Using Spybot Search & Destroy

By Joshua Erdman
Digital Foundation, inc.

Spybot's Search and Destroy is awesome utility to protect your computer. It comes with a scan/removal tool, a web browser immunization tool, and an update utility. Not to mention, it is FREE!

Downloading Spybot S&D

Go to SpyBot Search and Destory to download the software.

Installing the Update

After you install this program, the next thing you need to do is run the program and use the update utility. Without the newest definitions any attempts to clean or protect your machine is useless.

Scanning your PC

It is a good idea to use the msconfig utility so that all programs (especially that sneaky spyware) is not running so it can be effectively removed. This will require a reboot. After your machine restarts, run a scan.

Immunization

Now that your machine has been scanned be sure to immunize your computer. This option locks down IE from a large list of Spyware related websites. It is this exact list that I use to immunize whole corpporate networks. Using this list is a great first start in protecting a network.

Further Steps

If you continue to have MalWare issues, try the same steps described in 'Scanning Your PC' and run other MalWare/Spyware programs such as Ad-Aware or a virus scanner.

References:

Removing Malware

Search and Destroy - Spyware Removal Tool from SpyBot

AdAware - Spyware Removal Tool from Lavasoft

Article last reviewed: 03/21/2005

Created by: Digital Foundation, inc.

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