There are some simple steps you can take to ensure your PC remains protected while you surf the Web. Following each of these guides can help protect your PC from virus, spyware and other online threats.:-
The Windows Update service provides a way of checking whether your Windows operating system needs any updates.
This can include security fixes, and software and hardware updates.
It is essential Windows is kept up-to-date to prevent malicious programs taking advantage of security flaws to harm your PC.
You can download and install updates by visiting the Microsoft web site, or set your PC to automatically download the files in the background while you work.
Note that 'updating' is not the same as 'upgrading'. To upgrade your version of Windows XP to Windows Vista, for example, you would need to buy a Windows Vista Upgrade package. Updating Windows only ensures that you have the latest files for your particular Windows version such as XP.
Downloading updates from the Windows Update web site
Some of the steps below may require you to restart your computer, so you may wish to print out a copy of these instructions before you begin. You should also save any work in other windows before continuing.
Note that you will need to use Internet Explorer to visit the Windows Update web site rather than other browsers such as Mozilla Firefox.
Go to www.windowsupdate.com. When you arrive at the site, you may see a message that your browser is checking for the latest version of the Windows Update software. This is the software that determines if your system needs any updates at this time. If you see a Security Warning box appear asking if you wish to install and run Windows Update, click Yes.
You will be asked to choose between Express (essential updates) or Custom (optional updates for other programs). Most users should click the Express button.
The Windows Update software will now check which updates you already have and which you need.
If after the scan you see the message 'No high-priority updates for your computer are available' this means the most important updates including security fixes for Windows are already installed on your system and you can leave Windows Update for now.
Installing Updates
If you require any high-priority updates, the Windows Update program automatically selects all critical updates to be installed. Click Install Updates.
Your updates will now be downloaded and installed, note that this may take several minutes or longer depending on your Internet connection and how many updates you need to install.
Once this is complete, you will be asked if you want to restart your computer now. Make sure you have saved your work in any other windows you have open, then click Yes and your computer will restart.
You should check the Windows Update web site once a month for any new updates.
Automatic Updates
Another way to get Windows updates is to have the files downloaded automatically to your computer using Automatic Updates.
The advantage of this is you can let Windows download updates in the background while you work, so you do not need to worry about updating manually.
A disadvantage of Automatic Updates is that it may use up some of your Internet bandwidth to download updates, which might be a problem if you are in the process of downloading a large file or playing an online game at the time and need the best speed possible. You can avoid this problem by setting a particular time for updates to be downloaded.
To turn on Automatic Updates, click on your Start menu, go to Control Panel and double-click Automatic Updates. Here you can choose whether to get updates automatically, set which times to download updates, and if you want to be notified before updates are downloaded or installed.
LINKS:- Windows Update
Installing a good Firewall such as ZoneAlarm is essential to protect your PC online and prevent programs from accessing the Internet without your permission.
When you connect to the Internet, your PC opens itself up to the outside world. This enables you to view web sites, send e-mails and download files, but it also means you may be vulnerable to attacks from hackers or malicious programs.
Firewall security programs like ZoneAlarm make your PC invisible to other computers unless you specifically agree to allow a connection to be made. If a program on your computer tries to access the Internet, then ZoneAlarm will automatically warn you and enable you to decide if you want to allow or refuse access.
There are several different versions of ZoneAlarm available. There is a free version which offers good protection, although it does not have some of the more advanced security features of the other ZoneAlarm commercial versions, such as anti-virus and tools to combat spyware and phishing.
Download ZoneAlarm by going to www.zonelabs.com and click to download the free basic version of ZoneAlarm.
Save this setup file to your computer. Double-click the file to open it and begin the installation process.
Getting Started
The steps below will require you to restart your computer so you may wish to print out a copy of these instructions before you begin. You should also save any work in other windows before continuing.
Installing ZoneAlarm
On the Installation screen, click Next and then enter your name. Leave the e-mail address box empty and untick the boxes about registering and receiving updates. Click Next.
Tick the box to agree to the Licence Agreement and click Install. Wait while the files are installed, afterwards there will be some optional survey questions. Just click Finish to proceed. When asked, click Yes to start ZoneAlarm now.
The License Wizard window will now appear. Click to choose the Free ZoneAlarm and click Next then Finish.
