Security CD - Step 3: Lavasoft Ad-Aware
Third, we need to find and remove any adware or spyware on your computer. The program we're going to use is Lavasoft's Ad-Aware, a free program for non-commercial environments. This CD will install Adaware on your computer, this CD wont be required. To use this program in the future, you just double click on the Ad-Aware 6 icon on your desktop or in your Start menu. Also, this program does not run in the background looking for adware. This program is an on demand scanner, it looks for adware when you open it and run it. I recommend you update and run this program weekly or monthly depending on your internet habits. Lavasoft also sells a pay version that includes a real time scanner that claims to prevent and block spyware and adware from installing on your computer, but in actual practice, it doesn't provide enough protection, and the free version works just as good.
WARNING! Some programs come bundled with adware or spyware and will not function if you remove the adware or spyware. These are usually free or shareware programs that cost no money to you because the adware bundled with it is what's paying for it. If this is the case, you will either need to re-install that program (with its adware or spyware) and add that program to Ad-Aware's ignore list, or stop using that program.
Another similar program is Spybot Search & Destroy. While this CD focuses on using Ad-Aware, Spybot is another similar program.
To being, click
Once you click the above link, it will start the install process. After you have agreed to the EULA and pressed Next about 5 times, a new Ad-Aware 6 icon will appear on your desktop as seen below.
Double click on that Ad-Aware 6 icon to start the program. You will be presented with the screen below.
The first thing we need to do is make a few changes, these changes you only need to make one time. Click on the gear in top right hand corner as pictured below.
When you click on the gear, you will see the settings dialog. The two changes you need to make at this screen are: click on "Automatically save log-file" and "Automatically quarantine objects prior to removal" so there is a red x in front of them, matching the picture below.
Then click on the Scanning button on the left. Three changes need to be made here, put a check next to "Scan within archives", "Scan my IE Favorites for banned URLs", and "Scan my Hosts file", matching the picture below.
Once your settings match the above, click the Proceed button to apply the changes and return to the main Ad-Aware screen. Those changes we just made only need to be made once. All future use of Ad-Aware will keep these changes.
The next step is very important: updating. This procedure you should do every time you use Ad-Aware. In order for Ad-Aware to find new adware and spyware, it needs to have the newest "Reference-file". The Reference-file is what Ad-Aware uses to recognize what the bad stuff is. If you don't update, it wont find anything that has been identified as spyware or adware since the last time you updated. Once at the main screen, click on "Check for updates now" as seen below.
This will open the Webupdate window. Click on the "Connect" button and Ad-Aware will connect to the internet to see if there is a newer Reference-file.
If there is a new update, you will be asked if you want to download it. If so, click the OK button. If not, you're already up to date.
Now it's time to scan. Click the Start button in the lower right and you will be presented with the screen below.
At this screen you get to choose the scanning mode. The first option "Perform smart system-scan" does a quick scan of your computer, looking in obvious places for spyware. However, we want to do a complete and thorough scan of your entire computer, so select the "Use custom scanning options" as indicated above. Now you can hit the "Next" button in the lower right to begin the scanning process.
Once it says scanning is complete, hit the Next button and you will be presented with a screen listing all of the found spyware on your computer.
One thing to know, the "Tracking Cookie" in the list are not that big of a problem at all. In fact, if the only things that get listed are Tracking Cookies, then your computer is adware and spyware free. All a Tracking Cookie is, is a small text file that basically says "This user has been to this website". While it does track where you have been online, it's not harmful to your computer, nothing malicious, and nothing serious.
Unless you wish to keep any of the spyware on your computer, we're going to remove it all. You can put a check mark next to each of the items, or, if you right click on one of the listed items and choose "Select all objects" from the menu, it checks everything for you.
Once you've checked what you want to remove, hit the Next button and select Yes to begin the deleting process. If you are taken back to the main screen, then your computer is clean and you can move onto the next step.
If you have a really nasty piece of spyware on your computer, Ad-Aware will say that it could not remove some objects and that it needs to run on startup. If this is the case, then you need to close everything out (including this window) and restart your computer. When your computer restarts but before your desktop icons appear, Ad-Aware will automatically run and try to remove anything that's left over. It should then finish its cleaning job and tell you the result. Once you click OK, your computer will finish restarting and you should see your desktop icons.