Adware, Spyware, Malware and Viruses
One of the biggest problems facing both Business and Home Users today, in our opinion, is the propagation of trojans, browser hijackers, pop-ups, tracking cookies and assorted other goodies that we collect on our travels on the World Wide Web. They collect on our hard drives, run hidden in our systems, protect themselves from deletion, and even invite other unwanted guests into our systems. By now nobody should believe that there is anything "for free" on the internet (except here of course). The largest corporations with multimillion dollar systems are bogged down with the rogue programs and sometimes even brought to their knees (though they won't admit it).
The simplest solution is to not click on anything that you didn't go looking for in the first place, if it appears on your screen on it's own or if you think you are suddenly the discoverer of hidden treasure on the web. Amongst the most vicious of these pups are the ones that claim to have found potentially disastrous errors on your system and offer to do a full scan to "fix" the issues. After you click on some of these nothing short of rebuilding your system will get rid of them. From Corporate IT Departments to the Independent PC Technicians millions of man-hours are being spent dealing with these issues. We have found three ways to contain all but the most harmful of these malicious programs.
Ad-Aware
This is a free program that also has a professional and a paid version that has some enhanced features. Ad-Aware is great at finding Pop-Ups, Tracking Cookies, and most Malware and Trojans. It is very user friendly and almost absolutely safe for the "normal" user. If you use freeware programs for file shares or other ad-driven sites it will find those items and want to delete them as well. Worst case is you may have to re-install these if you cannot recognize them on the found list at the end of the scan. This program can be downloaded from many sites including Lavasoft's homepage and CNet's Download.com. If you are on the internet with a Broadband connection that is always on you might want to run this program once a week.
Spybot Search and Destroy
This is the "extra-strength" cleaner and in our opinion grossly under valued. Spybot Search and Destroy is also a free program by a software developer who needed to address this growing problem. There is an area on the program that links to the site where donations are collected to fund further development. There are two add-ons to this spyware scanner that will actually run constantly in the background and maintain protection for your browser and your system settings. When enabled these TSRs (Terminate and Stay Resident) programs will prompt you before allowing anything to make a Windows registry setting change while the other piece maintains a list of blocked sites and and known malware downloads. The scanner in this program finds issues that Ad-Aware does not. In fairness, Ad-Aware also fings things that Spybot does not. That is why we recommend both as an attack approach. Spybot Search and Destroy can also be downloaded from CNet's Download.com or SaferNetworking's Site.
Anti Virus and Manual Labor
Of course the above two great programs in no way are a replacement for an up-to-date Anti Virus Program. These cost money but are indispensible tools for avoiding catastrophic system crashes. Get a good one and keep it up to date if you spend any time on the internet. Also check the "Add - Remove Programs" list in your Control Panel for any applications that have installed themselves on your PC. There is also a place in tools-internet options-browsing history/settings-view objects where you can delete pretty much all the processes. The good ones will load themselves again as you need them. Also delete all the cookies and offline files while you are in the internet options. The worst that can happen here is that you may need to reinstall some add-ons to your browser, but you will be rid of whatever is eating your system's lunch.
As always use these tools at your own risk and call us if you need your Windows rebuilt!