Description of the AdwCleaner program​

AdwCleaner is a program that searches for and removes Adware, toolbars, potentially unwanted programs (PUP) and other junk from your computer. Using AdwCleaner, you can easily remove many types of these programs, improving the user experience on your computer and on the Internet.

The programs that AdwCleaner removes usually come bundled with freeware programs that you download from the Internet. In many cases, when you download and install the program, if you do not notice and uncheck the checkbox during installation (sometimes you need to switch to custom installation mode for this), toolbars and other adware modules will be installed on your computer. AdwCleaner is designed to find and remove these programs.

Instructions for using AdwCleaner​

Using AdwCleaner is very easy. Just download the program and run it (Internet connection should be turned on if possible).

Once the agreement is accepted, a One-Button Information Panel will appear Run check... Click it and AdwCleaner will search for malware, and then display all files, folders and registry entries found on your computer that are used by adware.

When the check is complete, review the scan results and uncheck the entries that you do not want to delete (especially pay attention to the "Preinstalled Software" section). For most people, the contents of the report may seem incomprehensible, if you do not see the name of the program that you would not like to remove, then just go to the next step. Click the button Quarantine. AdwCleaner will warn you about closing processes and saving the necessary data.

After pressing the button Proceed followed by a cleanup and a request to reboot the system.
After reboot, the program will start automatically with a short summary:

Spoiler: Additional options

• "Remove IFEO Keys": Removes all subsections from the key HKLM \\ SOFTWARE \\ Microsoft \\ Windows NT \\ CurrentVersion \\ Image File Execution Options with non-null debugger values.
• "Delete Tracing Keys": Deletes all keys. Enabled by default.
• "Delete Prefetch Files": deletes all .pf files from the C: \\ Windows \\ Prefetch folder
• Reset proxy settings: Resets all proxy settings.
• Reset Winsock: Resets all Winsock settings to fix network problems. Enabled by default.
• "Reset TCP / IP Settings": Resets TCP / IP settings: correct settings will be restored automatically if the network is using DHCP. In other cases, the settings must be restored manually.
• Reset Firewall Settings: Resets all Windows firewall rules.
• Reset IPSec: Resets the IPSec settings. This protocol is used to establish an encrypted connection between hosts. There may be connectivity issues caused by specific malware.
• Reset BITS: Clears the Background Intelligent Transfer Service queue. It is used to transfer files (programs or updates) between hosts, but can cause connection problems.
• "Reset Internet Explorer Policies": Remove all policies Internet Explorer and setting default values.
• "Reset Chrome Policies": Remove all policies Google chrome and setting default values.
• "Reset Hosts Files": Replaces the current Hosts file with the reference English. hosts file (the only difference from the Russian standard is that there are comments in English at the beginning of the file).
• "Mode": Creates a report C: \\ AdwCleaner \\ AdwCleaner_Debug.log containing more detailed information about the operations performed. This is required to help sort out if the utility exits with an error.
• "Database": The database on the server may be damaged (or damaged during download) and is not usable. This option helps to enforce the use of the local database.

To be effective, these options should be checked before performing other actions.

It's also important to note that some adware programs, such as Babylon and Delta Search, include a program that alerts you when someone tries to change your browser search or home page settings. When launched, AdwCleaner will reset your search settings to their defaults (on Microsoft) if it detects that they have been modified by adware. If you see a warning that AdwCleaner is trying to change your browser settings, please allow it to do so.

The internet is a very dangerous place today. It is full of unscrupulous people who use various malware software in order to access information on your computer, or to force you to spend money.

Spyware collects various information from your computer - everything that you entered on the keyboard (for example, to steal passwords; of course, you can use secure on-screen keyboards to fight), what you did (for example, to compromise you) and much other.

Adware malware is designed to analyze everything you do (it can also be dealt with with adware and spyware removers). What sites do you visit. Your habits and hobbies. As a result, it will allow you to sell certain goods. Of course, adware can't directly force you to buy something, but it does provide enough information for people who are good at psychology and marketing. There is also special malicious software that allows you to change advertising links on sites to the necessary ones. For example, replace all links with links from various prohibited sites. And all this disgrace must be fought.

Each new generation of malware (we are talking not only about technologies, but also about new types) generates a new generation of programs to combat them. Therefore, there are already a lot of different solutions for each of the categories of malware. In this review, we will consider solutions to deal specifically with spyware and adware. You can find reviews on fighting other types of malicious software in the reviews of this site in the "Security" section.

A small preface. All of the programs discussed in this review allow you to perform manual scans, but not all of them provide real-time protection in free version... Part is for searching and removing, and part is for configuring your system so that the enemy does not break through. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to find a free program that does everything. Spybot has been selected the best programbecause it cleans well and provides real-time protection. SuperAntiSpyware is better at fighting malware, but still there is no real-time protection in the free version.

Free adware and spyware removal software review

Spybot adware and spyware removal program is a good solution for all users

Spywareblaster adware and spyware removal program - system infection prevention

Important difference: is a program for taking measures to prevent infection of your system, not detection and removal.

