Windows Spyware Removal Tips

Getting rid of spyware can be pretty easy - if you know what you are doing. While many people elect to take their Windows PC to an authorized repair person, this tips and tricks section was design for the rest of us that want to take a hands-on approach to remove spyware. To understand spyware, let’s first take a look at what spyware really is. Here is the definition as provided by Wikipedia:

Spyware
Spyware is computer software that is installed surreptitiously on a personal computer to intercept or take partial control over the user’s interaction with the computer, without the user’s informed consent.

While the term spyware suggests software that secretly monitors the user’s behavior, the functions of spyware extend well beyond simple monitoring. Spyware programs can collect various types of personal information, such as Internet surfing habit, sites that have been visited, but can also interfere with user control of the computer in other ways, such as installing additional software, redirecting Web browser activity, accessing websites blindly that will cause more harmful viruses, or diverting advertising revenue to a third party. Spyware can even change computer settings, resulting in slow connection speeds, different home pages, and loss of Internet or other programs. In an attempt to increase the understanding of spyware, a more formal classification of its included software types is captured under the term privacy-invasive software.

What It Really Mean
A spyware program is rarely alone on a computer: an affected machine can rapidly be infected by many other components. Users frequently notice unwanted behavior and degradation of system performance. A spyware infestation can create significant unwanted CPU activity, disk usage, and network traffic, all of which slow the computer down. Stability issues, such as application, system not turning on, and system-wide crashes, are also common. Spyware, which interferes with networking software commonly causes difficulty connecting to the Internet.

Only rarely does a single piece of software render a computer unusable. Rather, a computer is likely to have multiple infections. As a 2004 AOL study noted, if a computer has any spyware at all, it typically has dozens of different pieces installed.

In some infections, the spyware is not even evident. Users assume in those situations that the issues relate to hardware, Windows installation problems, or a virus. Some owners of badly infected systems resort to contacting technical support experts, or even buying a new computer because the existing system “has become too slow”. Badly infected systems may require a clean reinstallation of all their software in order to return to full functionality.

Here are some steps that you can take to manually get rid of the spyware that resides in the most common problem areas of your computer. Sometimes these spyware files can be in use, so you may get an error while trying to delete certain ones. If you do get these errors, then you may have to reboot into Safe Mode and clean these infections that way

Follow some Steps to remove

First enable hidden file and folder

* Click Start and open “My Computer”
* At the top of the Window, Click Tools, then Folder Options, Choose View Tab, and check -----the button next to “Show Hidden Files and Folders”. Click OK to close.

Next, We Delete All Files From These Following Folders

* C:\Documents and Settings\Your User Account\Cookies
* C:\Documents and Settings\Your User Account\Local Settings\Temp
* C:\Documents and Settings\Your User Account\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
* C:\Documents and Settings\Your User Account\UserData (Delete Entire Folder)
* C:\WINDOWS\Temp
* C:\Temp

There are several other folders that spyware files are known to reside in, however there are way to many to list here, and they generally require a little higher level of knowledge to know what to safely delete manually. Sometimes you will get an error while deleting files that says “File is in use.” If this happens, all you have to do is reboot into safe mode, and follow the same steps above to delete the files. To do this you need to hold down the F8 key while the computer is booting (when the computer is displaying a black screen with white text). When the boot menu appears, use your keyboard arrows to select “Safe Mode.”

I should also note that it would nearly impossible to delete EVERY trace of spyware on a computer manually. This is where a good Anti-Spyware application comes in!