The Refurbished Laptops Guide » Spyware

How to Eliminate Spyware on Your Computer

GuestPoster — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:36:22 +0000

To eliminate spyware on your computer, the single best thing you can do is run a reputable spyware check program, which will scan your computer for all known versions of different unauthorized programs running on your computer. Most programs will check for adware, which inserts pop-ups, its own ads, and can also change your website browsing experience negatively, like making your browser homepage a website full of their advertisements, all without your permission.

If you’re not able or not willing to spend the money to purchase a quality, constantly-updated anti-spyware program, I would suggest re-installing your computer’s operating system from the installation CD and being very careful what you download from now on.

You should learn what your PC’s alert messages look like, because many deceitful spyware and adware progams will try to mimic the look of an alert message on your computer in order to convince you to download their spyware. They will do this under the guise of getting you to install something authorized or something helpful on your computer, but actually installing dozens of programs with inconspicuous-sounding file names, that it will be almost impossible for you to uninstall all that spyware on your own.

Another way to eliminate spyware is to understand where most spyware comes from, and to remove those programs from your computer. Toolbars that you download to add onto your web browser are notorious for coming bundled with spyware, adware, and who knows what else. Little, “fun” applications like programs that change your mouse cursor or let you manipulate photos in an entertaining way also often come packed with spyware. Sometimes this spyware will actually be acknowledged in the agreement you have to check that you’ve read before the installation begins, so that this “free” application isn’t actually free at all.
I would really recommend buying a cheap program that will keep updated information on all known spyware and check your entire harddrive regularly, but if not, stop downloading applications you don’t actually need, and re-install your OS if the spyware is too extreme to delete one-by-one on your own.

Shopping:

Compaq Presario CQ61-420US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

HP G60-630US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

Apple MacBook Pro MC374LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop

Dell D600 Laptop 1.6ghz 40gb DVD/CDRW B Grade Includes Genuine XP Professional restore cd!

Toshiba Satellite T115D-S1120 LED TruBrite 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

Stop spyware in its tracks

Brent — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:44:12 +0000

If you want to stop spyware for good this time, listen up. Doing it is not very difficult, but will take some work on your part to do it right. Ensuring that you have the right tools for the job is the first step in making sure that all the spyware gets removed the first time out. After all, you don’t need to spend money on a program and/or devote a ton of your time to the effort when you’ll have to keep doing it over and over again. You want to stop spyware once and for all. So, how do you do that?

Stopping spyware can be done through a multitude of programs that are either available freely or for a small fee. The best ones are naturally the ones that do come with a fee attached, but don’t be fooled: Not all of them are made alike. The most expensive ones don’t always do the job that you expect of them, and some of the cheapest ones do a wonderful job of ridding your computer of those pests. What it really comes down to is what you use your computer for, how often you use it for that function, and how likely you are to pick up spyware from your activities. For example, if all you do is search for illegal music online, well, you’re probably going to get stuck with some spyware on a fairly regular basis. If, however, your online experience includes checking emails from friends and relatives, you probably won’t have to go for a really expensive program that’ll dig too deep. There’s a good chance that if you spend $50 for such a program, it won’t find anything. And of course, that’s no fun.

SpyBot has become a great program for the money. It’s a reasonably priced program that will do exactly what it’s supposed to without any real frills. This program has come a long way since its inception, and has even gotten as popular as the heavy-hitters like Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware. Ad-Aware has been all about stopping spyware for years, along with its annoying cousin, adware. Either program will work just fine for what you need it to, but don’t expect real-time monitoring. For something like that you might want to look at Windows Defender, but here’s a little warning for you: That program takes up a ton of memory. Running Windows Defender on Windows Vista is, well, bloated. No thanks.

So, as you can see there are ways to get rid of your spyware by paying a good sum, but there are ways to stop spyware free. Just have to look around.

Shopping:

iYogi Online Virus & Spyware Removal

Systems 300-FG-00009 Gatekeeper Pico Mobile Personal Security Server

Delete spyware with ease

Brent — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:36:51 +0000

Many people each day do searches on the online search engines looking for ways to delete spyware from their computers. That’s a really tough thing to do sometimes, as this spyware can be absolutely buried in the depths of your computer where nobody can really get it out. Well, not “nobody” exactly. There are people who are able to do this, but they’re experts who are trained in the field and have put in the time and money to earn certificates to work on computers and laptops. As such, they charge quite a bit of money for their services; to get someone to personally come out and work with your laptop, you can expect to shell out $70+/hour. That’s quite a bit of money to most people, particularly when this work may take 2-3 hours if your system is really gummed up. If it’s really bad, it could result in a full reinstall of the operating system. Ouch.

No, you want to be able to figure out how to delete spyware quickly and cheaply. Most importantly, you don’t want to lose any of the data that’s already in place on your laptop. That’s the biggest fear most have, and frankly, if the spyware gets too bad, you can lose data. So, you want a program that’s good at deleting spyware without any ill effects on the rest of your system.

