One of the key things you must know if you want to remove spyware and keep spyware-free is what nasty programs you have on your computer. Fortunately there are many programs that can do this for you and delete these malicious programs. However, in harder cases where spyware starts to re-spawn, installs rootkits on your computer and shuts down anti-virus programs making it hard to detect and remove, identifying what malicious programs you have on your computer is absolutely key to creating a safe environment to use the internet on.
Using An Anti-Virus
The anti-virus program is your bread and butter, standard solution to spyware problems and viruses. These programs are not necessarily designed to get rid of the worst threats, but they will cover a large majority of the major threats lurking out there. One of the main reasons why normal anti-virus programs can't deal with some of the nastier, more hidden threats is because the criminals are getting smarter: they are finding ways to hide their programs without detection, finding ways to re-spawn at start up even when your AV program said that is was removed. Many spyware programs seek to shut down conventional anti-virus programs or block you from accessing them.
That being said, the Anti-Virus program is a great place to start your search for what types of malicious programs you have on your computer! Doing a normal scan, a boot scan or a start-up scan is a great way to see what spyware programs you have on your computer and have a great shot at removing them!
After every scan there should be a log. Plug the infected file names or virus types into Google and you'll find plenty of instructions on how to remove them!
Using A Malware Fighter
Sometimes the more hidden and lesser known threats as well as the sneakier threats evade anti-virus protection. You still see all the signs of an infected computer despite your AV assuring that your computer is okay! You need reinforcements! Programs like Sophos Anti-Rootkit, UnHack Me and MBAM are great for identifying and getting rid of the nasty programs that appear on your computer! One thing to know is that sometimes these programs will get rid of your problem, meaning you don't have to do any further research!
Using Task Manager
Sometimes it's just way too hard for the tools you put in to get rid of the problem straight away. Many malicious programs have lots of scattered files that re-install and restart other programs when it is detected one of their group has been removed. These are very nasty types of threats, and often need co-ordinated deletions in safe mode. One way to see what problem files are on your computer is to manually paste programs that come up in your Task Manager into Google. This way you can see if these programs are generally corrupt or not.
Most likely, you will find that pasting your task manager running processes into Google (and you can get these up through old-fashioned Ctrl
