When your computer connects to the Internet, your system is wide open for any foreign data to freely enter your computer and that may include adware, viruses, and other software that negatively affect your computer. Adware may not be as lethal as viruses and trojans, but they can still be pretty annoying nevertheless especially when a lot of adware is present in your system.
Detecting Adware
Adware isn’t very difficult to notice because its primary objective is to display advertisement banners and popup windows to encourage you to click on them so the developer of the adware profits from it. It can be a bit more difficult in detecting it and sometimes your virus scanner may not pick it up. While you can easily detect adware using a good adware scanner, manual detection methods depend on the type of adware you are dealing with.
Types of Adware
A standard Windows installation obviously doesn’t come bundled with any adware. But some other 3rd party programs have them packaged inside their installers. These are known as adware programs and usually advertisements are displayed within the program. Removing these types of adware should be as easy as uninstalling the program and finding a better alternative. Some installers allow you to disable the adware from the installer so keep an eye out for any checkboxes because adware inclusion options are usually checked by default.
There are also some programs where the entire program is the adware itself. You might be able to notice it if you see strange items on your system tray or see strange pop-ups coming out of nowhere. These programs secretly install into your computer through a vulnerable web browser. If your browser isn’t configured correctly, it is possible to enter adware infected sites and have the adware automatically plant itself upon visit. Some of these adware can be uninstalled using the Add/Remove programs while others require scanning for full removal.
The last common type of adware is the smaller programs that rely on other programs to run like the toolbars that you see on your browser. These are fairly small, but can be annoying and may crash your browser periodically. These toolbars may also be uninstalled, but it is better if you use an adware scanner.
Removing and Preventing Adware
Now you need to learn how to get rid of adware that you couldn’t remove from the previous methods mentioned. Free adware scanners like Ad-aware and Spybot are wonderful programs to get started with because they are easy to use and have good detection capabilities when it comes to adware and spyware. However, they sometimes underperform in removing them and do not come with live protection features unless you purchase professional or paid versions.
Paid software like Malwarebytes Anti-Malware or SUPERAntiSpyware Professional have the upper hand here because they have advanced protection features and detect more adware when full scans are performed. These are highly recommended if you have large amounts of adware infected in your system. Before purchasing these, consider the free solutions first and see if they solve your problem.
Just because you know how to get rid of adware doesn’t mean that you don’t have to be careful anymore. Always be aware of what sites you are visiting and what programs you are installing so that your computer won’t slow down with all of the adware in your system.