This article will tell you how to delete spyware and remove it completely from your system to prevent its harmful potential causing any damage. We will look at the symptoms of spyware infection, how to delete spyware once you've been infected, and how to prevent being re-infected.



If your computer suddenly starts acting in a way that seems suspicious, you may have been infected with malware. This could typically be your computer slowing down noticeably for no apparent reason.

Be suspicious of your hard drive working hard with nothing obvious happening. In extreme cases programs may start and close all by themselves, or your CD drive tray may open suddenly without you doing anything.

You should also check your Windows system tray on the Task Bar in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. Check your modem or router too. If you see a lot of Internet activity, the data transfer lights blinking a lot when they shouldn't be, this is when you should ask how to delete spyware, for that is most likely the problem.

The good news is that there are several excellent programs available that will delete spyware. None of them are perfect, but using some of the better programs together should delete most of the infection. You can of course buy programs, or spyware removal may be part of an antivirus program. However, they do not always perform better than the free ones.

Two of the best free programs available are Windows defender and Spybot Search & Destroy. Used together they will show you how to delete spyware to the tune of about 85% of the infection on average.

After using each program to scan the system and remove any spyware it finds, reboot the system and scan again. Do this about three times with each program for maximum effect, as they will often find new problems each time that were not detected previously.

It is vital, of course, to keep the signatures up to date in each anti-spyware program. This is usually simply a matter of clicking an update button. Spyware is an ever-changing environment. How to delete spyware of a particular nature one day may not hold good the next day.

There are many anti-spyware programs that you have to pay for. Be aware that the best known ones are not always the best. Sometimes these programs come bundled with the computer system, which means that most people will stick with them, rather than actually checking independent review sites to see which programs perform best. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. Don't necessarily believe in the big name brands, unless tests show that they also perform well.

Learning how to delete spyware is only half the battle. You need to prevent it happening again. Regular scanning with at least three different spyware detection programs and rebooting between scans, is the obvious way.

Stay alert and take notice of anything out of the usual happening. Once you have cleaned your computer of all spyware, back up everything to an external drive or to removable media.

Keeping your computer in good clean running order requires you to: be aware of the symptoms of spyware infection, know how to delete spyware, and know how to prevent re-infection if it happens.