Uncle Patrick’s (Useful or Useless) Tip of the Day - Spyware, & how to remove it

The spyware epidemic

I’m bringing this blog to you today in the hopes that it helps you understand what’s happening with spyware and what you can do to remove it from your system if you’ve become infected.

I’ve been seeing tons of spyware problems with my customer’s and friend’s computers. I’m not exactly sure what they’re doing, but somewhere within their websurfing, a spyware situation arises, and they’ve allowed it into their system. I’m 98% certain that that’s the only way spyware can get into their system; whether it’s installing a program, clicking a malicious link or navigating through warning messages without reading and understanding the ramifications of their answer. The pictures to the left are just an example of what can happen if spyware becomes entrenched within your operating system; I took pictures with my camera instead of capturing screenshots using software because I didn’t want to copy anything from that computer, not even a screenshot. That computer was a sinking tuna boat and, to this day, it’s still the only computer I’ve not been able to fix without wiping Windows and starting over. I should point out that it may save some time to wipe a computer and then reinstall the operating system, but you’re almost guaranteed to lose something important.

Preventing spyware

Now, hopefully you’re just happening upon this blog and you’ve never had a problem with spyware - great! Let’s cover some preventative measures that will keep you from getting spyware in the first place. I’ll cover the preventative measures I follow because, so far, I haven’t ever had spyware on any of my computers. I’m keeping my fingers crossed though because Windows is my primary operating system (Apple/ Mac fanboys be quiet! ).

“Patrick, I have spyware, how are you going to fix it?”

I’m not, you’re going to fix it with the following instructions. I’ll skip the heavy details because the majority of what I’m about to cover has been covered on many sites previously, and can easily be found using Google. Of course, you can always post a comment if you have a question.

“I’m running into problems”

If you’ve tried to fix the problem, but things are getting sticky, take an assessment of your skillset, time available, and time remaining until you must have your computer working, and then think about whether fixing this problem is something you can do or if you’d be better served hiring someone to fix it. Keep in mind, each scan of your system takes roughly 45 minutes and you will be running at least 4 scans. You may also have to edit the Registry, delete files or edit files. If the term “Registry” has you scratching your head, and you haven’t fixed your problem with the above steps, it’s time to call a tech.

If you have any questions let me know…