How to remove the adware and spyware from your computer

Step 1 -- Installing SpyBot Search and Destroy

1) Download SpyBot from www.safer-networking.org or right click here for the Windows 2000 version and save to your desktop.

2) After downloading the SpyBot install file (spybotsd12.exe) run it to begin installing the program.

3) Accept all of the defaults to finish the program installation.

4) Now double click on the desktop icon that says "SpyBot Search and Destroy"

5) The first time you run SpyBot it must be updated by clicking on the "Search for Updates" button. If any updates are available then click on "Download Updates" to make your version of SpyBot current.

6) Close SpyBot

Step 2 -- Running SpyBot 

1) Open up SpyBot (in either basic or advanced mode)

2) Click on the the button labeled "Check for Problems"

3) SpyBot will begin to scan your system and give you a progress indicator at the bottom of the screen.

4) After the scan is complete is will list all of the adware and spyware that it found. Simply click the button labeled "Fix selected problems" to remove these programs.

5) After the removal it will reboot and scan again to finish-up the cleaning.

6) After the second scan you should be good to go.

Disclaimer : I have used this program on multiple machines with no ill effects and the other propeller-heads that I associate with have had similar experiences. That being said, I'm not responsible if you run this and it finishes off a machine that was already in trouble due to the hundreds of adware/spyware programs that were on it. 

You may want to also check out this page about how to install the Google Toolbar to stop future popup adds.