Free, Near-Foolproof Way to Evade Windows Spyware

adam wenner writes "I have typed up instructions for 'non-computer people' on how to remove spyware and malware (and viruses for that matter). I have tested this procedure on about 40 computers and have never had any problems with any of it. Most people would say a nice 'format c:' would solve the problem, but for most people, that isn't good, and it's a headache reinstalling and migrating stuff over to a freshly formatted machine." I could have used this a few months ago while trying to mitigate malware damage to a friend's system.

Comments

Re:I'd be the last to post something like this, bu

[timothy]

a) The good thing about the linked list is that it gives a step-by-step for those not much familiar with Windows (like me), but sometimes asked to help with someone else's crippled machine.

b) Not everyone's ready to give up Windows; the grandmother whose machine I (very slightly) helped clean up this winter likes Windows well enough, when it's working, and she brings home work from the office to do on it. Her husband's machine, though, I just replaced with one running Knoppix. Progress, progress. They both like the card games that come with a typical Linux install (and there are more than come with Windows).

c) This *is* educating users.

So ... what's the problem? :)

timothy

A couple of extra steps..

[Mike McCune]

1. Don't run as administrator. Create another account as restricted user for daily use. Most spyware requires administrator rights to install.

2. Download and install Microsoft Antispyware http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/s oftware/default.mspx . Sure is is still beta but it works pretty well. For those anti MS types out there, MS bought this software from Giant Software.

Any other tips?