DAMMIT! I typed it out and the mod moved it before I could submit. FVCK!
Let's try this again.
First off, close any programs you have open. Copy this post to a text file and save it so you don't have to open IE while you are doing this. That could re-launch the spyware. Get a piece of paper (or in the same text file) and write down any names of programs, companies, urls... etc that are pissing you off.
Step One: Start >> Run >> MSConfig. Goto the "startup" tab, and uncheck anything you don't recognize or that you recognize as the offending progarms. It's okay if you accidently turn something off that you want, you can turn it on again later.
Step Two: CTRL + ALT + DEL. Select the processes tab, then click to sort by username. Kill any process you don't recognize running by your username. You should only have open explorer.exe, since I told you to close everything else. You might get two processes with the same name... if you close one, the other will open it back up. If you get this, restart and try it again.*
Step Three: Start >> Control Panel >> Internet Options. (DO NOT OPEN THIS FROM IE. YOU SHOULDN'T EVEN HAVE IE OPEN!!) Click "Delete Files" Then click "Settings" and then "View Objects". Delete any objects you don't recognize. If you delete something that is okay, it's alright, it will just download again next time you need it. While you are in here, type in the address you want for your homepage, but do not surf there to get it. If the URL is too long to type, just put it yahoo or something for the time being.
Step Four: Restart. At this point, you should have stopped the spyware from running all by itself. You should be able to restart without it starting up. If this is not true, start over. You missed something. When everything is good, move on.*
Step Five: My Computer >> (System Drive) >> Program Files. Delete the folders and files of anything you don't recognize, or anything you recognize as the offending program. At this point, you should be able to safely run IE, so if you don't recognize something, you can google the name and see if anything turns up about it.
Step Six: Start >> Run >> Regedit. Remember the list I told you to make? Search the registry for all of those terms and URLs. Delete any offending keys, or if they seem to have modified data (such as modifying the
http:// prefix setting to be their URL) change it back to what it should be.*
Step Seven: Once again, restart. Again, you shouldn't have any spyware running and things should be fine now. There may be a few pieces of junk left over, but they won't do anything to you without the rest of their programs. *
For every step that ends with a "*", You MIGHT want to run spybot/Adaware/etc AFTER you complete the step, to save you a little work.
This is how you manually remove spyware (and many other programs, for that matter.)
If you have no idea what I mean at any point, you probably don't know what you are doing and you should learn about that before you try this.
This SHOULD work for all versions of windows 98 and above.
Most importantly, add this thread to your favorites so you never have to post about spyware ever again.
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