Best software for cleaning spyware and sorting out a pc?

_Jimlad_ · 9 Jan 2009 at 11:48

i used to use ccleaner and ad adaware to do the job, going round a mates tonight to sort his 2 pc's out, lots of pop ups and so on....

ccleaner still looks good, but adaware seems to have become bloated and takes an age to run..

what do you use?

Seaniboy · 9 Jan 2009 at 11:49

also use malwarebytes and spybot

_Jimlad_ · 9 Jan 2009 at 11:57

ok i have used spybot. but not malwarebytes, so will try that one now. thanks.

Seaniboy · 9 Jan 2009 at 12:01

No worries. Remember to run the scans in safe mode

Panser_bjorn · 9 Jan 2009 at 12:02

If the PC is using XP then make sure Windows Defender is installed - it's free and does it's job quite well. Vista will alreayd have it installed and running (unless it's been disabled).

A full scan doesn't take long and normally cleans up most problems that i've come across.

bledd · 9 Jan 2009 at 12:11

remove current AV
disable system restore
CCleaner slim
Combofix
Nod32 Antivirus Trial
Spybot S&D
Malwarebytes

do all the above

then run
Hijackthis

then install firefox..

install firefox http://download.mozilla.org/?product=firefox-3.0.4&os=win&lang=en-GB
install adblock plus (click this link in firefox) https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865
once you've restarted to install adblock plus, click here abp://subscribe/?location=http://ea...ement+easylist.txt&title=EasyElement+EasyList
and NoScript https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/722 (might need to give users a little lesson in using it)

that'll stop any ads showing up, and you'll now have nice clean browsing

never use IE again. never looks for 'free' things

Ratbag · 9 Jan 2009 at 12:51

Superantispyware and malwarebytes both comprehensively outquaff the now cack Adaware. Opera combined with the terrifying power of Admuncher are a good way to avoid popups, ads, and spyware.

Stephen7372 · 9 Jan 2009 at 14:04

whatever you do don't install spy guard 2008 it's impoosible to get rid of

MarcLister · 9 Jan 2009 at 15:52

bledd. said:
Snip

The standard bledd. post. :cool:

We ought to sticky a thread with this post and just link to it every time we get a thread like this.

_Jimlad_ · 9 Jan 2009 at 15:55

MarcLister said:
The standard bledd. post. We ought to sticky a thread with this post and just link to it every time we get a thread like this.

it's not a standard thread, i have used lots of other bits of software but wanted to what else people use.

bledd · 9 Jan 2009 at 16:14

MarcLister said:
The standard bledd. post. We ought to sticky a thread with this post and just link to it every time we get a thread like this.

it gets tweaked

_Jimlad_ · 9 Jan 2009 at 16:15

bledd. said:
it gets tweaked

i like it!

MarcLister · 9 Jan 2009 at 16:33

_Jimlad_ said:
it's not a standard thread, i have used lots of other bits of software but wanted to what else people use.

Huh?

I was saying that bledd. often does this kind of post.

bledd. said:
it gets tweaked

My idea was it would be your thread stickied so you could edit it.

mattymaxx · 9 Jan 2009 at 16:47

malwarebytes, spybot, avg are the picks of the bunch!

Spyhop · 9 Jan 2009 at 17:47

Format, re-install the OS, l2compute.

You still don't really know what state it's going to be in after these various tools have had a go.

Ratbag · 9 Jan 2009 at 18:02

mattymaxx said:
malwarebytes, spybot, avg are the picks of the bunch!

All except AVG which is poleaxed by it's freeware competitors - Avira, and to a lesser extent, Avast.

_Jimlad_ · 9 Jan 2009 at 20:11

malwarebytes worked a treat... cleaned off over 600 items and sorted out all the pop ups. thanks guys

Richiev4 · 9 Jan 2009 at 20:24

No one has mentioned ad-aware - is there a reason for this?

Rich

MarcLister · 9 Jan 2009 at 20:31

Richiev4 said:
No one has mentioned ad-aware - is there a reason for this?

Rich

Oh but they have!

_Jimlad_ said:
adaware seems to have become bloated and takes an age to run.

Ratbag said:
Superantispyware and malwarebytes both comprehensively outquaff the now cack Adaware.

And the words to describe Ad-aware now would get you suspended.

_Jimlad_ · 9 Jan 2009 at 21:41

that is true, ad aware once was a real great little lite app installed,updated and ran in a sec. malwarebytes for me as a first time user was great, ran it on 3 laptops and a pc with major issues.