Spyware, Malware, Adware
So, I bet you enjoy those pop-up ads, don't you? No? Me neither. How about them funky things that hijack your browser, making it so that your browser always goes to a certain website, or has a stupid toolbar at the top, or whatever? Ya, I hate those too. Well, the other night I looke for anti-spyware stuff, and look what I found! Tons of stuff for you to use. It seems lots of other people are fed up too. The following is a list of software for users of Internet Explorer with Windows.
Disclaimer:I am NOT responsible if you or one of these programs screws up your computer. Please e-mail me using the form on the contact page if you have any questions.
Microsoft offers Windows Defender as a free download to Genuine Microsoft Windows users (that means, you have a legal version). I run this program on my personal machine on a full-time basis and I install it on all the machines that I work on at ACU. Probably the best thing about it is that it runs full-time, like a virus scanner, in your system tray (by your clock). It even downloads its updates along with the other Windows Updates. It's only available for Windows 2000/XP, but that should be most of you.
Spyware Search and Destroy
Spyware Search and Destroy is sort of a combination of most of the below products. It's absolutely free, but I think it would be good of you to donate a few dollars to them. It's not as good as any of the below products (by itself); but if you only have time/energy to get one of these downloads, this one should be it. Make sure that you get the updates for it (as with Ad-aware and Spyware Blaster).
Now, let's get your computer cleaned of the spyware you already have. Begin by using Ad-aware, a free program from Lavasoft. Download Ad-aware from Download.comto get started. Run it, install it, blah blah blah.
It should put an icon on your desktop-run the program from there. Click the check for updates button, download the latest ones. Then click Start. Click customize, 'cause we're gonna make sure it checks EVERYTHING. Check “scan within archives”, “scan within my IE favorites for banned URLs” (those are the sites that cause problems), “scan my hosts file” (why not?) and click Proceed. Select the “use custom scanning options” and hit next. For about 5-10 mintues it's going to check your entire computer for bad stuff. It'll keep a running tally of what it's found-the maroon-colored stuff is bad.
When it finishes, click next. It should show a list (it should be huge the first time you use it). I generally trust it, and right click in the window and click “select all objects”. You should start by doing this, then unchecking any you happen to not want (if you just HAVE to have a certain toolbar, for example. You should use the one below instead). Click next, ok. It will quarrantine (save) the stuff into a backup file, then delete the originals. You can restore old quarrantined stuff from the main status window, but I'm not going to help you do that (hey, it comes with a user manual).
Ooh, it even SOUNDs like some sort of assassin for your computer. Actually, it's more like a security guard. Spyware Blaster is made by the cool folks at Javacoolsoftware.com -That's the main Spyware Blaster page right there. Read about it, download it, run it. Click the “Check for Updates” button, like you did for ad-aware. Click download updates. When it finishes, click Finish (I really hope you didn't need to know that). It will refresh that HUGE list of junk, that is all in red. Click the “Select all” button, then “Protect against checked items!” Everything should turn black, which means you are protected against them. Close it when you're done, and you are still protected!
These days, there are all sorts of add-on toolbars for Internet Explorer out there. Almost all of them are spyware or not very useful. The Google Toolbar, however, is quite useful. You can do several kinds of web searches from it, and more importantly, it blocks pop-ups! How cool is that! You need to get it, right now, from toolbar.Google.com. I admit, it kinda has a spyware feature, but you can turn it off. The directions are on the site; read it. There are also instructions on how to allow popups just once and always from a particular site. 'nuff said.
Thank you!
Thank you for using some of this stuff. I know, some of it seems a bit intimidating if you don't know much about computers. But I'm sure you'll do fine. The results are worth it.
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