer. Before you remove the objects found, you will save the log file that has been generated. Please have this file saved on your computer if you are planning to attend the PC Clinic. A portion of your screen looks like the image below, please click the Scan Log tab.

To save the log file, right-click on the text and you will see a menu as shown below. Select the Save option, name the file and save it on your Desktop.

Next, click on the Critical Objects tab to review the harmful objects found.

To remove a specific object, click on the small checkbox next to the object. To remove all objects (which is suggested), right click on any object, choose the Select All Objects option and then click on Next.

You will see a box appear on your screen that asks for your permission in removing the number of objects that were detected. Click on OK to remove the objects.

Once the objects have been removed you may close the Ad-Aware application. You may now reboot your computer in to Normal Mode, as per the instructions on the Safe Mode page.

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