Free Download Spyware Removal Spybot

admin 02.08.2019 02.08.19

Jun 19, 2017. Adware and spyware removal Spybot - Search and Destroy is an adware and spyware detection and removal tool that can protect your system from various malware, keyloggers and other malicious programs. It offers an on-demand scan option as well as real-time protection, browser immunization and. Free download Spybot - Search & Destroy latest version 2019 for windows 10, 8, 8.1 and 7 Setup for PC & Laptop 64 bit, 32 bit. Free internet security program specialises in the removal of malware, spyware, and adware.

Spybot Spyware Removal Free Download

On Thursday we asked you to share your favorite tool for purging malware from your computer. We've tallied the votes and we're back with the top five contenders for best malware removal tool.

Best Malware Removal Tool?

Even if you're running one of the best antivirus application available, your PC can still end…

Spybot Search & Destroy (Windows, Freeware)

Spybot Search & Destroy has made quite a name for itself over the years, earning accolades from both general and computer-focused publications. Spybot Search & Destroy is the highest ranked freeware tool at 2Spyware.com, a website that ranks malware removal tools. In addition to scanning for malware, Spybot Search & Destroy also has a variety of additional functionality, including a botnet scanner, hosts-file modification (to keep malware from calling home), a secure file shredder, and a dummy code feature (it replaces malicious or questionable adware modules with inert code so the dependent program will keep functioning). As an added bonus Spybot Search & Destroy is compatible with every version of Windows dating back to Windows 95.

SUPERAntiSpyware (Windows, $30)

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SUPERAntiSpyware is available as both a freeware and premium edition like Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware (see below), but the level of restrictions on the freeware edition are considerably higher. The free version is limited to basic on-demand scanning and malware removal. The premium version includes real-time scanning, registry protection, a scheduling service, auto-scan on startup, and 50 startup diagnostics to stop malware infections before they spread. One of SUPERAntiSpyware's strongest selling points is its high level of compatibility with other protection tools like Avira, Kaspersky, Symantec, and McAfee. In most cases it can be run along side other tools without any conflict.

ComboFix (Windows, Freeware)

ComboFix is just as spartan as the screenshot here makes it look. You download ComboFix, run it, and it takes care of the rest. The basic ComboFix process looks like this: It backs up your registry, checks to see if you have Windows Recovery Console installed, and then it goes to town on your system scanning away through 40+ stages. When it's done, ComboFix spits out a log file and lists all the malware it found, which ones it was able to remove, and which ones you'll have to use your Google-fu to look up how to remove manually. It isn't fancy, but it gets the job done and gives you a detailed report at the end to take to security forums for help if you need it.

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware (Windows, $25)

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Malwarebytes' flagship application Anti-Malware is a shareware malware-removal tool. The principle difference between the free and premium version of the application is real-time monitoring. If you don't need active scanning against threats, the free version uses the same database and does an admirable job ferreting out infections. Anti-Malware was, for example, one of the few malware removal tools that could detect and remove the Antivirus XP 2008, a spyware application that masqueraded as an antivirus app. The Anti-Malware installation includes another application from Malwarebytes called FileASSASSIN—a helpful tool for deleting files locked by Windows.

HijackThis (Windows, Freeware)

HijackThis stands alone in this Hive Five as being the least automated yet most likely to completely wreck your system if used incorrectly. HijackThis does a comprehensive scan of the state of your computer and reports back an enormous log file. The tool makes no judgement on whether or not an application, browser modification, or registry entry is malicious or not. It simply generates a list of things that could have been potentially altered or tampered with by spyware, malware, or other malicious programs. Advanced users can look over the log themselves and determine what needs to be pruned. If you're not comfortable doing that, your best bet is to take the log file to a popular security forum like BleepingComputer or SpywareInfoForum and ask their armies of knowledgeable volunteer malware slayers to comb over it for you. Alternately, while not a replacement for receiving expert help from people in the forums, HijackThis.de is a web-based HijackThis log reader which is updated nightly. You upload your log file, it scans the file for relevant entries and gives you links to articles on how to remove the malware found in the log.

