SpyWare programs aren't quite as malicious as viruses, but they certainly are annoying. They are usually designed to do things such as track your internet use or cause more pop-up ads to appear while you surf. Get enough spyware on your system, and it'll become slower and more unstable than you could believe. There are two FREE programs that are highly recommended in the war against spyware - SpyBot and AdAware. Each of them by themselves are good, but running both together is much more inclusive. Most experts recommend using two or three different anti-spyware programs to find and remove as much spyware as possible from your computer. Click here for more advice on Spyware. To download on a computer outside of the Fayette County System use these links: Adaware Spybot To download on a computer inside the Fayette County System on our intranet use these links: Adaware and SpyBot

SpyBot & Ad-Aware Instructions Weekly Update & Scan

Once you have these programs on your computer, you need to use them regularly! Each week use the directions below to search for updates and run a scan. Ad-Aware (do this after installing & again each week) 1. Double click on the Ad-Aware button on your desktop. 2. Click OK to check for updates now. 3. Click CONNECT. Click OK to download and install. 4. When done click FINISH. 5. If an "update now" window did not come up, you can click on the Web Update Tool (globe icon) at the top right part of the window to get the updates. 6. Click SCAN NOW. Choose perform full system scan. Click NEXT. 7. When the scan is finished, click NEXT. 8. A list of items will come up that you want to get rid of. Right click in the first box and choose "Select All Objects". 9. Click NEXT. Click OK to remove all objects. 10. You're done. Close the window. SpyBot (do this after installing & again each week) 11. First make sure you are running the latest version of SpyBot - 1.4! 12. Double click on the Spybot button on your desktop. 13. The SpyBot S & D Wizard may come on. It's a pain and still has some glitches. To skip thru that, click NEXT 3 times, then click START USING THE PROGRAM. 14. Click on the Update globe icon on the left side of the window. 15. Click "Search for Updates". Right click on the box next to any listed Updates and choose "Select All" 16. Select the "download mirror". See the picture below. I have had the best luck with the Safer-Networking 1 or 2. 17. Click "Download Updates". 18. As files are updated, a green check should appear beside the boxes. It should only take about 2 or 3 minutes. If it takes longer, go back to step 16. If the red NO symbol appears instead, go back to step 16. 19. Click the Search and Destroy button on the left. Then click "Check for Problems". 20. When the scan is finished, a list of items will come up that you want to get rid of. Make sure all boxes have a check. 21. Click FIX SELECTED PROBLEMS at the top of the window. Click YES to remove all objects. Click OK after problems are fixed. 22. You're done. Close the window.