Adware & Spyware Removal

Ad-Aware 2007 is a privacy tool, that scans your memory, registry, hard, removable and optical drives for known data-mining, aggressive advertising, and tracking components. It then lists the results and offers to remove or quarantine the components. The program detects a wide range of adware/spyware related issues and can be updated with the latest signatures via the built-in update utility. The free version is strictly a scanner, and does not provide any real-time protection.

SpywareBlaster prevents the installation of many so-called spyware, adware and malware programs by disabling the CLSIDs of popular spyware ActiveX controls, and also prevents the installation of any of them via a webpage. This allows you to run Internet Explorer with Active-X enabled, but it will never download or even prompt you for any of the known ActiveX controls. All other Active-X controls or plug-ins will work fine. The SpywareBlaster database contains information on these known spyware Active-X controls and can be updated with the click of a button. The application windows displays a list of all controls that it is able to detect (this is not a list of what was found on your computer). The program cannot detect if you have any of the known objects already installed, but if you do, they will be disabled. The program also allows you to take a snapshot of your computer (certain settings) in its clean state and later revert many changes made by spyware and browser hijackers.

Spybot - S&D (Search and Destroy) is an adware and spyware detection and removal tool. This includes removal of certain advertising components, that may gather statistics as well as detection of various keylogging and other spy utilities. In addition, it also securely removes PC and Internet usage tracks, including browser history, temporary pages, cookies (with option to keep selected) and more. The program offers an attractive outlook-style interface that is easy to use and multi-lingual. Spybot - S&D allows you to exclude selected cookies, programs or extensions from being reported, allowing you to prevent false positive messages for items that you dont want to be alerted of every time. It can even scan your download directory for files that have been downloaded, but not yet installed, allowing you to detect unwanted programs before you even install them. SpyBot produces a detailed and easy to understand report before it deletes any files and allows you to deselect any item that you do not want to be processed. In addition, a recovery feature allows you to restore your settings if needed.

SUPERAntiSpyware scans your computer for known Spyware, Adware, Malware, Trojans, Dialers, Worms, KeyLoggers, HiJackers and many other types of threats, and allows you to remove or quarantine them. It offers daily (manual) definition updates, as well as home page hijack protection and customizable scan options. Furthermore, the program includes a Repair feature that allows you to restore various settings which are often changed by malware programs, but usually not corrected by simply removing the parasite. The free version lacks real-time blocking and protection as well as several other advanced options.

Spyware Terminator is a full-feature adware and spyware scanner with real-time protection that can remove or quarantine spyware, adware, Trojans, keyloggers, home page hijackers and other malware threats. The scan behavior can be customized based on your level of experience, ranging from automatic interception to complete user control over how to handle any potential threats. Spyware Terminator offers manual and scheduled scans as well as real-time protection for your browser settings, HOSTS file, startup entries and other system areas. The program can optionally use ClamAV for additional virus protection. Other features include a file analysis tool, system restore, Locked File Removal, integrated spyware reporting, automatic updates and more.

TrendMicro HijackThis is a tool, that lists all installed browser add-on, buttons, startup items and allows you to inspect, and optionally remove selected items. The program can create a backup of your original settings and also ignore selected items. Additional features include a startup list report, hosts file manager, uninstall manager and some other tools. Intended for advanced users.

Windows Defender detects and removes adware and spyware from your computer, and also features real-time protection that alerts you when potential dangers arise, stopping most spyware before it can even install. The program includes a variety of security agents that act as bodyguards to protect areas of your system that are commonly used by malware to hijack your settings, add menu items, change your home page, and much more. If any adware or spyware items are detected during a scan, you are provided with detailed information about the offender and can choose to delete or quarantine the item(s).

SpywareGuard provides a real-time protection solution against so-called spyware. It works similar to an anti-virus program, by scanning EXE and CAB files on access and alerting you if known spyware is detected. If this is the case, it initially blocks access to the file and then allows the user to select an action. SpywareGuard provides a fast scanning engine, signature-based scanning, heuristic/generic scanning, a control panel, and an online-update utility for downloading of definition updates. It does not replace your anti-virus protection, but instead detects programs that may cause privacy concerns. The list of detected programs includes AdBreak, AdultLinks/LinkZZ, Brilliant Digital, CommonName, Cytron, FreeScratchAndWin, FriendGreetings, HighTraffic, HotBar, IEDisco, iGetNet, Lop.com, MoneyTree Dialer and others.

McAfee SiteAdvisor is a security add-on for your Internet Explorer browser that helps you identify sites that are linked to spyware, adware, spam, viruses, browser-based attacks, phishing, or online fraud. The SiteAdvisor service is based on a huge database with detailed test results for more than 100,000 pieces of software and covers more than 90% of the world`s Web traffic. The program integrates with search engine results from popular search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN) and also adds an icon to the browser toolbar that indicates whether a site is safe to use, or should be used with caution. If SiteAdvisor has negative information for a site, you can review a very detailed report that shows any spam received from that site, harmful downloads, and association with other sites. An excellent browser add-on, that provides an in-depth site analysis that is based on actual test results, rather than assumptions.