Now that you've had a chance to look over the contenders for top malware killer, it's time to cast your vote and see who goes home with the crown. A note about the poll: the option for 'Other' is missing from this week's poll. We understand that the best way to get rid of malware is to hit it with multiple tools until the infestation is good and dead, but we'd like you to cast your vote based on the best possible (single) tool for the job, not on the scorched earth policy of using them all. If you have an Other vote for a completely different malware-removal tool, we're happy to hear it in the comments.

Which Malware Removal Tool is Best? Spybot

(answers)

This week's honorable mention goes to 'Reformat' (as in your hard drive) as a last-ditch, foolproof solution to your malware problems. Apparently sometimes when you find a mouse in the kitchen the only way to be sure there aren't any more of them in the walls is to burn the whole house down. Have a malware horror story, a favorite tool, or a prevention tip you want to share? Sound off in the comments below.

Spyware is a form of malware that tries to steal information from you without you knowing or approving. It could be disguised as legitimate software or work behind the scenes to do things like track web browsing data or monitor keystrokes to collect passwords.

You might have a spyware infection if your computer's performance has recently started to suffer, and especially if strange pop-ups are showing up, websites are redirecting to places you don't want to go, email contacts are getting odd spam messages that appear to be from you, or you're a victim of identity theft.

Below are several free anti-spyware tools that can scan your hard drive, flash drive, external hard drive, etc. to remove spyware. Some of them only work when you manually start the scan but others will monitor your computer all the time to make sure spyware can't modify your computer or monitor your information.

All the programs mentioned below are known to scan for spyware but they might not scan for other things like viruses. Other scanners remove some kinds of malware but not spyware, so we've omitted those from this list.

Spyware is often bundled with a normal program's installer. See How to Safely Download & Install Software for some tips on avoiding spyware in the first place.

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SUPERAntiSpyware

What We Like

Lots of scan options
Scans can run quickly by using more processor power
You can scan anywhere you want, including the system memory
Works from Explorer to scan any folder/file at any time

What We Don't Like

Doesn't update automatically
Can't schedule scans to run automatically

SUPERAntiSpyware should be your very first pick if you want to get rid spyware that's already on your computer. It updates often, installs and scans quickly, and gives you complete control over what gets scanned.

It's able to check inside ZIP files, skip unknown file types (for a quicker scan), ignore files bigger than 4 MB, and skip over non-executable files (so that only EXEs and similar file types are scanned).

What really makes SUPERAntiSpyware stand out among the others in this list is that it can also be set up to only scan files that have been changed within the last so-many days (1 day, 5 days, etc.), ignore System Restore and Volume Information data, use more of the CPU for a faster scan (called Scan Boost), and even scan the files that shortcuts point to.

SUPERAntiSpyware can scan the whole computer or just parts of it where spyware normally exists. You can also run a Critical Point Scan to delete spyware that's currently running in memory or use the Custom Scan option to pick what gets scanned and where to check (flash drives, internal/external hard drives, select folders, etc.).

This anti-spyware tool can also delete temporary Windows files before the scan is started, exclude folders from scans, scan from the right-click context menu, and close down any open web browsers before scanning.

The freeware version is 100 percent free but you do have to manually run scans and definition updates (they don't happen automatically). However, these limitations are lifted with the professional version.

If you want to try the professional edition, you can enable the trial during installation of the free version.

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Malwarebytes

What We Like

Usually finds more threats than similar programs
It's able to locate PuPs and many types of malware
Can run from the right-click context menu in Explorer
Lets you customize the scan settings

What We Don't Like

Automatic updating requires the premium, non-free edition
Automatic quarantine isn't included for free
You can't set up custom automatic scan schedules

Malwarebytes is another big-hitter when it comes to cleaning up spyware. It's easy to use and tends to find a lot more malicious items than similar programs.

