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NMVFC PC Help Center |
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Spyware Detection & Removal |
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What is spyware? Spyware is a common name for malicious software that “infests” your computer and does certain things to annoy the user and make money for it’s creator. Spyware creates random incessant pop-up ads, modifies you web browser homepage, inserts toolbars to your web browser, and can also run software in the background unknown to you. All of this will slow your PC to a crawl and make surfing the web annoying at best, and impossible at the worst. Spyware comes from many places but is almost always installed along with “free” programs from the internet. Common things are these “free” screensavers, music sharing programs such as Kazaa & Limewire, the Weatherbug, Clocksync, etc. This also comes from clicking the fake “error” messages on websites saying your computer needs “enhancing” or “fixing”. Clicking those installs this spyware. (Hint: Don’t click those!). What isn’t spyware? Spyware is not the same as a virus. A virus scanner will not remove spyware and a spyware remover will not remove a virus. They are very different, although both can be devastating to your computer. Also, being infested with spyware can make it easier to be infected by a virus. How to remove spyware? There are several ways to remove spyware from your computer. Some of it can be uninstalled normally by going to the control panel’s Add/Remove Programs and just uninstalling it. Sometimes, it will try to convince you not to do it and open a web page with surveys and information. Just ignore all of that and continue uninstalling it. If the program is not listed under Add/Remove Programs, you have to force it out with spyware removal software. There are currently three two spyware removal software packages recommended for your PC. They are as follows: Microsoft Anti-Spyware is a new program made by Microsoft for combating spyware. Believe it or not, it actually works. It will do a few things for you:
I have put the installation file right here on the NMVFC web server for easy access. Right click the link below and select “Save As”. Save the file to your desktop so it is easy to find. Once the file is downloaded, run the installation. It will ask if you want to utilize the background scanning, automatic updates, and 2am scanning. I recommend you say yes to all of these. It will then do an update upon installation and then ask if you want to do a system scan. Do the scan, and select remove for the spyware components it locates upon completion. Note, this requires Internet Explorer 6.0 to function. It will not install if you don’t have IE6. If you need IE6, go to the Windows Update part of this section.
Lavasoft Adaware is another popular spyware removal program. Adaware does not have background scanning, automatic updates, or automatic scans. It is strictly a manual scan with manually initiated updates. Again, I have put the installation file here on the NMVFC server. Right click the link below and select “Save As”. Save the file to your desktop so it is easy to find. Once the file is downloaded, run the installation. It will ask you want to update now and you should do so. One the new update file is ready, you should press the “START” button, select “Full System Scan”, and off it will go. Once the scan is complete, it will make a funky sound and you should press “NEXT”. Yo will be presented with a list of objects found. Right click this list and choose the “Select All Objects” option. Again, click “NEXT”. It will quarantine the spyware. Sometimes, spyware is so embedded in the system, that the computer has to reboot and rescan to remove it all. If it prompts you for this, go ahead and do it. When running scans in the future, it is a good idea to click the Check For Updates button before scanning. This will make sure Adaware has the latest “Junk List” to scan with.
BACK TO THE MAIN PC HELP PAGE |
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