To get the full benefits of these programs, scans and updates must be performed to these programs weekly, if not every two or three days.  Below, you will find tips for operating these programs and keeping them up to date with the latest virus and spyware definitions.  This will optimize your computing experience and protect your PC from the latest security threats.  All of these programs can be downloaded from our web site, listed under the “Downloads” section.

Spybot – Search and Destroy

Spybot – Search and Destroy is a program that not only scans your computer for spyware and adware, but keeps a database of security threats to immunize your system from future attacks.  First of all, after installing the program, proceed to open the program and search for updates.  You must have an open internet connection in order to search for updates, as the updates are pulled from an internet database.  The program will pull up a list of available updates, and show them in the window.  It is best to go ahead and select all of the updates listed here, as this provides the best protection in the long run.  After all of the listed updates are selected, go to the top and next to the “Search for Updates” button, there is a drop-down list of servers to download from.  Select one of the “Safer Networking” servers and hit the “Download Updates” button.  It will then download the updates to your machine.

Upon updating the program’s definition files, you can then proceed to immunize the system.  You will find a button for this on the left-hand side of the screen.  This will scan the computer to see how many files are already immunized and tell you how many additional immunizations are available.  Press “OK” to have it checked again and this will fully immunize the system with the latest protections.  This must be performed after every update.

After the system is immunized, you can run a scan on the system.  Click on the “Search and Destroy” button on the left side of the screen.  After this opens, there is a “Check for problems” button at the top of the screen.  Click on this and the program will then scan the machine for spyware related issues.  Let the scan run and once it is finished, it will display the results of the scan.  By default, all of the problems should have a check next to them, however, if they do not, place a check next to all of the problems.  After a check has been placed in the box next to every problem, go back to the top of the screen and click “Fix all problems.”  The program will then remove all of the problems from the machine.  Sometimes, the program can not remove all of the problems, but this can be done on the next system restart.  A box will pop up if this is the case, and all you have to do is select “Yes” to have this scan performed on the next restart.

Ad-aware

Ad-aware is another program that is used to remove malicious spyware files from your computer.  This particular program scans the Windows registry, as well as the files and folders on the computer to determine if they are creating issues.

When you open the program, the first thing that should be done is updating the definition files.  Locate the “Check for updates now” link to check for updates on the Internet.  If a newer definition file is available, click “OK” to download the update.  When the update is finished, click “Finish” to go back to the main screen.  To run a scan on the system, click on the program’s “Start” button.  Next, select “Perform full system scan” from the list, and then click “Next.”  The program will scan the computer and when it is finished, a report of the findings will pop up.  Right click on one of the objects and from the drop-down menu, click on “Select all.”  Click on next and it will remove the items.

AVG Antivirus

AVG is a free antivirus program that will protect your computer from viruses.  The program is updated almost every day and offers protection from all the latest viruses released on the Internet.  The program has a default schedule that it follows upon installation to automatically check for updates to the virus definitions and to run a complete system scan daily.  However it is also possible to update the definitions and run a scan on the user’s demand.  To do this, open up AVG antivirus and select “Check for Updates.”  Make sure there is an open Internet connection, and then click on the “Internet” button.  It will then go out on the web to search for updated definition files and download them to the computer.  When it is done updating, click on “OK” to finish the update process.

To run a system scan, select the “Scan Computer” icon and the program will then automatically start to scan the files and folder on the computer.  When the scan completes, it will display the results from the scan and all you have to do is hit the “Back” button to return to the program’s main screen.  Viruses that are found are placed in the “AVG Virus Vault” and if you want to fully remove the virus from the computer, you can open up the “Virus Vault” by clicking on its icon on the left-hand side.  You can click on the viruses that are listed in the vault and remove them by clicking on the button along the top that has an eraser next to it.  This completely erases the infected file from the system.