Using AdAware to find Spyware on your computer

Just in case you haven't downloaded AdAware and Spybot yet, here are the links:

When your download completes, click on each file to begin the installation and install them using the default options (Keep clicking 'Next')

Once you've installed AdAware on your computer.

The program will automatically try to update itself online, so be sure your computer is connected to the internet if you don't want AdAware to whine at you about not being able to find its update server.

Scanning your computer for spy & adware threats using AdAware

Open AdAware
You can find the program by clicking:

Windows Start Button → All Programs → Lavasoft → AdAware → AdAware

After a few seconds, AdAware opens and you will see the program's main screen. Please bear in mind that this is AdAware's free version, and that some of its juicier (more advanced) features are disabled. It is still more than capable of keeping your system free of rubbish, but if you want things such as automatic scan scheduling, you need to pay Lavasoft some of your hard-earned money.

Since the program automatically updates itself on installation, there is no need to worry about much of anything before getting stuck in and scanning your system. Click the 'Scan Now' button to start.

The 'Scan Now' button begins AdAware's scan of your system

Clicking the 'Scan Now' button takes you to the scanning options where you are given the choices of 'Smart Scan', 'Full Scan' and 'Custom Scan'. Whilst Smart Scan is perfectly adequate in most cases, it is advisable to carry out a Full Scan on the first run.

Once you have selected your scan settings, click the 'Scan' button to check your computer.

Select the 'full scan' option and click the 'Scan' button to begin checking your computer

Whilst the scan is in progress, AdAware keeps you informed via a couple of status bars.

AdAware informs the user of its progress through status bars

When the scan is complete, you are presented with a short report of the program's findings.
Tick the box next to any threats displayed and click 'Remove' or 'Quarantine'. Of the two options, 'Quarantine' is the safer, since it does not permanently delete the selected files, but places them into a secure vault where they can do no damage.

Once AdAware has finished its scan, select any threats discovered and click remove to deal with them

And that's it. You can now click finish to exit the program.

One last thing though; it's a good idea to update AdAware before each scan you make, since, like an anti-virus program, updates are available on a regular basis.

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