Spyware, Malware, Hijackers

[MagicFingers]

Here is a good forum for help and understanding in removing these annoying little pests.
It is not for beginners, but it can help a lot of people become more aware of the methods and precautions needed.

They list some good programs to help you
In addition to Ad-Aware and Spybot S&D, there is Hijack and CWShredder, for instance.
http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php?act=idx

 

[Missingmeds]

You know it might be a good idea to have a sticky thread for this sort of thing so we could find it easier.

I mean, between you, fvgarb, and Weird Harold, you three do your level best to keep us up and running smoothly.

 

[MagicFingers]

Thanks

You know it might be a good idea to have a sticky thread for this sort of thing so we could find it easier.

I mean, between you, fvgarb, and Weird Harold, you three do your level best to keep us up and running smoothly.

I feel I'm still an amateur at this stuff. There is SO much to learn.
This site is very technical in their posts and data, however through their posts and links, I have learned more about Malware and spyware and hijacked browsers in the last 5 days than the total of everything I knew before then.

A sticky sounds like a very good idea. I would love to have one place to go back to when I/We see a problem that needs a solution. However, there are several people here that are much more knowledgeable about these things.

 

[PPG88]

Ok seeing as how I do this for a living, I am going to post a guide on how to remove spyware and adware.

The first thing you want to do is to make sure your operating system is up tp date. Windows users, open up internet explorer, click on tools, scroll down to Windows update. Do all of the security updates available the others are not critical but Microsoft does give you some decent free software. When you are done downloading and installing all of your updates restart your computer. After the updates you need to make sure you have an up to date virus scanner. I reccomend Norton Antivirus as long as you still have a subscription. Mcafee antivirus is ok, but it often messes up too many system files. If you don't have the money to spend on Norton or Mcafee here is a free one AVG Antivirus .
Once you have your updates and your antivirus going you will want a spyware/adware removal tool. There is no one good program to do this, I have yet to see one program take care of everything so I will list the best two. Spybot Search and Destroy v1.3 and Ad-Aware 6 they are both free and excellent programs, make sure you do the updates for both of them too. The registry backup is not needed, you can do this if you want though it won't harm anything. The next thing you want to do is clean up your startup files, to do this click on start, go to run and type in "msconfig" (without the quotes) click on the startup tab and uncheck everything but your antivirus, this will speed your computer up a lot. The antivirus in msconfig will say somthing like symantec blah blah or mcafee blah blah, you should know which one it is. If you have KaZaA or any other P2P file sharing programs with adware but you still want to share files download this program Warez 2 if you want a version of Kazaa without all the ad bullshit PM me and I can email a copy to you. If I left anything out or you want to add somthing go right ahead!