Removal Techniques Spyware, like real spies, is very difficult to detect and even when you realise that your system is infected it is usually extremely difficult to find where it is hiding (location on the hard drive) and even if you manage to find that, the removal task is not going to be a walk in the park.
Spyware files and folders cannot be simply deleted with Windows Explorer.
Method 1: Try not to install the spyware in the first place This is more easily said than done because of course you will never see a message on your computer screen telling you "Hello, I am Mr Spy and I am going to enter in your system!".
Spyware is usually installed silently by malware which promises to bring some benefits like a utility or a screen saver.
Recently, there have been also instances of fake anti-virus tools, which in reality are spyware themselves! So if it is so difficult, can a user prevent spyware from being installed in the first place? The answer is yes but for this to happen a user must either: (i) Be very technically knowledgeable so as to spot all potential threats; or (ii) Not install software from non-reputable companies, especially software which promises to do wonders for free; or (iii) Install a GOOD anti-spyware tool which will prevent you from visiting known spyware sites and which will stop any spyware from being installed; Method 2: Remove the spyware manually This used to be fairly easy for a knowledgeable technical IT person until some years ago.
All that he or she needed to do was to use Task Manager, locate and close any suspicious processes and then proceed with deleting all executable files which make the spyware run on start-up.
Unfortunately, nowadays spyware developers are using such sophisticated techniques that this has become almost impossible to do! First of all the spyware processes are very difficult to locate in memory and even if you manage to, most of the times they will not let you close them.
Moreover, even if you manage to do that and to delete the spyware executables, most of the times the spyware gets automatically installed on the next reboot (this happens because today's spyware remains on the hard disk using different filenames).
Even if you manage to remove the spyware manually, this will usually take many hours because as I said the techniques being used nowadays are making it very difficult (even for experienced IT people) to manually remove the spyware.
I have seen even instances where I manage to apparently remove spyware after 8 hours and on the next day the same spyware just reappears.
Many people nowadays are resorting to a complete format and re-installation of the operating system to remove spyware.
This method works but don't forget that it comes at a price: you will have to reinstall not just the operating system but also all applications and you will need to backup and restore data files.
Moreover, there is no guarantee that you will not become infected once again unless you have a GOOD anti-spyware tool installed! Method 3: Remove the spyware with a GOOD spyware removal tool Once you know that your system is infected and you want to clean it without a complete reinstallation, there is basically no choice other than to use a GOOD spyware removal tool.
You have certainly noticed that I have emphasised the word GOOD in many parts of this article when referring to anti-spyware software.
It is very important to have GOOD anti-spyware software because it is certainly NOT GOOD to have mediocre anti-spyware installed which cannot even detect the latest spyware!