The First Steps to Virus/Spyware/Adware Removal

Inexperienced users believe that a simple virus scanning is enough to remove all the infections on their computer system. However, there are preliminary steps to follow first to get better results during the scanning process.

Step 1: Delete Temporary Files

There are a number of files/folders/programs that you can make use of once and never need again in the future. They tend to accumulate on your system and consume much space on your drive, resulting to slow processing of tasks. To enhance your computer’s performance while doing a scanning process, I would strongly suggest you to sort and delete them. This will result to a faster and more effective virus scanning process.

Your computer can get infected simply by accessing a website. And information about visited websites is stored in your Temporary Internet Files folder to facilitate an upcoming access to these websites. However, these files can be infected and also tend to take a lot of space in the long run. Deleting these files would allow you to remove corrupted files from your system while allowing your computer to perform faster.

How to delete Temporary Files?

• Click on your Start Button and select the “Accessories” option
• Choose “System Tools” and from the list, choose “Disk Clean up”
• Let the application run for a while
• When the scanning process is over, always click on “View Files” to check whether these files found can be removed from your system
• You can also check more options in the “Files to delete” list. Temporary Internet Files, Downloaded Program Files, Offline WebPages as well as the Recycle Bin can be checked.
• Confirm the changes when prompted and click “OK”

How to delete Temporary Internet Files?

• Click on your Start Button and open Control Panel
• Select Internet Options
• From the General task, under Temporary Internet Files, choose “Delete Cookies” and “Delete Files”.
• Confirm the changes and click “Apply”.

Step 2: Get a good all in one Antivirus/Anti Spyware/ Anti Adware program

I would suggest you to get the best programs currently available online. They bear the major advantages of being free and having the all in one virus/Trojans/worms/spyware/adware detection features.

BitDefender

An antivirus / Antispyware that protects against phishing attacks.

Type: Commercial/Free trial

System Requirements:

• Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4
• Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (32/64 bit)
• Windows Vista (32/64 bit)

Download Link: http://www.bitdefender.com/site/Downloads/

Kaspersky 7

An antivirus / Antispyware that protects against worms and Trojans.

Type: Commercial/Free Trial

System requirements:
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional (Service Pack 4 or higher), Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (Service Pack 2 or Higher), Microsoft Windows XP Professional (Service Pack 2 or higher), Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista x64.

Hardware and Software Requirements:
50 MB free space on the hard disk, CD-ROM (for installation), Internet connection (for activation and updates), Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher (for updating signatures and the program), Microsoft Windows Installer 2.0.

Download Link: http://en.softonic.com/s/kaspersky-7

Step 3: Get some help online

Online virus scans have the major advantage of getting regular virus updates compared to available softwares. It would also be wise then to make an online scan to get better results.

I will suggest you to get a free online Antivirus scan from http://www.cybertechhelp.com/resources/av.php

Step 4: Get some advice from a specialist

You can also choose to get the best advices from a computer consultant with enough experience to tell you how to manage your computer system and spare it from the worse infections. Frank Wrobel is available through the link http://www.fixcomputernasties.com/