Adware Removers Online

Detecting Adware

Adware, like spyware, is a threat to any computer that is used to surf the internet. Adware is software that is installed on a computer with or without the user's knowledge or consent. Adware displays advertisements and sometimes collects information about the user's web surfing habits in order to display targeted advertisements. When adware collects information to deliver targeted advertisements, it has crossed the line into spyware. Adware may, however, be installed legitimately with freeware programs that use adware to generate revenue instead of charging for the program. On most of these programs you can remove the advertisements by paying for the software.

Symptoms that you have adware infections include pop-ads, unexplained toolbars in your browser, and slower performance. Since it is possible to have adware that you do want on your computer, you may not want to remove all the objects that the scanners find... An example of adware that you would not want to remove is adware that allows you to use a program free of charge.

There are many paid and free programs and websites that allow you to scan your computer for adware and give you the option to remove it. Most of the programs and web sites that scan for adware also scan for spyware, and vice versa. When choosing a program or website, be sure to choose a well-known one. There are adware removal and detection programs and sites that will actually install adware instead of removing it.

This article covers two of the many available programs that detect and remove adware and spyware. Lavasoft Ad-aware 2007 Free and emsi a-squared Free can be downloaded from their respective websites. To use one of these programs download the executable file to a directory on your hard drive, and when the download is complete, double click the file to install the program.

When you run the programs for the first time, they will normally update the definitions and give you the option to scan the computer, some will also give you the option of creating a system restore point. Although these steps may take some time, they should be performed.

Lavasoft Ad-aware 2007 Free:
In the main window of the program click the "Check for updates now" link. Click the "Connect" button in the window that opens. If no updates are available, click the "OK" button to download the available updates or to dismiss the dialog box. When the download completes, click the "Finish" button to return to the main window. Click the "Start" button to move to the Scan Mode page, and select "Perform system smart scan", "Perform full system scan", "Use custom scanning options", or "Scan Volume for ADS". Once you have selected an option, click the "Next" button to begin the scan. The number of objects that Lavasoft Ad-aware 2007 Free finds is displayed on this screen. You can click the "Cancel" button to end the scan before it has finished. Once the scan has finished, click the "Next" button to access the following screen where you can select which infections to remove. The Scan Summary tab shows all of the objects and infections that Lavasoft Ad-aware 2007 Free found. You can select them for removal here or view and select them in the Critical Objects and Negligible Objects tabs. Click the "Next" button to remove the infections. A dialog box appears informing you of how many objects will be removed; click the "OK" button to remove them from your computer. You are now finished checking for adware on your computer and cleaning any infections that were found.

emsi a-squared Free In the main window of the program click the "Update now" button. The update screen appears, and the files are downloaded to your computer. Once the update is complete, click the "Scan now" button in the main window of the program. Select "Quick Scan", "Smart Scan", "Deep Scan", or "Custom Scan" and click the "Scan" button to begin scanning your computer for adware. On the Scan PC screen, the results of the scan appear during and after the scan. When a-squared Free completes the scan, select the objects and infections that you want to remove, and click either the "Quarantine selected objects" or the "Delete selected objects" button to remove any infections found during the scan. If you are unsure whether or not you need an object for another program to run correctly, you may want to quarantine the object instead of deleting it. If you quarantine an item, you can restore it later. You are now finished checking for adware on your computer and cleaning any infections that were found.

If you prefer to use an online scanner instead of installing another program on your computer, access either the XBlock Free Online Scanner or the Tenebril Online Spyware Scanner web pages. Most of the online scanning sites require Internet Explorer with ActiveX in order to perform a scan on your computer.

XBlock Free Online Scanner:
Access the XBlock web site using Internet Explorer, and click the "Free Online Scanner" section. Click the "Click Here For Free Scan" link to begin the scan. If the ActiveX Control does not install automatically, click the bar at the top of the browser and select "Install ActiveX Control". If a dialog asking whether you want to install the software appears, click the "Install" button. The online scanner will scan your computer, and if it does not find any infections, will simply close. However, if an infection is found an alert is displayed where you can view details about the infection. Click the �Remove It� button to remove the infection. You are now finished checking for adware on your computer and cleaning any infections that were found.

Tenebril Online Spyware Scanner:
Access the Tenebril Online Spyware Scanner web site using Internet Explorer. If the ActiveX Control does not install automatically, click the bar at the top of the browser and select "Install ActiveX Control". If a dialog asking whether you want to install the software appears, click the "Install" button. Once the ActiveX Control is installed, scroll down the page to click the "Scan for Spyware" button. The scan begins and the results appear on the page. Click the �Remove Spyware� button to remove any infections that are found during the scan. You are now finished checking for adware on your computer and cleaning any infections that were found.

Different adware and spyware scanning and removal programs and web sites will many times find different infections. It is normal for this to happen, and it is for this reason that many people use more than one program or web site to protect and rid their computer of adware. May all your internet surfing be free from unwanted adware.