Removing Spyware Manually

The number one kicker about spyware is the fact that you need to get rid of it as soon as possible. It compromises the security of your computer, slows down your entire system and provides the horrible people who created it with unauthorized access to your personal data. There are anti-spyware removal programs galore, but sometimes they can't get rid of some of even the most stubborn culprits. When this happens to you, do you know what to do?

Here are a few pointers to help you remove the unwanted spyware from your computer manually.

• Using the search function, look into your Windows hosts file. You can find it in the directory. If there are any files in there named “hosts”, with no extension attached, you've got spyware. Using NetStat, (network statistics) a command-line tool, you can find network connections, routing tables and sever network interface statistics. Find out the name of the ad-server being contacted by the spyware. Some of these ad-servers are listed in the adware descriptions page on NetStat as http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb491071.aspx .

Once you have the names of the ad-servers, use a text editor to open this file in your directory (if you are working with Windows NT/2000/XP, you can find it by following this path: C:\\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\). Now that you have the file open, add lines into the file like this: 127.0.0.1 ad.server.com replacing the ad.server.com with the names of the ad-servers you found on NetStat. Write a separate single line for each ad-server you found, beginning each one with 127.0.0.1 and then save the file. When the adware tries to connect to the server, it will connect back to your own computer instead of the ad-server it is searching for. If you are using a Mac, your hosts file is in the preference folder and you format the file with CNAME 127.0.0.1 and the name of the ad-server.

• You can find software that will imitate the servers the spyware is trying to find. The spyware will still run, but it will be blocked from calling out across the Internet looking for its host server. Using a list of dummy files you can find online, you can put in replacement files for the real spyware files and the programs sponsoring the spyware will simply receive false values when they are called up by the ad-server. SpyBlocker is a program that will perform this function for you.

• Sometimes you can simply delete the files yourself. The creators of adware often assume you won't even attempt to find it your self, so they get lazy about naming the files and actually use names as simple as ad.dll or advent.dll. If you continually receive pop-up ads, for example, go into your task manager, click on processes, check for these obvious files and delete them.

The easiest way to remove most spyware is with a downloadable program that will find it and remove it. If that fails, however you can try these simple tricks to remove it from your system manually.