Does spyware and adware slow down a computer's performance and what is
the best way to remove it?

Hi jazali,

Spyware and adware can do more than slow down your computer, all sorts
of weird things can happen and they aren't something you want hanging
around. Following is an excellent website which gives instructions for
removal, but the most important thing you can do is to download and
use HijackThis (details below).

Dealing with Unwanted Spyware and Parasites:
"What is Spyware? A technology that assists in gathering information
about a person or organization without their knowledge. On the
Internet, "spyware is programming that is put in someone's computer to
secretly gather information about the user and relay it to advertisers
or other interested parties." Even in some cases after these programs
have been removed from your system. As such, spyware is cause for
public concern about privacy on the Internet. Also in many cases
causes unknown browser problems."

How To: Safely removing these Parasites from your system:

1) Ad-Aware: 
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/
Forum: http://www.lavasoftsupport.com/

2) SpyBot 1.2: 
http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10122137.html
How To: http://www.tomcoyote.org/SPYBOT/
Forum: http://www.net-integration.net/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi

After using one of the above, download HijackThis to make sure you
found everything:
http://www.tomcoyote.org/hjt/

Dealing with Unwanted Spyware and Parasites: HijackThis:
"Editors Note: Since HijackThis does not (yet) come with a install
routine, create a folder via Windows Explorer for HijackThis, then
move the zip file to this folder. This way any backups created are
saved in a legit folder. I've seen too many instances where the user
runs HijackThis from a temp folder and any backups are lost if that
temp folder is cleaned out. You should also make sure you are using
the latest version each and every time you run HijackThis, as there
are new detection added all the time.
- Unzip, double-click "HijackThis.exe" and Press "Scan".
- When the scan is finished, the "Scan" button will change into a
"Save   Log" button.
- Click: "Save Log" (generates: "hijackthis.log") HijackThis Tutorial
(recommended read)
- Next, go to: http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/
- Sign in, go to the "Spyware and Hijackware Removal" section.
- Press "New Topic", copy and paste hijackthis.log into your new message.
Visiting the SpywareInfo Forum or one of the other recommended Forums,
to finish cleaning up your system is highly recommended. As neither
Ad-Aware or SpyBot can no longer completely remove these pests. This
is mainly due to new daily threats and the use of random generated
filenames used by these parasites!"
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm

Good luck! 
hummer

you should\
have some software programs to fight the Adware, Marketing Spyware,
Foistware and Browswer High Jack Programs.

Under this category, I would suggest you download and both free
versions of Ad Aware and Spybot and keep them \
current:

Ad-aware Standard Edition is THE award winning, free*, multicomponent
detection and removal utility that has consistently lead the industry
in safety, user satisfaction, support and reliability.

http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/


"SpyBot Search & Destroy" (It is freeware
Spybot can be downloaded at

 www.Spybot.com

http://beam.to/spybotsd


In addition to these download and install either one of these next two:

Spyware Blaster

BootLIST 088  
Date: 5/23/2003 9:59:18 PM Pacific Daylight Time

Prevent Spyware From Being Installed Utility

     Mary Adams writes - I take good care of my Computer and don't
     install any garbage or junk. But when my two teenage sons visit
     for the weekend they always leave my Computer running slow and I
     get errors I never had before their visits.

     I then have to run Ad-Adware to get rid of all the Spy Software
     they seem to install even though they never admit to installing
     any Spy Software it's always there after they leave mucking up my
     Computer. Is there a way to prevent them from installing Spy
     Software in the first place?

     *** Try the utility below, free of course:

     http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html



OR 

WinPatrol 5.2
Supports Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, NT and XP 

·	
·	Detect if your default Home Page has been hijacked.

Message #: 291886From: J RAMSent: 8/29/2003 1:32 PM
A.	DAVY...this is the I've seen,and it does a-lot more things
including stopping worms and spyware.. it's free


  http://www.winpatrol.com/




I use SpyBlaster, but I have read a lot of good things about WinPatrol

If you are using an always on BroadBand Connection, I would also
suggest that you look into some sort
of Trojan Fighting Program such as Tauscan or  Pest Patrol which are
not "Free."  If you are using
Dial Up, it less likely you need this type of protection.


PestPatrol 4.0 its not free:

http://www.zdnet.com/supercenter/stories/review/0,12070,563571,00.html



ZDNet Review
               
December 10, 2002

When you're on the Internet, you're vulnerable to all kinds of
malicious code. Your antivirus software will weed out some of the
Trojan horses, and your firewall will stop some malicious users from
getting inside your PC. But to rid your system of the other bad
stuff--poisoned Java and ActiveX Web scripts, for example--you'll need
a program that's dedicated to doing just that. PestPatrol stops
password crackers; keystroke logging; ad-serving software, cookies,
Trojan horses; and possible distributed denial-of-service attacks,
making it a crucial safeguard for your desktop or network server. If
you want to keep your computer and data

FREE PEST SCAN


PestPatrol News July/August 2003 issue 
Date:	8/11/2003 6:34:06 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From:	newsletter@pestpatrol.com
To:	 

Thanks to everyone who helped with the launch of PestScan last month -
and to all of you who've tried it since. If you haven't tried PestScan
yet, go to www.pestscan.com and see for yourself. Tens of thousands of
people have scanned their PCs for spyware since we launched PestScan
just two weeks ago, so we think we can chalk that one up as a
successful launch!

http://www.pestscan.com/



Excellent Online Spyware Detection

langalist] LangaList Standard Edition 2003-08-25  
Date: 8/24/2003 11:18:54 PM Pacific Daylight Time

In reply to http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-07-31.htm#4 ,
where we mentioned a new online spyware detection service from
PestPatrol ( http://www.pestscan.com/ ) , reader Jim Eshelman wrote:

     Fred... I thought I'd mention that I've had free
     adware/spyware online scanning on my site for several months
     now at 
                 http://aumha.org/a/noads.htm

 

     All I've actually done is implement locally Andrew Clover's
     wonderful parasite scanning script, which your readers can
     also access directly at his goldmine-of-a-site
     http://doxdesk.com/parasite/ . My implementation is primarily
     a convenience for people already accessing my site, and also a
     page devoted to *nothing but* the parasite scan. In its second
     month it zoomed to be one of the most visited pages on my
     site. I've been using Andrew's scanning script for quite a
     while in a user environment of around 6,000 corporate users,
     and so far it has caught every single major spyware or adware
     item on the user machines. (Spot checking with more intensive
     software finds only a few cookies missed.) This is quite
     valuable in an enterprise setting because the popular and
     reliable tools, such as Ad-Aware, are only free for
     noncommercial use. Where an IT department is willing to budget
     for business copies, one is left to choose between cheating
     and using the freeware anyway (something not high on my list
     of favorite things to do!) or use an alternative tool. The
     Clover scanning script has covered the issue splendidly so
     far.--Jim Eshelman

Thanks, Jim. Well done!

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