So we've done our best to prevent Adware from getting through, but some has anyway. (No, really. Some has. Even if you think it hasn't. Trust me.) So we have to kill it. Luckily there's Ad-aware. Ad-aware is like a virus scanner for Spyware. You can download the basic version completely free at www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware.

Once you've downloaded and installed Ad-aware, fire it up. You'll get a window that looks like this:

The Ad-aware main screen.

The first thing you're going to want to do is click on "Check for updates now". It's hiding just above the start button. Click "Connect" when the new window pops up, and Ad-aware will connect to the Internet and update its files so it can catch the newest crop of nasties. Once it's done, click "Finish" to return to the main window.

Now all that's left is to click "Start". Before you do, be aware that Ad-aware will take a good 10-15 minutes to run. So get ready to go get a drink or something. Ready? Let it rip.

When Ad-aware is done scanning, it will bring up a list of Spyware files that it found, kinda like this:

The list of files Ad-aware detected.

If you're curious, take a look at what it found. Otherwise, check the boxes next to each file (You can right-click and "Select all objects") and click "Next". Ad-aware will remove all the files, and you'll be free from Spyware.

I would highly suggest that you add Ad-aware to your suite of system tools that you run regularly, like ScanDisk and Disk Defragmenter. Well, that's about it for now. Hopefully it's been informative, and as always, Safe Surfing.

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