The Configuration Wizard now appears. Click Next and ZoneAlarm will present you with the option of configuring your Internet access to allow your default web browser to surf the Web. Click Yes and then Next. Click Done to exit the Wizard.
ZoneAlarm will now tell you it needs to restart your computer. Click OK. After your PC has been restarted, a window will appear asking if you want to learn about other ZoneAlarm products. Click No, Thank You. If you want to you can now watch a video tutorial, or just click Finish.
You should see a red and yellow ZoneAlarm icon appear on your taskbar, which lets you know ZoneAlarm is up and running.
You should also see the main ZoneAlarm configuration window. Click the Alerts and Logs tab on the left menu and put Alert Events Shown to Off, so that you will only receive a notification if a program attempts to connect to the Internet.
Setting Up Program Permissions
You can change which programs are allowed to access the Internet in the ZoneAlarm configuration window. Click the Program Control tab on the left menu, then the Programs tab at the top-right to see a list of the programs on your computer and what access settings ZoneAlarm currently has for them. Click to change the permissions for each program to Allow, Block or Ask.
However, another much simpler way to set up ZoneAlarm's program permissions is to wait until a particular program tries to connect to the Internet, at which point ZoneAlarm will pop up a window like this one:
This ZoneAlarm Alert window tells you which program is trying to access the Internet. You can choose either Yes or No to allow or deny access for this program. Click Yes only if you recognise the program and are happy to allow it to access the Internet, for example Internet Explorer or Outlook Express.
If you are unsure whether to allow the program access, you may want to try typing the name of the application (in the image above, IEXPLORE.EXE) into a search engine to find out more about the program.
If you want your answer now to always apply to this program, tick the box marked Remember this answer the next time I use this program. Otherwise if you don't tick this box, the next time the program tries to use the Internet you will receive another pop up alert like this one.
Sometimes if you deny access for a particular program, you may find that certain other applications don't work properly. For example, if you stop a game from connecting to the Internet you won't be able to play online until you give it permission to connect in ZoneAlarm.
More Features
If you think you are being attacked by a hacker, you can stop all Internet access from your PC by right-clicking the taskbar icon and choosing Stop all internet activity, or alternatively by clicking on the STOP button on the main window. When you want to allow access, just click the button again.
You don't have to have ZoneAlarm's main window up all the time. Click the Close (X) button in the top right of the window and on the Shutdown pop-up window tick Don't show this message again then click OK. ZoneAlarm will now minimise to the taskbar.
This does not stop ZoneAlarm running, it simply hides the main window away from the desktop. If you want to see the main window again, right-click the taskbar icon and click Restore ZoneAlarm Control Center.
To close ZoneAlarm altogether and stop it running, you will need to right-click the taskbar icon and select Shutdown ZoneAlarm, then Yes.
By default, ZoneAlarm will automatically appear every time you start your PC and will also check the Internet for new updates from time to time.
LINKS:-ZoneAlarm
Malicious virus code can infect your files and cause you to lose important data. This guide explains how to install an anti-virus program to protect your PC.
Computer viruses are malicious programs designed to cause annoyance and even damage to computer data. They spread by infecting files and by automatically sending e-mails to everyone in your address book.
There are new virus threats everyday. It is essential to take steps to protect your PC.
If you suspect you have a virus on your computer, or if you just want to keep your computer safe from the threat of viruses, there are several virus-detection programs which will scan your system and let you know if any malicious programs have been found.
There are many commercial and free anti-virus programs available on the Web, all with different features and levels of security. This tutorial uses AVG Anti-Virus.
Download AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition
AVG Anti-Virus can be downloaded from http://free.grisoft.com.
Scroll down the page and click Download Free Version. Under the Windows section, click to download the file under AVG Free for Windows installation files. Click OK to save the file to your PC.
Install And Run AVG Anti-Virus
Double-click the file you downloaded, and click Next on the welcome screen. Click Accept to agree to the License Agreement. Choose Standard Installation then click Next.
The Confirmation screen will now appear with your User Name and License Number. Click Next to proceed. Click Finish to begin installation.
After installation is complete, click OK. The main AVG Control Center will now start. On the First Run screen that pops up, click Next. Click Check For Updates and then Internet which will download any necessary files to bring your AVG up to the latest version.
A window will now pop-up if there are any available updates. Click Update to download them. AVG will download and automatically install any updates. Click OK when finished.
