The best spyware remover for your needs depends on your PC, your level of expertise and the particular problem that you're having. For some advice on how to get the best from spyware killers, read on...
Spyware is a menace that, thankfully, most people using the internet are aware of now. Unfortunately, detecting spyware and removing it isn't always a straightforward process.
The first line of defence is to block spyware from installing itself on your PC. The problem is that people who write this kind of malware are aware of security holes in popular internet software long before home users are.
So spyware blocking isn't all that effective, as you can only block known threats. It is good to have defence in depth, though.
The first sign of a spyware infestation is the PC starts misbehaving - you can't shutdown certain programs, the machine is sending data over the internet even when you aren't browsing and programs that have never asked to access the internet before suddenly try to go online.
You suspect spyware has got onto your machine.
The first step is to detect spyware and obviously the next step is to use spyware remover software to get rid of it. The problem is spyware has evolved. Once upon a time, it tricked trusting users into clicking "OK" on a dialog box to allow bad software to be installed. Now it exploits security holes in browsers to install silently and even worse, it uses rootkit technology to hide itself from operating system software and the very tools that are used to remove spyware.
The plain truth is spyware tools haven't kept up with the state of the art in spyware technology.
Spyware killers can't eliminate spyware that they can't find. There are tools such as rootkit revealer, process explorer, autoruns and hijackthis that allow a knowledgeable person to locate and remove spyware manually but they are definitely not for the beginner. These programs will allow you to really mess up your computer, if you don't know exactly what you are doing. Owning a scalpel doesn't make you a surgeon.
The first thing to do is to run whichever spyware checker you have installed and see if it can detect anything wrong.
Run an antivirus scan to see if that picks up anything that can be easily remedied.
Then reboot your machine in safe mode and run the spyware checker again.
This will defeat some of the spyware that uses older technology to conceal itself and resist removal.
Modern spyware protected by current rootkit technology will be hidden even in safe mode. This is where even the best spyware remover software fails. There are only two options from here:-
boot up your machine from another disk or partition and access your original boot partition from there. The rootkit software won't be active in memory and won't be able to conceal the spyware from your spyware checker. The problem is it will only scan the registry on your current boot disk and not the original one. After you have scanned the original boot partition and removed the spyware, you will need to clear out the rubbish from the registry with a program like ccleaner.
boot up from a special rescue cd like ubcd4win or bartPE, run your spyware checker from there. There are two problems
the registry as before and
the definition files for your spyware removal programs are unlikely to be up to date. You either need to produce rescue cds regularly or have definition files stored on removable media like usb pen drives.
Unfortunately, because of the way the windows NT family (windows XP, 2000, 2003) of operating systems access hard disks, option 1 isn't as simple as it may seem. Taking a drive from another system (even an identical one) and using it to boot up with the original (spyware infested) boot disk in the system, will cause windows to become confused over which disk is the real boot disk. This will have all kinds of interesting and unhelpful results. The only safe and simple way is to have a dual boot system with a second operating system on another partition or another disk.
If you just want to get rid of the spyware on your machine once and for all then please visit my lens "The best spyware remover - how to find yours" to learn how to use spyware removal programs to maximum effect.
Hope to see you there soon!
P.S. Look out for my next article on a simpler method of dealing with rootkits without the need for recovery CDs or disk juggling.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jukka_Hakkinen
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