How do you get rid of spyware??

[mcarrick69]

OK, with working in computers, people seme to pick up on this so when their/their mates computer goes slow or grinds to a stop I get the phone call. Not something I enjoy doing but anyway... I'm hoping others are in the same position and can answer this question.

Probably 75% of people I help have 'the spyware' problem.
Noramally with Broadband and lower spec PC's this quickly clogs the PC up with junk.

What do people do about this??
Is there a few anti-spyware programs you run then call it a day.
Or dig deaper and edit the registry etc...
Do you prefer a complete re-install?
Do you insist they use a personal firewall (these sometimes tend to confuse people IME)

i'm intersted to hear your opinions on this.

[malman]

Depends on what its picked up.

Lavasoft adaware
spybot search and destroy
ewido (AVG antispy)

run these in safe mode after updating first.

For anything that doesn't have a signature available then some of the tools from sysinternals are handy

rootkit detector
process explorer
ADS (alternate data stream viewer)
pendmoves and its mate (move file on reboot) for those that use drivers to hold a file lock open

good ol' regedit

[Munter]

I've run the spyware programs on them and then install firewall and inform the girl that owns it that if she keeps downloading rubbish and installing it it's going to happen again. When it happens again shrug shoulders and walk away.

[Trooper2]

I've used SpywareBlaster for a few years now and the worst thing that I find when I scan with AdAware now are tracking cookies. It seeems to have done a good job of keeping the crap off and it's free.

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.htm...

[ThePassenger]

malman said:

Depends on what its picked up.

Lavasoft adaware
spybot search and destroy
ewido (AVG antispy)

run these in safe mode after updating first.

For anything that doesn't have a signature available then some of the tools from sysinternals are handy

rootkit detector
process explorer
ADS (alternate data stream viewer)
pendmoves and its mate (move file on reboot) for those that use drivers to hold a file lock open

good ol' regedit

Wot he/she said. But also do them in regular mode as well. Some will show up in safe mode, some will show up in regular.

Spyware is one of those things where there is no single utility that'll kill them. God damn marketting drones.

[SneakyNeil]

Personally I don't even turn it on to start with, just stick the drive in another machine and scan it offline with nod32, avg, MS defender, adaware etc. etc. Also a defrag and chkdsk /r while it's there. I have an old dell set up in the corner purely for this purpose, a lot of it is automated.

After the scans have finished put it back & boot it up and make sure everything works, if their AV is out of date replace it with AVG (or nod32 if its a business). Maybe run windows updates if Im feeling lucky, maybe not, its a mood thing

Job done!