Back on the First Run window, click Next to proceed. Leave the Daily Scanning settings as they are and click Next.
You now have the option to perform a scan to test your computer for viruses. Click Scan computer! or just click Next if you want to proceed with setting up AVG.
If you wish, you can now register your copy of AVG to receive news and product information. Otherwise, click Next and then Continue.
AVG Test Center
You can now see the AVG Test Center window.
Here you can see your Security Status, and choose to perform scans on your whole computer or selected areas only.
When you run a complete scan, it may take a while depending on the size of your hard drive. It will scan your system for any viruses and if it finds any, it will pop up a window to inform you what action it has taken.
If possible the program will try to 'heal' any infected files, or if it is unable to clean these files it may move them to its Virus Vault, where the infected files are kept in a state where they will not be able to harm your computer, but can be retrieved later if necessary.
The AVG Anti-Virus program contains several tools which continuously monitor your system, but it is recommended that you run a complete scan of your computer regularly, at least once a month to check your computer for any infected files.
If you do not want to run a scan now, just click the Close (X) button at the top-right of the AVG window. This does not in fact stop the AVG program running, it just closes the windows so you can get on with using your PC.
Using The AVG Icon
You can tell if AVG is running as a small coloured icon will be displayed on your taskbar.
If you right-click the AVG taskbar icon you can restore the Control Center and Test Center windows. You can also perform a manual Check For Updates from this menu.
AVG will quietly monitor your PC and check for viruses while you continue using your PC. It will start automatically when you first turn on your PC and check for any updates when you connect to the Internet.
If you need to stop AVG running for any reason, right-click the taskbar icon and choose Quit AVG Control Center.
To start AVG, click the Start menu then All Programs. Click AVG Free Edition and choose AVG Control Center.
LINKS:-AVG Free
Spyware is malicious code that infects your PC and can manifest itself as things such as unwanted browser toolbars and pop-ups, or if your browser homepage suddenly changes without your knowledge.
Spyware also takes the form of tracking files that watch where you go on the web in order to create a marketing profile of you that will be sold to advertisement companies. Not only is it a source of irritation but it also affects your privacy too.
Removing spyware is an important step in the process of cleaning unwanted files and programs from your PC, keeping it secure and fixing problems.
Fortunately there are programs available to help you track down and remove these unwanted files. There are several commercial security packages that offer anti-spyware tools as well as other features.
Ad-Aware and Spybot are two free programs you can use to fight spyware.
Installing Ad-Aware
Download Ad-Aware 2007 Free from www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad_aware_free.php
Click on the link to Download Ad-Aware 2007 Free.
You may be taken to another web site (such as Download.com) where you can download the Ad-Aware installation file. Click Download Now and save the file to your computer.
Double-click the setup file you downloaded and the installation process will begin. Click Next to progress through the various windows. Tick the box to accept the license agreement.
You can leave the Full Name and Organization boxes blank if you wish. Choose Standard Installation and leave the Destination Folder as it is.
Wait while the program files are installed then click Finish. Ad-Aware will start automatically and perform a check to make sure it has the latest file updates.
Using Ad-Aware
You can start Ad-Aware in future by double-clicking the shortcut to Ad-Aware 2007 on your Desktop, alternatively you can find the program listed in your Start menu > Programs list under Lavasoft.
Now you can see the main Ad-Aware Status window. From here, you can click Update when you want to check for new updates to Ad-Aware, or click Scan Now to begin checking for spyware.
You can choose to perform a Smart Scan which checks critical system files only, a Full Scan to check all files on your computer, or click Custom Scan to specify where you want to search for malicious programs. Click Scan to start checking.
A full system scan may take a while and you should not perform any other tasks on your PC until it is finished. When the scan is finished, the summary will tell you how many threats were identified.
You can click to expand any objects found to get more information. The Threat Analysis Index (TAI) level indicates how dangerous an object is and whether it needs to be removed.
Check the box by an object and then choose to Ignore (leave alone), Quarantine (hide away so it cannot be run but still exists if you need to retrieve it) or Remove (delete the infected file).
Usually these files can be removed without causing problems, but some files may be part of programs you have installed, and there is a possibility that these programs may not function correctly if you remove the files. You can choose to set a System Restore Point before removing a file in case you encounter problems.
That is all you need to do to perform a straightforward check to remove spyware from your system with Ad-Aware, but the program does have many other features too. Click the Help button if you want to find out more.
