Adware Spyware Removal or “How Do I Get This Junk off My Computer?!”

Adware spyware removal is one of the tricky parts of home computer ownership. If you don't know what you're doing, your PC could end up a very expensive doorstop.

As well, you don't want thieves stealing your personal information. You don't want to put up with eternal pop-ups. You want to stop the PC crashes and speed up your Internet connection.

So can you get the junk off your poor stressed computer?

You could:

* Do the adware spyware removal yourself;
* Get a friend to take care of it;
* Take your PC to a repair shop;
* Set up an adware spyware removal program on it.

There are free tools that list the programs running on your PC. One very popular one is HijackThis. It has helped many with adware spyware removal.

You save a HijackThis log and post it to a forum. Someone takes a look at it tells you how to do the adware spyware removal.

Using HijackThis and a forum cost nothing other than your time. The back-and-forth between your and your helper's can make adware spyware removal slow.

The risk in doing adware spyware removal yourself is you could make Windows unable to boot. If that happens, and there's no system-state backup, you'll have to re-install Windows. You'd lose the hard drive files.

You can bribe a friend for adware spyware removal. You run the same risk as doing adware spyware removal yourself. A mistake could cost you all your files.

If you take your PC to a repair shop for adware spyware removal, expect to pay. I've seen posted costs of $35 to $150 an hour for virus, Trojan and adware spyware removal.

Often the cheapest way to handle adware spyware removal is to install adware spyware removal and prevention software. There are free and paid choices out there.

What you don't want is an adware spyware removal product that's a rip off. There are over 250 such products. Spyware Warrior (http://www.spywarewarrior.com/) lists many rip-off adware spyware removal products (they call them "rogue" or "suspect").

The two best known free adware spyware removal products are Spybot Search and Destroy and AdAware SE Personal Edition. Update cycles can be slow with free products. A new threat can appear and it may be a few days before your free software knows what to do.

Trustworthy adware spyware removal products tend to be cheaper. Rip-off adware spyware removal programs tend to be more costly. The rip-off makers try to gouge as much as they can from the public before they're shut down.

Adware-Begone.com has links to several adware spyware removal and prevention products of good standing. None of them contain adware, spyware, Trojans or rootkits.

Adware spyware removal is a problem you never have to face if you follow the old chestnut, "Prevention is worth a pound of cure." Installing a defense does prevent the problem.

It doesn't matter which solution you choose. Installing an adware spyware removal and prevention program is the cheapest choice. Buying a friend dinner and a movie or having adware and spyware removal at a repair shop costs more. Many programs listed at Adware-Begone.com are less that $30.

Damaging Windows or re-installing it is even more costly - not just in money but in lost time and lost data.

Thirty minutes of research now could save you hours of grief and lost data later.

About the Author
V. 'Len' Giberson is a consultant with 27 years computer experience. His first full-time job was as a Computer Operator of an IBM 360 mainframe. He created www.Adware-Begone.com because adware and spyware infected several friends' computers. He decided to help be part of the solution instead of passively being part of the problem. You may reprint or republish this article as long as it is used unchanged in its entirety, including the author's credit.