Most powerful PC-cleaning weapon short of REFORMAT C:?
 

My home PC seems to be infested with adware, spyware, and probably some unnecessary processes that I intentionally loaded by now can't easily remove. My performance on this machine has degraded enough that I'm seriously considering a reformat and reinstallation of the OS and programs that I need.

Backing up the data to external media isn't a problem and I actually own real, licensed copies of all of my key software - it's just that I know this process will take a few hours and I'm hoping to go there only as a last resort. The HD has been defragmented recently and I don't believe I have any hardware problems.

So my question is this: is there one powerful piece of software that I can buy at CompUSA or wherever that will help me thoroughly clean my PC without a reformat? I run SpyBot, AdAware, and Spysweeper all the time but they are simply band-aids. I'm tired of downloading things that all claim to clean my PC - none of them have worked beyond temporary fixes so far. Besides, I'd like something that looks more broadly than just at Spyware/Adware - more holistic PC management is what I need.

I'm running WinXP Pro w/SP2 on an Intel P4 system.

If you surf the Internet while logged in as an administrator, you run a high risk of things being installed on your computer in the background. I can't answer your question directly, but when you do get the problem fixed, use one limited account to do everything except install programs. Switch to the password-protected administrator account only when required.

This way, even if something gets stuck on your computer, you can boot in safe mode with the administrator account and run a virus scan.

Also, when you are installing programs (such as AIM), spend a bit of time unchecking additional software youd don't need (such as WeatherBug).

SpyBot, AdAware, and Spysweeper are some of the top three in their class, ... I'd say the other two are TDS-3 and GIANYT AntiSpyware. When used alone they can seem like just band aids, though.

It sounds like the reason you are getting infected with malware is you are not using a layered approach. From following this closely, I'm certain there is no one piece of software that will keep you safe, (if there were it would be a huge hit, and MS or someone else would buy the company). The layers are:

1. A software firewall.
2. Anti Virus - Paid versions are best.
3. Malware prevention.
4. Malware detection and removal (use several, such as the ones you mention).

SpyBot, AdAware, and Spysweeper fall into category #4 only (with a minimal, overlap, say 5%, of doing #3). Programs in #2, #3, and #4 must always have their defintions kept up to date, or else you lose.

if you make a concerted effort to clean up your PC, (running each of the several programs in #4, repeatedly, until pristinely clean), and implement the layers you will be fine, I've personally cleaned up several badly infected machines this way. It's time consuming, whereas the alternative is you reload the OS, .... but if you do reload and so not then install the protections, you'll just end up infected again.

If you want more info on what makes up each layer, reply back.


P.S:
There's a huge collection of what's called rogue anti-malware cleaners/removers out there. When something says, or even worse pops up, saying you are infected, click here to fix..., you can be certain you are making matters worse. These rogue programs are knock offs of the real thing, and often times they even add more malware and make you think they are cleaning things up. The five mentioned above are definatey not rogue, in case you doubt this, someone keeps a list of the rogues at SpyWareIinfo Forums.

Setting up a restricted user is something I'd never thought of. Good idea...

I don't think I've ever fallen victim to a rogue spyware remover. I never click on anything in a pop-up window for any reason. I find them offensive, so even if I thought the product was legit I wouldn't download it simply because of the offensive nature of the presentation. I've been using the three above-mentioned (legitimate) programs that simply remove ad/spyware. But it just comes back the next time I start up...

Question: Can I reinstall XP and at the same time keep everything else on my hard drive? Would that help matters any - assuming that I also followed best-practices regarding keeping the bad stuff out after the reinstall?

Does a paid antivirus suite also prevent spyware, pop-ups, pop-unders, adware, malware, trojans, hijackers, etc.? Or just viruses and maybe trojans?

reinstall
 

reinstall is always a good idea, every 12-18 months or so. but, backup of current settings and files, if not followed from the beginning can be a time consuming task.

I find that SpySweeper which has more features and is a paid service is very good indeed and acts as prevention.

I also find, surfing behind a good quality SPI hardware based router/firewall helps.

