Adware removal

[roc17]

Trying to help out my neighbor (again). This time her kid's p/c was virus infected and loaded with spyware/adware.

Popped out the HD and slaved it to my HD and ran my NAV on the drive along with my SpyBot...found and removed several viruses and spyware...but Adware VERY stubborn...over 200 incidents of adware still on HD.

Can someone suggest a good free adware removal tool?

 

[Geiser34]

Ad-Aware

 

[roc17]

Ad-Aware was my first choice....

The scan was free....but it seemed in order to 'clean-up' the results....I was required to purchase & register (?)

Maybe I inadvertently clicked on the 'pay' version and didn't see the free version which sometimes vendors bury on the website (????)

Can anyone advise??? Thanks.

 

[letdown427]

Ad-Aware SE Personal is definately free.

Go to this wonderful place. That'll have the latest one. Might aswell stock up on the other free offerings too, Spybot SnD, CCleaner, AntiVir...

 

[Brainonska511]

A good preventative program to use on the computer would be SpywareBlaster. At least it would help stop some problems before they begin.

 

[mechBgon]

If the operating system is WindowsXP, go to Control Panel > User Accounts, create a new user account named Admin and password-protect it. After testing that you can log in with it, now switch all the other user accounts to Limited accounts. This is a very effective blanket countermeasure against future adware/spyware infections, even when the system has unpatched vulnerabilities.

Along with that, you'll want to get them a working antivirus software, maybe the free AntiVir, and fully arm its configuration options so it's loaded for bear. And get the system patched at Windows Update, fully enable DEP like in this pic, and enable Automagic Updates in Control Panel so it keeps itself topped off on patches.

If they're using any non-Microsoft media players (iTunes, QuickTime, WinAmp), uninstall them and install the latest version of them. Ditto for non-Microsoft web browsers and IM programs. This stuff is getting exploited out there.

I guess it bears saying that user education might help too. But Limited accounts are good for helping to enforce the lessons.

 

[rcalzada51]

Xoftspy would be the best solution in my opinion. XoftSpy detects and perfectly removes over 48,000 harmful, dangerous and unwanted applications. I have been using it for over a year now and I think it works great. Free to download. Need to register in order to remove Adware, but worth it. Easy to use. Updates are Free. New Defininitions updated almost daily which are also free and doesn't require a subscription. "<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.xoftspy.com/">http://www.xoftspy.com/</a>