Disconnect your compter from the net if you have a
high-speed connection such as cable or dsl.
1) Go to Add/Remove Programs and look for programs that
shouldn't be there. Things such as Hotbar Toolbar, Gator,
etc. These programs should stand out in your mind as ones
that you did not install.
Write down the names of these programs then go ahead and
use Add/Remove to remove them. This WILL NOT completely
remove the program but begins the process.
2) Go onto your hard drive and look for folders which have
the same or similar names to the programs you just wrote
down. Look under C:\Program Files for these folders.
Delete these folders. In some cases you may not be able to
remove the entire folder or parts of their contents. That
is ok. Just be sure that what you are removing is what you
want to remove. If in doubt, leave it in.
3) Go to Start | Run and type in 'regedit' (no quotes).
When your registry comes up do Ctrl-F (Find) and type in
part of the name of one of the programs you are looking
for. For instance, if you have the Hotbar Toolbar you
could simply type in 'hotbar' (no quotes). Click Find Next
and the search begins. When it stops on an entry look at
it closely. Does it have the name of one of the programs
you are looking for? If so, delete that key. Hit F3 to
continue the search.
When you get the message that you are at the end of the
registry do Ctrl-F and repeat the process for the next
piece of spyware/malware. Repeat as necessary.
4) Reboot your machine. Come back in and look for any
leftover folders that shouldn't be there and try to remove
them again. You should now be good to go. If not, repeat
the above steps and reboot once again.
As far as getting rid of pop-ups, you can either get
Googles Toolbar which has the ability to block pop-ups or
do what I did and switch to Firefox. It is a stand-alone
browser (no email, chat, etc built-in) which has a built-in
pop-up blocker. Since I've been using it I haven't seen
any pop-ups anywhere.
You could also try Mozilla which is a browser suite
(browser, email, etc) or Opera which is another browswer
which has built-in pop-up blocking.