I do really like the limited user account plan, I might have to try that. Although, much of the crap comes in in IE or other browsers, or even in emails and I don't think installs as an application. so, I don't know if that alone would stop a rogue install of crap ware

Don't expect an installation to work correctly unless you start by formatting your hard drive. You can "repair" windows if it stops working properly, but this preserves all settings including virus-altered ones. Internet Explorer also has a "repair" function.

With NTFS, you can make Program Files folders read-only for limited user accounts. By default, even limited user accounts can corrupt programs that are already installed.

I totally agree. Use the recovery disk that came with your computer then install necessary updates. If you have lost the recovery disk or added components yourself, get a list of all the hardware on your computer (hardware manager will print this for you) and go to the manufacturers' websites to get updates. Copy them to a CD-ROM or USB zip disk so you'll have them after the XP installation.Occasionally, you have the problem of virus scanning software not being able to remove a file that is in use, or sometimes a virus was installed as an administrator and you can't remove it. In this case, it is helpful to start the computer in safe mode using a different account than the one which was having the problems. Password-protecting the administrator account is a must.

You can go thorugh the painstaking steps of checking for adware, checking for worms, virii, etc..., but unless you are a hobbyist and enjoy this kind of thing, a trained IT professional getting paid to do it, or a masochist, you are going to be a lot better off reformatting and starting from scratch.

Really.

Really, really.

I format the hard drive and reinstall Windows and MS Office every year. It doesn't take too long, and you don't have to be in front of the computer for most of it. After that, I only install programs when needed. It's amazing how many programs you tend to install over 12 months, and how often they never get reinstalled.

Somewhat true, but if you reformat and then don't do anything to protect yourself, again in a short time (a month or so) you'll be right back where you started from. And then begins an endless cycle of reformatting and reloading?

I can attest that once you get things setup it's not that hard. Although I'm an IT professional, maintaining things is really quite simple, once you get them setup.

Don't use Internet Explorer. Try Firefox.

Leo

Only viruses -- and not always, with exceedingly limited protection against adware, malware, trojans, hijackers.

In my experience, Ad-Aware and Spy Sweeper and related are often better at detecting viruses than a paid antivirus suite. The one thing that AV gets you, that the others don't, is virus protection from the traditional sources of infection, such as transferring files from a floppy disk or a flash disk, downloading an email with an infection, etc.


Spy Sweeper, while good (and probably the only anti-malware currently worth paying for) is only about 5% prevention (Hosts file, Favroites, and home page hijack), the rest is detection after the fact.

As for prevention, there are basically two main, recognized means: Use SpywareBlaster (nothing really comes close to doing what it does), and use MS IE only when necessary, primarily use FireFox or Mozilla as your main browser.

I do a clean install of Windows from the ground up, with fresh installs from CD or current version downloads, whenever my machines start acting up. Like clockwork, it's always about 15 months. The speed and stability increases after cleaning out all the junk is very noticeable.

With a Win98 CD and Dell drivers CD it would take about 4 hours. Now, with a clean image of my initial state stored on a differnet partition, it's about 90 minutes.

To try to stay clean: hardware firewall, Norton AV, Spybot, Spyware Blaster, AdAware, XP SP2, plus Netscape (1 or 2 features still missing from Firefox). IE only in an emergency. I also run NoAd Hosts, which directs about 1200 ad/spyware URL's to 127.0.0.1 (localhost - i.e. my machine) in my hosts file so it never even gets out there.

Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File
 

You'll need two peices of free software and your XP disk.

First, download Ad-Aware from www.lavasoft.de (get the free one). once installed, run it and click the update link in the program. Let it get the lateste and greatest. Then run the smart system scan.... after it runs and you recover from fainting (after seeing what it found), clear out everything.

download spybot (google spybot search and destroy) and do the same thing with it. It even has some protection that can run in real-time, install if if you like.

Reboot

re-run spybot

reboot

re-run ad-aware

reboot

put in your XP CD and click START-->RUN
type "sfc /scannow" (sans quotes)...
this is Microsoft's System File checker, it makes sure no system files have been replaced.

Good luck!

edited to include:
for pop-ups get google's tool bar... its a handy utility to have and does a great job of blocking the pests (which is where my spy-ware comes from)

IMNSHO, the Avant wrapper around IE still beats firefox. YMMV.

http://www.avantbrowser.com