You may find this very strange. How can you do without scanning? How can you get rid of this long and painstaking process? These are the questions that this program... Spywareblaster is a system prevention tool. This approach makes it unnecessary to constantly scan the system. The whole secret lies in the fact that the program plays with the browser security settings, adds restrictions to different sites and a number of other tweaks. You only have to open it once a week to update the database and apply new settings. Then boldly close. But, nevertheless, it is still worth taking a snapshot of the system (this is a feature of this type of program), so that if something goes wrong, then you would always be able to quickly return to the original version. When it comes to the frequency of updates, always keep in mind that malicious software is constantly evolving, so the more often you update the databases, the better. In this case, one of the differences between the paid version is automatic updating.

Quick Pick Guide (links to download free adware and spyware removal programs)

SpyBot Search and Destroy

		Real-time protection. Provides protection for one or more user profiles.
		The scan did not find the test file (but did find a number of other problems).

SUPERAntiSpyware

		Simple functional menu. Scans well. Supports all existing browsers.
		The free version does not support real-time protection.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free

		He does his job well.
		Does not support real-time protection. To scan rootkits, you need to download a separate program.

Adware modules can get into the computer during the installation of some free software; sometimes this is the main condition for the operability of the installed application. This was one of the main ways of distributing the first adware. Moreover, often during the installation process, the user was told what Adware is and for what purpose it is included in the program distribution kit (for example, installing this module is a payment for using the program). In the most "advanced" programs during installation, it was even suggested to choose the option of using the program - for free with the adware module or on a paid basis. When the application was removed, the ad module was removed along with it.

However, nowadays Adware is hardly spread in such civilized ways. Often, an ad module is installed on a computer even after the user has opted out of it. A "registered" ad module is not easy to detect and remove. If Adware got into the computer during the installation of a program, then when you remove it, there is no question of removing the ad module along with it.

Advertising modules created with the use of modern technologies are comparable to Trojans and other modern viruses in terms of their ability to penetrate a computer and conduct their activities there. The most "advanced" adware are capable of entering into a kind of "fights" with competitors that have previously penetrated into the computer and destroying them. At the same time, the user may be unaware of such "battles" and other violent activities that are carried out by advertising modules in his computer. Only periodically appearing advertising, annoying every time more and more, suggests that, apparently, someone in the computer still "got accustomed".

How do ad modules work? It all depends on their focus, as well as on the developer's imagination. For example, pop-up ads are very annoying for users. As a rule, they appear exactly when you least want to see them. Advanced technology ad windows are difficult to remove from the screen and often move around the page as you scroll along with the rest of the content.

A variety of advertising windows are transitional and additional windows. Transients appear after clicking on any link and are displayed until the next window is opened, and additional ones are shown between two information windows.

Some ad modules display ads that cannot be removed using the Back or Close buttons because these buttons are blocked. In this case, you have to close the advertisement window by pressing the Alt + F4 key combination or remove the corresponding task in the Task Manager window.

Sometimes you can try to find and neutralize the ad module on your own using approximately the same methods as for the SpyWare search. However, this is not always effective, so it is easier to solve the problem using specialized software.

Note that Adware (like SpyWare itself) is difficult to detect and destroy with antivirus software. Despite the fact that some anti-virus software developers include functions to combat adware modules in their products, it is more advisable to use specially designed utilities for this, which are widely presented on the Internet.

For example, the multifunctional Ad-Aware program of the German company Lavasoft is a powerful utility for detecting and removing various types of malicious programs, including ad modules. It is currently one of the most popular programs of this kind. The advantage of Ad-Aware is that it has a free version, which has the only limitation - computer protection in monitoring mode. It is also important that the program supports the Russian language.

During the scanning process, Ad-Aware checks the content random access memory, the system registry, and the settings and contents of Internet Explorer. The utility has a simple, ergonomic and user-friendly interface, which makes it accessible even for novice users.

The main purpose of the Spybot Search & Destroy program is to search for and destroy spyware and adware modules. In addition, it has the ability to clear temporary Internet files and cookies, as well as delete information about previous computer use. The program is distributed free of charge and, in addition to Russian, supports about 30 more languages.

Spybot Search & Destroy implements a mechanism for flexible configuration of scanning parameters. In particular, you can set a custom scan, for example, search only for adware modules, and ignore spyware and other malware. In addition, the application tools allow you to remember the current state of the system settings and subsequently roll back to one of the previous states (to eliminate the consequences of the presence of malicious programs).

Of particular note is the ability to track files downloaded from the Internet, which makes it possible to identify malicious modules even before they penetrate the computer.

The NoAdware program helps to get rid of not only ad modules, but also a number of malicious programs. Its advantages include speed and ease of use; the disadvantages are the lack of a Russian-language interface (however, on the Internet you can find a crack for it), as well as the fact that sometimes it does not detect all adware. Also a new version the utility hasn't been released for a couple of years. During the scan, the system registry and local drives of the computer are checked. If necessary, you can selectively scan only suspicious objects. The program implements the ability to manually or automatically update signature databases.

You can download the NoAdware program on the developer's website www.noadware.net.