How to remove adware

Adware is software with advertising functions integrated into or bundled with a program. It is usually seen by the programmer as a way to recover programming development costs, and in some cases it may allow the program to be provided to the user free of charge or at a reduced price. The advertising income may allow or motivate the programmer to continue to write, maintain and upgrade the software product.

Some adware is also shareware, and so the word may be used as term of distinction to differentiate between types of shareware software. What differentiates adware from other shareware is that it is primarily advertising-supported. Users may also be given the option to pay for a "registered" or "licensed" copy to do away with the advertisements.

Prevention - How to remove adware

Without help, you have no way to prevent adware or spyware. Old antivirus programs do not even prevent adware, since they do not consider them viruses or worms. First, you usually give permission to install adware, although you do so unwittingly because adware and spyware pushers are deceptive. Second, adware does not behave like a typical virus or worm. They do not usually do actual damage to your computer, other than wrecking its performance, and they don\'t spread themselves using your address book. (Although some kinds of adware can break your anti-spyware tools.)

Things are changing for the better, though. Most popular antivirus products now include adware and spyware scanning. For example, the latest versions of McAfee VirusScan, Norton AntiVirus 2004, and Trend Micro PC-Cillin 2004 now scan for some adware and spyware

Important tips- How to remove adware

Identify and kill any adware processes on your system. - Some (but currently rare) adware programs may change file associations for executable programs to require the adware program to run before any other programs can run. If this happens and you remove the adware program, your system will be effectively disabled unless you allow it to run again. It is worthwhile to check your file associations before trying to remove adware or viruses. This can be done by opening "My Computer", click on "Tools" and select "Folder options", then click the "File Types" tab. Scroll to see if there are any COM or EXE entries. If there are, the adware may have modified these settings. You will probably need the help of a computer professional.

Remove adware files from your computer - Either rename or delete them. You may want to rename or move them at first until you are sure they are adware and the adware has not modified your system to require them.

Manual Adware removal

To remove programs that you know are adware, you can try to do so manually. Although more malicious adware programs won\'t show up in your program list, some less intrusive adware may. In this case, you may be able to remove it through the uninstall function of your computer. For Windows users, you can do this by going to your control panel (in "Settings") and selecting the "Add/Remove Programs" function. Once in this application, you will see a list of programs. Click on the program you believe to be adware and click on "Remove." You should restart your computer afterwards to make sure all changes required for the adware to be removed are complete.

Software tips- How to remove adware

# Make sure you have the latest operating system, browser and email software updates installed. If you\'re using Windows, make sure you visit Windows Update and Office Update to get these, as well as the support/updates pages on the websites of any other software you use. Keeping your programs up-to-date will make your computer more secure.

# Make sure you have up to date antivirus software installed. You can find some free anti virus software here.

# You need a firewall installed. This acts as a gatekeeper to your computer, only letting authorised data in and out. You can find free firewalls here. One of the best is ZoneAlarm.

Here we have learnt the way to remove adware