Run these once a week to keep your computer up to speed and running well.

After these tools are installed, you need scan for spyware and viruses:

SpyBot:

First, double click the Spybot - Search & Destroy icon on your desktop. It will come
up with a notice stating if you remove spyware, you may not be able to use
adjoining programs. Click do not show this message again, and click ok. Next it will pop up with a wizard. Just keep clicking next and then the button labeled "Start using the program" until you get to the main window of the program. If these notices don't
pop up, don't worry.

First thing you want to do is update. This gets a new list of spyware so it always
knows what to scan for, even if a new spyware has just come out. Simply click "Scan
for Updates" to search for updates. If it pops up with a list, right click on an item in
the list and click select all, then click "Download Updates." Your copy of SpyBot is
now updated! Note: If you get an error, just try again later.

Next we immunize. Click the immunize button on the left, then click immunize just to
the right of that. This blocks a preset list of spyware, but you still need to scan. Click
the search and destroy button on the left, then click check for problems. You'll see any pieces of spyware on your system pop up as it's scanning. Once it's done you need to remove it all. Here's how:

After the scan has finished, click "Fix Selected Problems" It will then remove all the spyware it has found, and you're ready for the next step!

Ad-Aware:

Ad-Aware is used with spybot because they both catch things the other misses. It's basically the same process, update, scan, remove. Here's how:

First, double click the Ad-Aware icon on your desktop. It will load with the main screen of ad-aware.

Click the update button, the one that looks like a globe between the padlock and the I. Click connect, then ok when it asks if you want to download the newer file. Then click finish, and then scan now, on the left:



Make the next screen so it looks like this and then click next: (Note, you will only have to do this the first time, after that it will save the settings)



Ad-Aware is now scanning your computer for spyware. When it finished it will look like this:



Click Next.

Right click anything in the list and click "Select all objects"



Click next, and click okay when it asks if it should continue.

Close ad-aware when it goes back to the main screen. You're done with Ad-Aware! AVG Free:

Now last, but certainly not least is AVG Free. After you've installed it, it's pretty maintenance free. It will automatically update and scan for viruses every night if you leave your computer on (Which I recommend.) But the first time, let's scan manually so we know everything's taken care of. You ought to notice a new icon in the system tray (The spot by the clock in the taskbar with all the icons) Right click on AVG (The Yellow, Black, Green, and Red patchwork icon) and click update now. Click internet when it asks you where to get the update. If you have a broadband connection, just click the "always use this source" checkbox and then click internet. AVG should update, and therefore be ready to scan for viruses. Right click the icon again, and click "Launch AVG Test Center" then click the "Scan Computer" Button. AVG will scan and disinfect viruses as it finds them. Once it's done you're finished!

That's it! Your computer is now spyware and virus free, and you should notice that everything runs faster.

If you have any questions, EMail me

.