Installing Spybot
Download Spybot Search & Destroy for free from www.safer-networking.org.
Click the Download link on the menu, scroll down to the Download section and click on Spybot - Search & Destroy. Choose one of the mirror web sites that contain the installation file by clicking Download here to go to that site.
On the file mirror web site, download the Spybot file and save to your hard disk.
Double-click the file you downloaded and the installation process will begin. Choose your language and click Next or OK to progress through the windows. Tick to accept the license agreement. You can leave the Destination Folder as shown.
Choose Custom installation and leave only the Main Files option ticked. When asked about selecting a Start Menu folder, just click Next.
You will see a window about selecting Additional Tasks for the installer to perform. Click Next then Install.
After the program files are installed, un-tick the option to Run SpybotSD.exe and click Finish.
Using Spybot
There should be a shortcut to Spybot on your Desktop, alternatively you can find the program listed in your Start menu > All Programs list under Spybot - Search and Destroy.
Start the program, and you may see a notice about advertisement robots. Tick Don't show this message again and click OK.
You will now see a Wizard window appear. Just click Next to go through these Wizard screens and then click Start Using The Program.
On the main Spybot window click the Search for Updates button. You should see a list of available updates, right-click any of the boxes and click Select all then click on the Download Updates option at the top of the screen. Spybot will now download and install the latest updates to its files.
Now click Check for problems. Spybot will begin scanning your PC for known spyware files.
Once the scan is complete you will see a list of any detected problems. Select or deselect particular objects by ticking or un-ticking their boxes. You can also expand the entries to see more details.
If you use Firewall and Anti-virus programs such as ZoneAlarm and AVG rather than those built-in to Windows, you may see warnings that the Windows Firewall and AntiVirus are disabled. Just un-tick these entries.
Click Fix Selected Problems, then click Yes to confirm removal. Click OK when the problems have been fixed.
Spybot also has a Recovery option to undo any changes if you find problems with other programs after removing certain spyware files.
How Often Should Scans Be Run
Because there are so many new spyware threats appearing all the time, you should try to run Ad-Aware and Spybot scans regularly, at least once a month.
Remember to check for updates to the programs before you run a scan. This insures the programs are aware of the latest threats and will be able to detect and remove them.
LINKS:-
Thanx........for giving your patience to read this article..............if u have any querries, then comment.
1.Update Windows
Microsoft regularly releases free downloads to fix security problems with Windows, Internet Explorer and other Microsoft software such as Office. This guide explains how you can get these important updates.What is Windows Update?
The Windows Update service provides a way of checking whether your Windows operating system needs any updates.
This can include security fixes, and software and hardware updates.
It is essential Windows is kept up-to-date to prevent malicious programs taking advantage of security flaws to harm your PC.
You can download and install updates by visiting the Microsoft web site, or set your PC to automatically download the files in the background while you work.
Note that 'updating' is not the same as 'upgrading'. To upgrade your version of Windows XP to Windows Vista, for example, you would need to buy a Windows Vista Upgrade package. Updating Windows only ensures that you have the latest files for your particular Windows version such as XP.
Downloading updates from the Windows Update web site
Some of the steps below may require you to restart your computer, so you may wish to print out a copy of these instructions before you begin. You should also save any work in other windows before continuing.
Note that you will need to use Internet Explorer to visit the Windows Update web site rather than other browsers such as Mozilla Firefox.
Go to www.windowsupdate.com. When you arrive at the site, you may see a message that your browser is checking for the latest version of the Windows Update software. This is the software that determines if your system needs any updates at this time. If you see a Security Warning box appear asking if you wish to install and run Windows Update, click Yes.
You will be asked to choose between Express (essential updates) or Custom (optional updates for other programs). Most users should click the Express button.
The Windows Update software will now check which updates you already have and which you need.
If after the scan you see the message 'No high-priority updates for your computer are available' this means the most important updates including security fixes for Windows are already installed on your system and you can leave Windows Update for now.
Installing Updates
If you require any high-priority updates, the Windows Update program automatically selects all critical updates to be installed. Click Install Updates.
Your updates will now be downloaded and installed, note that this may take several minutes or longer depending on your Internet connection and how many updates you need to install.
Once this is complete, you will be asked if you want to restart your computer now. Make sure you have saved your work in any other windows you have open, then click Yes and your computer will restart.