RogueRemover can detect and remove a variety of so-called rogue anti-spyware, anti-virus and privacy cleaning cleaning utilities. These types of applications are known to produce false results in order to solicit sales, use fake awards and questionable advertising to promote an overall inferior product. RogueRemover can currently detect about 400 rogue programs including VirusBlast, VirusBursters and many others. A Pro version with real-time protection and additional features is available for purchase.

BugHunter is a DOS based malware scanner that can detect and optionally remove more than 1300 common malware products. It is designed as a last resort, to be used if your computer is so badly infected with spyware that you are unable to access your desktop or install a full featured malware removal tool. BugHunter is NOT intended to replace or even compete with full featured anti-spyware packages, it cannot protect you from getting infected! Worth a try if all else fails.

a-squared Free scans your computer for adware, malware and spyware and their traces and offers to remove or quarantine any found items. It claims to detect and remove more than 440,000 different types of malware. During our test scan we encountered false detections, and the descriptions or reasons for claimed malware were insufficient, requiring you to perform a web search in order to find out why the program detected the items. It also lacks real-time protection, scheduled scans and automatic updates. Useful as a second opinion but not recommended as primary malware defense.

KL-Detector is designed to provide a way to find out whether your activity is being recorded with a keylogger application. It uses the fact that most keyloggers create a hidden log file on your hard drive and therefore scans for any suspicious activity during a test period that you have to initiate. Basically, it asks you to use the keyboard for several minutes, type some text or do similar activities, while it is monitoring your system to check if it can detect any suspicious logging activity. KL-Detector is intended for occasional use and not as a permanently running program, as normal PC activity may cause false positives. During our test, it did detect changes in a keylogger log file (that we installed), but it did not find the activity suspicious enough to warn us. Advanced users may get value by inspecting the logged items, however novice users should not rely on the results.

Perfect Process is a spyware/adware shield that protects your computer in real-time from more than a 1000 potential spyware and malware programs. The program can also connect to a network machine and perform a remote scan (administrator privileges required). In addition, Perfect Process provides several additional tools, a startup manager, and a detailed process viewer that provides in-depth information for many running processes, as well as statistics for recently started programs, browser home page protection and more. The program is not nearly as sophisticated as other spyware scanners, but offers a good set of features for advanced users.

X-RayPC Spyware Process Analyzer is as a tool to assist expert spyware researchers in quicly analyzing a PC. It performs a quick scan of all active processes, auto-start programs, BHOs, and IE Download Program Files/Plugins, and marks items as Good, Bad or Undetermined. The program does not provide a full, in-depth scan by any means, and is not intended to replace your anti-spyware defenses, but rather to compliment them. X-RayPC Spyware Process Analyzer is small and portable, you can put it on a USB stick and scan a computer without having to install any software. Since the queries are performed via an online database, there are no signature updates required either. If the program finds a Bad item, you can choose to deactivate it immediately, and also export the results as report.

Arovax Shield is a real-time protection program that can guard your computer from common threats like spyware, adware and other malware that attempt to make changes to your system. It monitors the auto-start entries, browser extensions and HOSTS file, and alerts you if any changes are being made to them. In addition, it can block IE hijacks, as well as tracking cookies. The program does not scan for or identify any adware or spyware, however it alerts you of changes that may indicate such a malicious program. You can also choose to block selected changes automatically.

EMCO Malware Destroyer performs a quick scan for more than 7600 malware, adware, Trojans etc. The program lacks the advanced features of other anti-spyware solutions, as well as detailed descriptions or reasons for most of the detected items. It also produced several false positive results during our review. Unreliable as primary choice of protection, but may be useful as a second or third opinion.

Qoofix scans your system for the Qoologic malware Trojan and removes it if found. It uses advanced techniques to remove malicious modules that can hide Qoologic from many other removal tools.

NSIS Media Remover scans your computer and removes installed files and registry keys related to NSIS Media, a notorious malware parasite that serves advertising from your computer. The program can detect and remove 100+ dll files as well as CLSIDs, shell extensions and everything else related to the parasite.

WinCleaner AntiSpyware is an anti-spyware system that includes real-time protection as well as on-demand scanning and a variety of registry and file shields. You can customize the shield settings by adding your own registry keys or files that should be monitored for changes. The program offers automatic database updates. Even though, WinCleaner AntiSpyware supports most basic features of an anti-spyware tool, as well as a good set of customizable shields, it lacks the ability to customize or schedule scanning, and does not provide any further information on the alleged malware items it detects.

Comodo BOClean protects your computer against trojans, malware and other threats. It constantly scans your system in the background and intercepts any recognized trojan activity. The program can ask the user what to do, or run in unattended mode and automatically shutdown and remove any suspected trojan application. Comodo BOClean currently supports more than 34000 malware items and offers automatic daily updates. Other features include updating via network share, tamper protection and stealth mode.

EULAlyzer helps you to spot important information in the license agreements that come with most software products - the long text that you should read, but rarely do. The program scans the license agreement and looks for certain `interesting` keywords that may indicate information sharing, advertising bundles or other privacy related issue buried in the license agreement. It then produces an itemized report that allows you to take a close look before proceeding with the installation. In order to analyze the license agreement, you can copy/paste it into the program, or use a handy drop target to capture the text. An optional Pro version that automates the analysis is available for a charge.