Curse

Alias_X · Jan 22, 2006, 09:07 PM // 21:07

Most likely at some point in your life, your computer has had some form of adware or spyware. Click q
Here for some common definitions of Spyware. Adware is similar to spyware, click here
for some definitions of adware.

This guide will hopefully help you rid your computer of spyware and adware, and maintain it.

So, how do you know if your computer has spyware or adware on it? Well, here are some common symptoms:
-Websites are slower to load than usual
-Sometimes you enter a website into the address bar at the top of your browser, and you end up going to a different site
-Your computer takes longer to start up than usual
-You look at your taskbar, and see icons that aren't usually there
-You are getting a lot of popups on websites that don't usually give you popups

Those are just some of the most common symptoms, but any unusual behavior could be caused by spyware or adware.

Remember, popups aren't always caused by the website that they appear on, I remember when I had a lot of spyware, I would go to websites, and they would take longer to load and initiate tons of popups, that was because of spyware and adware.

Tips:
-Run weekly anti-virus scans
-Run weekly adware/spyware scans
-Don't use Internet Explorer
-Don't download crap, or visit websites that you don't trust
-When you see a link that says "Click Here," hover your mouse over it and look at the bottom of your browser window to see where it links to
-If it doesn't look like it links to a good site, enter the site into a google search, they usually provide descriptions of websites

Things you can do:
-Scan for virus's with Norton Antivirus or McAfee Antvirus
-Scan for adware/spyware with Ad-Aware, and Spybot Search & Destroy
-Use Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer

(There are some free antivirus programs, a company called Panda Software makes a good, free antivirus program, the list above just has the most used and reputable programs)

Places to download these programs:

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/ There is button that says "Download"

http://www.mcafee.com/us/ You can purchase McAfee Antivirus on that website

http://www.safer-networking.org/ Select your language and somewhere there is a download link

http://www.symantec.com You can purchase Norton Antivirus there

http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/ There is a download link there

There is another great website, http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/, and one of their great programs is a one that checks all of the programs that start when you start your computer, then it will give you the list, so you can check and see which programs you didn't download, and remove them.

Good luck, and if you need to, there is a program called Hijack this on http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/
Scan your computer with it, post the log it provides, and we can tell you if your computer is running any programs that look like spyware.

Please give me tips, tell me if I made spelling errors, and overall any input would be great so I can improve this guide.

If you found this guide helpful, please post a reply.

r a m e n x 1 · Jan 22, 2006, 09:17 PM // 21:17

thx for the guide =]
i had adaware but not the spyware s&d
thx again =]

Alias_X · Jan 23, 2006, 12:38 AM // 00:38

Noo Ramen, you changed the Naruto avatar!!!