You should check the Windows Update web site once a month for any new updates.
Automatic Updates
Another way to get Windows updates is to have the files downloaded automatically to your computer using Automatic Updates.
The advantage of this is you can let Windows download updates in the background while you work, so you do not need to worry about updating manually.
A disadvantage of Automatic Updates is that it may use up some of your Internet bandwidth to download updates, which might be a problem if you are in the process of downloading a large file or playing an online game at the time and need the best speed possible. You can avoid this problem by setting a particular time for updates to be downloaded.
To turn on Automatic Updates, click on your Start menu, go to Control Panel and double-click Automatic Updates. Here you can choose whether to get updates automatically, set which times to download updates, and if you want to be notified before updates are downloaded or installed.
LINKS:- Windows Update
2.Install ZoneAlarm Firewall
Installing a good Firewall such as ZoneAlarm is essential to protect your PC online and prevent programs from accessing the Internet without your permission.
What is ZoneAlarm?
When you connect to the Internet, your PC opens itself up to the outside world. This enables you to view web sites, send e-mails and download files, but it also means you may be vulnerable to attacks from hackers or malicious programs.
Firewall security programs like ZoneAlarm make your PC invisible to other computers unless you specifically agree to allow a connection to be made. If a program on your computer tries to access the Internet, then ZoneAlarm will automatically warn you and enable you to decide if you want to allow or refuse access.
There are several different versions of ZoneAlarm available. There is a free version which offers good protection, although it does not have some of the more advanced security features of the other ZoneAlarm commercial versions, such as anti-virus and tools to combat spyware and phishing.
Download ZoneAlarm by going to www.zonelabs.com and click to download the free basic version of ZoneAlarm.
Save this setup file to your computer. Double-click the file to open it and begin the installation process.
Getting Started
The steps below will require you to restart your computer so you may wish to print out a copy of these instructions before you begin. You should also save any work in other windows before continuing.
Installing ZoneAlarm
On the Installation screen, click Next and then enter your name. Leave the e-mail address box empty and untick the boxes about registering and receiving updates. Click Next.
Tick the box to agree to the Licence Agreement and click Install. Wait while the files are installed, afterwards there will be some optional survey questions. Just click Finish to proceed. When asked, click Yes to start ZoneAlarm now.
The License Wizard window will now appear. Click to choose the Free ZoneAlarm and click Next then Finish.
The Configuration Wizard now appears. Click Next and ZoneAlarm will present you with the option of configuring your Internet access to allow your default web browser to surf the Web. Click Yes and then Next. Click Done to exit the Wizard.
ZoneAlarm will now tell you it needs to restart your computer. Click OK. After your PC has been restarted, a window will appear asking if you want to learn about other ZoneAlarm products. Click No, Thank You. If you want to you can now watch a video tutorial, or just click Finish.
You should see a red and yellow ZoneAlarm icon appear on your taskbar, which lets you know ZoneAlarm is up and running.
You should also see the main ZoneAlarm configuration window. Click the Alerts and Logs tab on the left menu and put Alert Events Shown to Off, so that you will only receive a notification if a program attempts to connect to the Internet.
Setting Up Program Permissions
You can change which programs are allowed to access the Internet in the ZoneAlarm configuration window. Click the Program Control tab on the left menu, then the Programs tab at the top-right to see a list of the programs on your computer and what access settings ZoneAlarm currently has for them. Click to change the permissions for each program to Allow, Block or Ask.
However, another much simpler way to set up ZoneAlarm's program permissions is to wait until a particular program tries to connect to the Internet, at which point ZoneAlarm will pop up a window like this one:
This ZoneAlarm Alert window tells you which program is trying to access the Internet. You can choose either Yes or No to allow or deny access for this program. Click Yes only if you recognise the program and are happy to allow it to access the Internet, for example Internet Explorer or Outlook Express.
If you are unsure whether to allow the program access, you may want to try typing the name of the application (in the image above, IEXPLORE.EXE) into a search engine to find out more about the program.
If you want your answer now to always apply to this program, tick the box marked Remember this answer the next time I use this program. Otherwise if you don't tick this box, the next time the program tries to use the Internet you will receive another pop up alert like this one.
Sometimes if you deny access for a particular program, you may find that certain other applications don't work properly. For example, if you stop a game from connecting to the Internet you won't be able to play online until you give it permission to connect in ZoneAlarm.
