Scan for Spyware
Computers running recent versions of Microsoft Windows have Windows Defender installed and configured to regularly scan for spyware automatically in the background. CIS recommends an additional anti-spyware solution such as Spybot: Search & Destroy.
Remove Spyware using Spybot: Search & Destroy
- Download and Install the free version of Spybot: Search and Destroy.Â
- Upon first run, Spybot should prompt to update. Click the Update button to proceed with getting the latest spyware definitions.
- Once the application is updated, close the Update Window. Open the Start Screen window (this should have opened automatically with the Update window).
- Click System Scan to open the scan window. If you receive a security prompt, click Yes to allow the program to continue.
- On the System Scan window, click Clean Temporary Files to clean up temporary files that may slow down scans.
- On the System Scan window, click Start a Scan to begin a scan for spyware.
- The scan progress will be shown. Click Stop Scan at any time to cancel the current scan.
- Once the scan completes, results will be shown. Click Fix Selected to resolve any detected problems that were found during the scan.
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Spybot Search & Destroy v2 is used in these instructions. The older version of Spybot, v1.62, provides similar functionality as Spybot version 2. However, the instructions for completing a scan and user interface differ greatly between the two versions of this product.
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