Recommend a free Ad-ware and/or Spyware remover program to me

[mojo1701]

I recomend using Firefox as your browser. Ever since I switched to Firefox from IE, I have literally not had any problems with spyware.

Way ahead of you. The weird thing, is the popups I'm getting are opening in an IE window.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

Way ahead of you. The weird thing, is the popups I'm getting are opening in an IE window.

Sounds like you have something nasty installed pretty deep if you are getting popups when you are not running IE. Have you ran all three of the programs recommended above?

 

[XCorvis]

Boot up your computer every once in a while in SAFE MODE. This stops any non-essential programs from running. Run your anti-spyware/virus programs in safe mode, and you just might catch some things you would have otherwise missed.

Running your scans in safe mode is excellent advice, but it's difficult for the novice. Search google for "boot safe mode windows xp" and you'll find a wealth of info on how to do it. There are several different ways...

My understanding is that most of these anti-spyware/virus programs will NOT pick up programs that are running currently, and the Safe Mode prevents some of these that might be on your computer from starting up, allowing them to get caught.

Close, but not exactly. Most scans will detect running programs quite easily - it's actually the first thing most of them look for. However, because of the way the operating system works, you can't delete running programs. Booting in safe mode prevents most of the programs from starting in the first place so that the antispyware (or antivirus, as the case may be) can delete them safely.

 

[mojo1701]

I just ran both SpyBot and AdAware during safe mode, and I got rid of a few things. I will divulge it after a few days of experience and comparison.

 

[krunchyfrogg]

XCorvis, thanks for the clarification.

 

[Maniac]

One more recommendation.

Rootkit Revealer from

www.sysinternals.com

This will find stuff that is hidden from all the other programs. For example the recent sony DRM software.

As with Hijack this, use with caution as it will show things that are not necessarily a problem.

M.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

As with Hijack this, use with caution as it will show things that are not necessarily a problem.

And watch out for stuff that you remove, as even removing stuff that is mal- or spy-ware that involve rootkits can cause loss of functionallity of your machine (or parts of it). Rootkits are no fun to remove.

 

[ssampier]

I've never had a problem with HijackThis, but I'll keep that in mind. With spyware like New.net, I often reload the Winsock keys to restore full Internet functionality.

 

[JamesL85]

Not sure where I found it, but KillBox is a great tool for killing processes.....

In conjunction with HiJackThis, it's a killer combo.....

James

 

[diaglo]

I've used each one of these at some point cleaning up user's machines.

SpyBot
Ad-Aware
MS Windows Anti-Spyware (Beta)

And for those tricky ones:

Hijack This

i use all of these. plus i have McAffee and Norton. and still i get hit on occassion.