More Features
If you think you are being attacked by a hacker, you can stop all Internet access from your PC by right-clicking the taskbar icon and choosing Stop all internet activity, or alternatively by clicking on the STOP button on the main window. When you want to allow access, just click the button again.
You don't have to have ZoneAlarm's main window up all the time. Click the Close (X) button in the top right of the window and on the Shutdown pop-up window tick Don't show this message again then click OK. ZoneAlarm will now minimise to the taskbar.
This does not stop ZoneAlarm running, it simply hides the main window away from the desktop. If you want to see the main window again, right-click the taskbar icon and click Restore ZoneAlarm Control Center.
To close ZoneAlarm altogether and stop it running, you will need to right-click the taskbar icon and select Shutdown ZoneAlarm, then Yes.
By default, ZoneAlarm will automatically appear every time you start your PC and will also check the Internet for new updates from time to time.
LINKS:-ZoneAlarm
3.Check For Viruses
What Are Viruses?
There are new virus threats everyday. It is essential to take steps to protect your PC.
What Can I Do About Them?
There are many commercial and free anti-virus programs available on the Web, all with different features and levels of security. This tutorial uses AVG Anti-Virus.
Download AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition
AVG Anti-Virus can be downloaded from http://free.grisoft.com.
Scroll down the page and click Download Free Version. Under the Windows section, click to download the file under AVG Free for Windows installation files. Click OK to save the file to your PC.
Install And Run AVG Anti-Virus
Double-click the file you downloaded, and click Next on the welcome screen. Click Accept to agree to the License Agreement. Choose Standard Installation then click Next.
The Confirmation screen will now appear with your User Name and License Number. Click Next to proceed. Click Finish to begin installation.
After installation is complete, click OK. The main AVG Control Center will now start. On the First Run screen that pops up, click Next. Click Check For Updates and then Internet which will download any necessary files to bring your AVG up to the latest version.
A window will now pop-up if there are any available updates. Click Update to download them. AVG will download and automatically install any updates. Click OK when finished.
Back on the First Run window, click Next to proceed. Leave the Daily Scanning settings as they are and click Next.
You now have the option to perform a scan to test your computer for viruses. Click Scan computer! or just click Next if you want to proceed with setting up AVG.
If you wish, you can now register your copy of AVG to receive news and product information. Otherwise, click Next and then Continue.
AVG Test Center
You can now see the AVG Test Center window.
Here you can see your Security Status, and choose to perform scans on your whole computer or selected areas only.
When you run a complete scan, it may take a while depending on the size of your hard drive. It will scan your system for any viruses and if it finds any, it will pop up a window to inform you what action it has taken.
If possible the program will try to 'heal' any infected files, or if it is unable to clean these files it may move them to its Virus Vault, where the infected files are kept in a state where they will not be able to harm your computer, but can be retrieved later if necessary.
The AVG Anti-Virus program contains several tools which continuously monitor your system, but it is recommended that you run a complete scan of your computer regularly, at least once a month to check your computer for any infected files.
If you do not want to run a scan now, just click the Close (X) button at the top-right of the AVG window. This does not in fact stop the AVG program running, it just closes the windows so you can get on with using your PC.
Using The AVG Icon
You can tell if AVG is running as a small coloured icon will be displayed on your taskbar.
If you right-click the AVG taskbar icon you can restore the Control Center and Test Center windows. You can also perform a manual Check For Updates from this menu.
AVG will quietly monitor your PC and check for viruses while you continue using your PC. It will start automatically when you first turn on your PC and check for any updates when you connect to the Internet.
If you need to stop AVG running for any reason, right-click the taskbar icon and choose Quit AVG Control Center.
To start AVG, click the Start menu then All Programs. Click AVG Free Edition and choose AVG Control Center.
LINKS:-AVG Free
4.Remove Spyware
Spyware tracks your movements on the Web and can affect your PC's performance. This guide explains how to protect your PC and remove spyware.What Is Spyware?
Spyware also takes the form of tracking files that watch where you go on the web in order to create a marketing profile of you that will be sold to advertisement companies. Not only is it a source of irritation but it also affects your privacy too.
Removing spyware is an important step in the process of cleaning unwanted files and programs from your PC, keeping it secure and fixing problems.
