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Spyware and Ad-ware Removal Part 2

Now that we have an idea of how spyware gets into your system and how it can spread lets look at how we can stop it.

Starting with Windows ME Microsoft created a handy feature called system restore. The idea behind this feature is that if you install software or a device driver that either crashes your system or slows it down or corrupts a system file you can go back in time to restore the system to a previous state. All that is well and good on paper but this has also created a loophole for many viruses and spyware to hide itself in during a system scan and then re-infect your system. Why? The files that Windows uses to keep the restore data in are hidden files, and by default most anti-spyware and anti-virus programs skip hidden files. The best way to prevent these nasties from hiding out is to disable the system restore all together. This will also reclaim several hundred MB of disk space as well.

“But wait! Won’t turning off system restore prevent me from being able to roll back my system to a time when it worked better?”

Technically yes. However when you perform a roll back there are several issues that normally happen. 1 Many applications you installed since that date will be uninstalled. 2 many device drivers will be removed as well if you added them after the roll back. Finally Rolling back could also create more system instability if later windows updates were installed. However removing this hiding spot may help keep the viruses and spyware out of your system and give you a minor performance boost. That in itself will greatly reduce the need for the system restore.

“OK you sold me. Now what do I do?”

Now we’re talking. The path of recovery begins with a few mouse clicks.
RIght click My Computer, then click on properties.
Find the tab marked “System Restore” click on it.
Click on Turn off System Restore. This will prompt you that turning off system restore will prevent pervious configurations to be saved. Are you sure you want to do this? Click on yes.

Wait a few moments and it has been disabled.

Now we can go on with removing the spyware, but first we need the tools of the trade. If you ask a tech what is the best software to remove spyware you will get many different answers. The reason that is is because there is no easy 1 software that will remove all spyware/adware. There is however 3 that I highly recommend:

a-Squared Anti Malware - http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/
Lavasoft Ad-aware - http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php
Spybot Search and destroy - http://www.spybot-sd-info.com/Spybot.html

These programs have been tested time and time again and DOES not install spyware into your system. Click the links to goto the product pages and download them and install them.

Be warned however if you go on your own to find the perfect anti-spyware program. There are many programers out that have written software made to look like anti-spyware software, but installing them will only result in more pop-ups, ads, and spyware on your system. There is a list on wikipedia that will outline these softwares:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fake_anti-spyware_programs

DO NOT download any of those programs. They are only designed to make your life more difficult. Many of those programs you may have already seen in pop ups on your computer telling you your computer may already be infected. They are only trying to trick you into download and installing their product. Don’t be fooled.

Once we have our software downloaded and installed we will need to run them one at a time. Each one will have an update icon or tab on its interface. Be sure to run the updates before you start the scan. This will make sure the software has the latest list of spyware and adware to look for. Once you have the software updated make sure you run the fullest scan you can at first. Yes this will take quite some time, depending on your system, but you will need to be as thorough as possible. If anything is missed during the scans it will only allow the spyware to re-infect and start the whole process over again. As you go through the programs the amount each one finds should lessen with every scan. In many cases the software will ask you to reboot and perform a scan on reboot. Let the software do it. There are many bits of software that run that stay in the computers memory and can’t be removed until it is not loaded.

After all your hard work is done the scans should come up with 0 infections. Congratulations your system is now clean. Now lets keep it that way. If you haven’t already go to Microsoft’s Automatic update site, let it scan your system for updates and install the security updates it finds. If you have an illegal copy of Windows and it says it cannot update because of it, I beg you to legitimize your Operating System. If you can’t install any security updates then your system is just asking to be re-infected and you will only have to do this procedure again in a month or two.

After all this is done you should now have a more responsive faster system. You will find your internet connection should run faster as there is less programs eating up all your bandwidth, you will have a lot less pop ups to contend with as well. All and all your computer will feel like its old self again.