Free Spyware Removal

Spybot Search and Destroy is a very adaptable application for both beginners and power users. The default mode is easy to use and perfect for home users while the advanced mode offers features that will please most power users. Although you can donate to the creator either before or after you download the application, it remains available as a FREE download.

The installation is smooth and easy. The main window allows you to scan your computer for spyware, update the program, or restore your computer to a previous state. Advanced users can schedule their scans, manage cookies, and customize Spybot’s operations, such as launching at startup. Spybot is considered the most thorough anti-spyware program available today. A few features of the application include:

• Interface is easy to use
• User is able to configure the program
• Backup features allow for file restoration
• Most thorough scanning of hard drive

Download SpyBot Search and Destroy

To begin, open Spybot. The main page has quite a few options, but we're going to ignore most of them. Click on 'Search for updates'. Let it do its thing for a bit, and when it is done, check every last update that it displays and then click the button up top entitled 'Download updates'. IF for some odd reason you get an error then you can select a different server to download from. Simply click the middle button between 'Search for updates' and 'Download updates', select any server that strikes your fancy, and then click 'Download updates' again.

Using Spybot: Search and Destroy
After it finishes, then we're ready to scan. On the left hand side of Spybot click on the icon that says 'Search & Destroy'. Immediately after that, click 'Check for problems'. Spybot's search is generally much faster than Ad-Aware's, and I believe that's because Spybot doesn't actually do a full scan, but rather searches the registry and scans the files that it references.

Once the scan is complete, Spybot will automatically select most things for you. For users of the eBay toolbar, it will make an entry for it, but won't select it automatically. In most cases, just let it select everything and then click the 'Fix selected problems' button.

It will ask you next if you want to remove the selected items, click yes. Spybot will then create a restore point for you automatically (quite the handy little feature) and then remove the items that were checked. It may want to run on startup to remove any files that were in use. Go ahead and let it.

How to manually update Spybot
If the auto-update doesn't work, often because malware will block the connection to the update servers, you can download this update from Spybot's website directly. Save it somewhere you'll remember how to get to (the desktop or whatnot) and when it's downloaded, all you have to do is run the file. It'll do all of the updating for you.