Fortunately there are programs available to help you track down and remove these unwanted files. There are several commercial security packages that offer anti-spyware tools as well as other features.
Ad-Aware and Spybot are two free programs you can use to fight spyware.
Installing Ad-Aware
Download Ad-Aware 2007 Free from www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad_aware_free.php
Click on the link to Download Ad-Aware 2007 Free.
You may be taken to another web site (such as Download.com) where you can download the Ad-Aware installation file. Click Download Now and save the file to your computer.
Double-click the setup file you downloaded and the installation process will begin. Click Next to progress through the various windows. Tick the box to accept the license agreement.
You can leave the Full Name and Organization boxes blank if you wish. Choose Standard Installation and leave the Destination Folder as it is.
Wait while the program files are installed then click Finish. Ad-Aware will start automatically and perform a check to make sure it has the latest file updates.
Using Ad-Aware
You can start Ad-Aware in future by double-clicking the shortcut to Ad-Aware 2007 on your Desktop, alternatively you can find the program listed in your Start menu > Programs list under Lavasoft.
Now you can see the main Ad-Aware Status window. From here, you can click Update when you want to check for new updates to Ad-Aware, or click Scan Now to begin checking for spyware.
You can choose to perform a Smart Scan which checks critical system files only, a Full Scan to check all files on your computer, or click Custom Scan to specify where you want to search for malicious programs. Click Scan to start checking.
A full system scan may take a while and you should not perform any other tasks on your PC until it is finished. When the scan is finished, the summary will tell you how many threats were identified.
You can click to expand any objects found to get more information. The Threat Analysis Index (TAI) level indicates how dangerous an object is and whether it needs to be removed.
Check the box by an object and then choose to Ignore (leave alone), Quarantine (hide away so it cannot be run but still exists if you need to retrieve it) or Remove (delete the infected file).
Usually these files can be removed without causing problems, but some files may be part of programs you have installed, and there is a possibility that these programs may not function correctly if you remove the files. You can choose to set a System Restore Point before removing a file in case you encounter problems.
That is all you need to do to perform a straightforward check to remove spyware from your system with Ad-Aware, but the program does have many other features too. Click the Help button if you want to find out more.
Installing Spybot
Download Spybot Search & Destroy for free from www.safer-networking.org.
Click the Download link on the menu, scroll down to the Download section and click on Spybot - Search & Destroy. Choose one of the mirror web sites that contain the installation file by clicking Download here to go to that site.
On the file mirror web site, download the Spybot file and save to your hard disk.
Double-click the file you downloaded and the installation process will begin. Choose your language and click Next or OK to progress through the windows. Tick to accept the license agreement. You can leave the Destination Folder as shown.
Choose Custom installation and leave only the Main Files option ticked. When asked about selecting a Start Menu folder, just click Next.
You will see a window about selecting Additional Tasks for the installer to perform. Click Next then Install.
After the program files are installed, un-tick the option to Run SpybotSD.exe and click Finish.
Using Spybot
There should be a shortcut to Spybot on your Desktop, alternatively you can find the program listed in your Start menu > All Programs list under Spybot - Search and Destroy.
Start the program, and you may see a notice about advertisement robots. Tick Don't show this message again and click OK.
You will now see a Wizard window appear. Just click Next to go through these Wizard screens and then click Start Using The Program.
On the main Spybot window click the Search for Updates button. You should see a list of available updates, right-click any of the boxes and click Select all then click on the Download Updates option at the top of the screen. Spybot will now download and install the latest updates to its files.
Now click Check for problems. Spybot will begin scanning your PC for known spyware files.
Once the scan is complete you will see a list of any detected problems. Select or deselect particular objects by ticking or un-ticking their boxes. You can also expand the entries to see more details.
If you use Firewall and Anti-virus programs such as ZoneAlarm and AVG rather than those built-in to Windows, you may see warnings that the Windows Firewall and AntiVirus are disabled. Just un-tick these entries.
Click Fix Selected Problems, then click Yes to confirm removal. Click OK when the problems have been fixed.
Spybot also has a Recovery option to undo any changes if you find problems with other programs after removing certain spyware files.
How Often Should Scans Be Run
Because there are so many new spyware threats appearing all the time, you should try to run Ad-Aware and Spybot scans regularly, at least once a month.
Remember to check for updates to the programs before you run a scan. This insures the programs are aware of the latest threats and will be able to detect and remove them.
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