What are the Best Tools for Removing Spyware, Adware, and Malware?

If you have been on the Internet for any length of time, you’ve probably ran across the topic of spyware, adware, or malware. This is software that has installed on your computer, many times without your permission, or accidentally by clicking on a popup ad, etc. The problem with these programs is they will slow your computer down, make changes to your desktop, homepage, search page, load programs into your taskbar tray and otherwise get in the way. In the worst cases, they will even transmit information from your computer to servers on the Internet.

So the question becomes, if your computer is infected with these problematic programs, how do you get rid of them. In most cases, you can run a free removal program to remove these infections, in more serious cases, you may have to download a specialized removal program to free yourself of these problems.

Listed below you will find the best freeware programs available on the Internet for removing spyware, adware, and malware:

Adware and Spyware Removal
Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE 1.06
Spybot Search and Destroy 1.4
Microsoft Windows Defender

Ewido Anti-Malware
a² (a-squared) Scanner

Preventing the Installation of Adware and Spyware
SpywareBlaster 3.5.1
SpywareGuard 2.2

Specialized Removal Programs
About:Buster - Removal of CWS HomeSearch Hijacker or res:// hijacker
CWShredder 2.19 - CoolWebSearch Removal Tool from Trend Micro
Elite Toolbar Remover
I-Lookup Toolbar Uninstallers - Version 1 and Version 2
Incredifind and PerfectNav Uninstaller
Kill2Me - Removal of Look2Me infections
Lop.com Uninstaller
OmegaKiller for removing hijackers like
Omegasearch.com Prosearching.com. Search200.com. Mysearchnow.com. Searchexe.com
SmitRem for removing Spyaxe, SpySheriff, Winhound and others
VX2.BetterInternet for XP/2000 for Removing Look2Me
VX2.BetterInternet for Windows 9X for Removing Look2Me
WildTangent Remover

Programs to Delete Undeletable Files
Pocket Killbox
Remove on Reboot Shell Extension
Unlocker

Helpful Tools for Investigating Adware and Spyware Infections
HijackThis 1.99.1 by Merijn
SysInternals Process Explorer
Sysinterals RootkitRevealer

Online Virus Checkers
Trend Micro Housecall - will scan and remove threats
BitDefender Scan Online - will scan and remove threats
Ewido Online Scanner - will scan and remove threats
Jotti’s Online Malware Scan
Kaspersky Online Scanner - appears to only scan for but not remove threats
Panda Activescan - appears to only scan for but not remove threats
McAfee FreeScan - appears to only scan for but not remove threats
eTrust Antivirus Web Scanner - will scan and remove threats
Symantec Security Check - will scan and remove threats
Dr.Web Online Check - user can upload and test for threats on particular files

Trojan Scanner
TrojanScan by WindowsSecurity.com

Free Antivirus Programs to Download
ANTI-VIR
AVAST
AVG

TCP/IP and Winsock Repair Utilities for Windows XP and 2000
LSPFix by Cexx.org
Winsock XP Fix
XP TCP/IP Repair utility

IEFix Utility for correcting Internet Explorer problems