Running Ad-Aware
Follow the steps below...
Ad-Aware (not to be confused with "adware" which is a shortened version of "advertisement driven software" and usually unwanted by most users) is an anti-spyware utility by Lavasoft that detects and removes malicious software (commonly referred to as "spyware").Use this program to ensure that no unwanted software has found its way onto your system, and to remove anything that may have snuck in. This program works well in tandem with Spybot to provide double coverage for your system.
- Double click on the icon called Ad-Aware SE Personal, if you need
help finding it, look at the picture below.
- Generally if you haven't updated it in a while, when the program
starts up, it will prompt you to do so, telling you that your
definitions are XX days old, when it does, click "OK"
- This will start the automatic update program that downloads the
newest list of bad guys out on the web, so you'll want to make sure
that you are connected to the internet, and then click on the
"Connect" button in the bottom right hand corner of update
window as seen below.
- Ad-Aware then tells you that a new file is out on the net, and that it
wants permission to download that new file, Click ok, as seen below.
- Ad-Aware then begins to download the file and tells you of it's
progress. When it is done, you should click the "finish"
button..
- Once you've finished updating Ad-Aware, you're returned to the main
screen, and you want to start a scan, so if you've already found that
button in the bottom right corner that says "Start", click
it now.
- The smart scan is kinda silly, so make sure you check "Full
System Scan", then click "Next".
- When the scan is finished, it will show you that in the upper left
area highlighted in the picture below, it will also tell you how
many critical objects it found, if any. If you click
"Next" it will let you handle those critical objects.
- Ad-Aware keeps a list of all the critical objects that if found,
and you can see that list by clicking on the critical object
tab as seen below. You want to make sure that you have selected,
or Ad-Aware has selected all of the objects in that tab before you
click the &auot;Next" button.
- Ad-Aware will then try to quarantine, then delete those critical objects, meaning you have successfully protected your computer by running Ad-Aware Personal Edition SE.
