Free spyware removal

Stain of Peace · 11-12-2007, 05:20 PM

Is there any good spyware programs out there I can download for free?

ApparentlyNothing · 11-12-2007, 06:07 PM

In Windows, I've always used Ad-Aware and Spybot Search and Destroy. Both free. Both work great.

PatrickStar4491 · 11-12-2007, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ApparentlyNothing

In Windows, I've always used Ad-Aware and Spybot Search and Destroy. Both free. Both work great.

I use those two also. They work great.

**DaGeek** · 11-12-2007, 09:12 PM

I'll throw a vote in for Ad-Aware, but I haven't had such good results with Spybot. Not that it's necessarily bad, I just haven't gotten great results the few times I've tried it. Also, if you know what you're doing, Hijackthis is a great program to use. If you don't, though, don't try it.

tigerfan88 · 11-12-2007, 11:35 PM

HiJackThis doesn't tell you whether an entry is bad or not. So it's not really advisable, unless you can recognize the entries and distinguish them. Even then, it's probably a good idea to take the log it generates over to malwareremoval.com and get one of the experts over there to give feedback.

I second the recommendations for Ad-Aware and SpyBot. I'll also throw in a recommendation for SpywareBlaster. It's not a removal program, but it protects your PC from even being infected in the first place.

***BillSPrestonEsq*** · 11-12-2007, 11:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tigerfan88

HiJackThis doesn't tell you whether an entry is bad or not. So it's not really advisable, unless you can recognize the entries and distinguish them. Even then, it's probably a good idea to take the log it generates over to malwareremoval.com and get one of the experts over there to give feedback.

I second the recommendations for Ad-Aware and SpyBot. I'll also throw in a recommendation for SpywareBlaster. It's not a removal program, but it protects your PC from even being infected in the first place.

I throw in a strong warning against spyware blaster. I have seen it cause a lot of problems.

Spybot and ad aware work well in tandem.

tigerfan88 · 11-13-2007, 09:40 AM

Really? That's odd. It's been pretty recommended by the "experts". I used it on previous machines with great success. It probably doesn't have compatibility with Vista, so I wouldn't recommend it for a PC running that, but XP seems to work fine. Unless, of course, SB has greatly changed since I last used it (a year ago). In which case, I wouldn't recommend it.

I believe Spybot has a shield that you can enable which performs basically the same function as that of SpywareBlaster.

**DaGeek** · 11-13-2007, 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tigerfan88

HiJackThis doesn't tell you whether an entry is bad or not. So it's not really advisable, unless you can recognize the entries and distinguish them. Even then, it's probably a good idea to take the log it generates over to malwareremoval.com and get one of the experts over there to give feedback.

Exactly, hence the "If you know what you're doing"

. It's quite helpful to have a familiarity with the programs that are usually on your computer so you can see what's not normal, then delete it.

tigerfan88 · 11-13-2007, 11:09 AM

Agreed. HJT is a very effective, very powerful program. Obviously, if you have a ton of spyware on your computer, you're probably going to need something like HJT to remove it. Even the best anti-spyware programs tend to not completely KO an infection, so using HJT is essential. But if you are confused about any of the lines, you need to go over to a forum (or, heck, even PM it to me, as I did spyware removal for about a year at malwareremoval.com's forums) and get it checked out.