My personal recommendation from years of use is Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware program. I haven’t used it in several years, but let me tell you, if it’s been improved over what it was in 2004, this is a fantastic program. Yes, it does cost some money, but it’s certainly less than the $70/hour you’d pay for someone else to do it. Better yet, you just pay the money once; there’s no recurring charges for use. Ad-Aware is a program that effectively deletes spyware and adware in one fell swoop (adware is the type of malware that pops up ads in your face, no matter if you’re on or offline…not fun!).

It does this by checking your file system in-depth for spyware signatures, then promptly deletes them. If it does find a signature, it’ll go all through your system to make sure each piece of it is gone. This includes your registry and other stuff like your startup menu and services. Best yet, it continually updates its spyware database so it’ll take care of the newer stuff that crops up every day. Definitely worth the investment.

Shopping:

Compaq Presario CQ61-420US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

Toshiba Satellite L505-ES5015 TruBrite 15.6-Inch Laptop (Silver/Black)

Toshiba Satellite L505-GS5037 TruBrite 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

Dell D600 Laptop 1.6ghz 40gb DVD/CDRW B Grade Includes Genuine XP Professional restore cd!

HP G60-630US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

Need an anti-spyware program? Check out Spyware Bot

Brent — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:49:00 +0000

I just wanted to say up front that I do not work for Spyware Bot, or represent them at all. I’ve just read a few things about it online and wanted to give you the good and bad here in one place. The things that I’ve heard about it go either way, but overall I’m told that it’s a pretty solid program that will remove all the spyware on your computer. As you might remember from our “Removing spyware is easy” post, spyware is a type of malware that sends your personal data to people who shouldn’t actually have it in the first place. This includes marketers (not your friendly neighborhood internet marketers though ) who want to know how you think, act, and what you buy when you’re on the internet. The worst types of spyware can even log your passwords, credit card numbers, and all sorts of personal data that other people shouldn’t have in the first place. Obviously the number one priority is removing this stuff immediately.

That’s where Spyware Bot comes in. This is pretty similar to Spybot (different program), Lavasoft Ad-Aware, etc. There are tons of these programs out on the internet these days that work pretty much the same way. Just like the other programs, Spyware Bot goes through your system files and removes all of the spyware programs at their sources. It also goes through areas of your computer that you usually wouldn’t touch. This includes your registry, services, and all sorts of other things that the average computer user wouldn’t touch. That’s best left to programs that were created by professionals. Spyware Bot is such a program, and seems to do what it says it will; reviews have been overall positive. Most of them say that the program removes the spyware problem without a hitch.

However, in my research I did find a site that had some bad things to say about Spyware Bot. One site claimed that the program was actually spyware itself, and was created to con users of the original Spybot into paying $50 to the wrong company, then failing to actually hand out a program that removed the spyware. This is largely unsubstantiated, however. A quick Google search online reveals that Spyware Bot is in fact a legitimate company with a legitimate program. They’ve since changed their name to SpywareStop, but I hear it’s pretty much the exact same program. Take the above complaint with a grain of salt, but do your homework before you make any larger purchases.

Shopping:

Erector Spykee - The Spy Robot

PC Tools Spyware Doctor

PC Tools Spyware Doctor® with AntiVirus by Encore - Up to 3 PC's

PC Tools Spyware Doctor 2007 (French)

Removing spyware is easy

Brent — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:27:25 +0000

If you’re concerned about removing spyware from your laptop, don’t be. This is one of the things that has become more of a science than an art in the world of computing in the last few years. Many companies have come out with some great spyware removal tools, making the task of removing all of that junk from your system relatively painless. Don’t fret if you have a spyware application sitting in your system taking up space; we’ll help you get it out without a problem. Even better, we’ll tell you how to keep it out.

First off, what is spyware exactly? Spyware is a type of semi-malicious programming that’s generally put into your computer without your knowledge. The spyware can serve a variety of purposes; hackers can possibly use spyware to implant a “keylogger” into your system to record your keystrokes. However, that’s a little bit unlikely unless you think that you might be a target for this type of attack. More likely, the type of spyware on your computer is going to be marketing related. This type of programming will be more of an annoyance than anything, but should still be dealt with firmly. This type of spyware will tend to collect data about your surfing and/or purchasing habits, and forward it on to marketing companies to let them know how to better market their ads. That’s not exactly malicious intent, but the act of doing this without your previous approval certainly is. The worst types of spyware can make changes to your browser, redirecting your web surfing to websites that are meant for marketing purposes. This has the obvious effect of, well, being really really annoying.

So, you want to know how to remove spyware from your system, right? Spyware removal can be accomplished in a couple of ways: First, if you know the internal workings of computers, you can go fish the programs out yourself. Many times these spyware programs will start themselves at Windows startup by creating a registry key in the startup section. If you know how to do this, you might be able to go in and remove those registry keys, thus keeping them from starting when Windows starts.

The second thing you can do (which is the more recommended method) is purchase or download a spyware removal tool. There are many of these online, with the best ones being from companies such as Lavasoft (they have a great spyware adware remover called Adaware). These aren’t always cheap, but they’ll do the job and keep you free from bugs. Good luck.