How To Remove Spyware

The first thing I would like to cover before you learn how to remove spyware,. Is to ask the question..how do you know your computer has malicious software or code on it? If your computer has slowed down recently, it could be one of several reasons why.

A slower computer just basically means that there is more demand for the resources your computer has. Over time, we had all kinds of new applications, data, such as online game data, movies, music. Plus, we remove a great number of files as well, leaving our hard drives fragmented.

It is quite possible that you have also ran your limit on RAM and possibly even disk space. Adding and removing applications and data from your computer or also run you the risk of a bloated registry. At this point, it is all a guess, and it would be a reasonable assumption that spyware, or adware has infected your system.

In this article, I would like to provide the definition of spyware, provide you some basic means for manually removing spyware, and cleaning it affected files, and to stress the importance of spyware protection. Additionally, it will be worth mentioning the use of a couple of different programs, for manually and automatically identify and possibly removing the spyware.

Adware and Spyware Definitions

The definition of spyware is simply jargon for adware, or Advertising Supported Software. Spyware and adware can have both intrusive and/or malicious meanings. Many media companies utilize adware for placement of specific banner ads in their software products, and there are also those which can scan your system such as a virus to attain personally identifiable information about you and your surfing habits, and ultimately, can be as detrimental to the computer and you as a Virus can.

For history’s sake, the term spyware goes back to mid October of 1995. A Usenet post was labeling Microsoft’s business model as spyware based upon its espionage tactics. The term spyware has come to be known for what it is today based on the term used by Gregor Freund, the founder of Zone Labs, in a press release describing how his firewall product was beneficial.

How to Remove Spyware

Much like Utilizing antivirus to help protect and delete viruses, we need to take the same approach again small where and spyware. Almost every network is vulnerable to this type of infection, it is not so much a matter of if, as it is when your computer will be infected by spyware.

My first, and truly only recommendation for scanning and initially identifying spyware, adware, and mallware is to download, install, and run a program called ‘Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware’. During a deep scan, this free program can help identify potential threats which exist on your computer.

Deleting spyware automatically from your computer may not be as easy of a task, however, which requires you to manually delete the spyware. For those instances, I want to discuss the steps you can take to manually remove the spyware from your PC.

I must forewarn you that this process truly should only be utilized by knowledgeable computer experts.

after you have installed and ran your anti-spyware program, and you still have miscellaneous small where or other infectious programs or data on your computer, let’s go step by step manually remove it.

1. Reboot your computer into ‘Safe Mode’. This can typically be done by continually pressing the F8 key on your keyboard during the reboot process.


2. Once you are logged back in to the desktop, click your Start button, which is located usually on the taskbar in the bottom left-hand corner of your computer screen


3. Look for the Control Panel, located on the right side of the menu and click on it


4. Once it is open, click on the Add or Remove Programs icon


5. It is at this moment which you must search for those applications which could not be removed using the anti–spyware program


6. After you have done this, you’re free to reboot your computer back into normal mode.
   Another way to remove the known spyware programs is to search for them in their respective Windows and system folders. Just be cautious that the spyware is not an infected Windows file.
   You could also utilize a program called HijackThis to remove spyware as well. This program helps more clearly, identify spyware and adware programs and provides you the ability to permanently delete them.