It scans through registry values and keys, files, and running processes, plus includes a heuristics analyzer to find potentially unwanted programs (PuPs).

When the scan is complete, it's really easy to tell where the spyware was found, and selecting the ones to quarantine is just a click or two away.

Malwarebytes can also scan individual files and folders as well as whole hard drives, with the right-click context menu in Windows Explorer. There's an option to scan within archives, ignore certain files/folders, and to scan for rootkits too.

Automatic updates, a more detailed scanning schedule, and automatic quarantine is only available in the premium version. You can start a trial from the top of the free version.

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Avast Free Antivirus

What We Like

Checks for spyware automatically, all the time
Lots of settings you can tweak
Works from Explorer's right-click context menu
Includes other useful tools

What We Don't Like

You might not need or ever use the extra tools it includes
Takes much longer to install than some spyware cleaners
Could be considered cluttered with all the other tools

Avast Free Antivirus can detect and remove spyware before you even know it's on your computer. What makes it different than the two from above is that it's always on and always watching for new threats.

There are lots of settings you can adjust in Avast, like to enable CyberCapture to block unrecognized files, use Hardened Mode to really lock down on security, scan for potentially unwanted programs, scan from Windows Explorer, exclude files/folders/URLs from scans, and lots more.

Also included in Avast is a Wi-Fi inspector, VPN client, junk cleaner, software updater, and web and mail protection

Avast sells paid antivirus programs but also offers this free one, all of which provide anti-spyware protection.

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AVG AntiVirus Free

What We Like

Finds spyware automatically
Scans can be performed during bootup
Includes an advanced, deep clean procedure
Makes finding spyware on external drives easy

What We Don't Like

Uses more system resources than a dedicated spyware cleaner
Includes features you might not want if you're after just a spyware remover tool
Includes ads

AVG is another popular antivirus program that serves as a full malware scanner, checking for and removing not only spyware but also ransomware, viruses, and more... all automatically and for free.

AVG provides not only protection for your computer but also for your web activity and email. You can perform a full system scan, a boot-time scan, or a custom scan, but there's also a dedicated button that instantly starts a check for spyware on all your removable devices.

Another unique feature in AVG is its Deep Scan option that runs a much slower but also more thorough scan, a good option if nothing else seems to get rid of the spyware. You can configure it to recognize files by their content and not their extension, which is ideal if the spyware is using a hidden/false file extension.

The Deep Scan option can also open and scan through over 20 archive file types, much more than most other spyware scanners that usually just support the popular ones (ZIP and RAR).

Something else worth mentioning about AVG is its ability to scan through files in the order that they exist on the hard drive, which can speed up scanning since it's not performing an unnecessary number of HDD seeks.

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Spybot Spyware Removal Free Download

Adaware Antivirus

What We Like

Checks for spyware automatically, all the time
Lets you run scheduled spyware scans
Definitions are updated automatically
Finds other threats, too

What We Don't Like

It's missing several features found only in the Adaware Pro and Total editions

Adaware Antivirus is another anti-spyware program that actively blocks new threats as well as scans the computer for existing ones. It has a clean, new design and isn't hard to use.

This program is unlike some anti-spyware tools because it does update on its own and can even run a full system scan on a schedule.

While it doesn't provide an active web, email, or network protection, when it comes to spyware, you can be confident that it will do everything it can to stop and remove those threats.

Like most always-on antimalware programs, Adaware supports silent/gaming mode and exclusions. It can also scan boot sectors, rootkits, archives, processes, cookies, and registry items.

Several additional features that are in other editions of Adaware are not included in this free version; you can see what they are here.

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Trend Micro HouseCall

What We Like

Doesn't require installation (it's portable)
Uses minimal processor and memory resources compared to other system cleaners
You can pick which parts of the computer to scan

What We Don't Like

Doesn't let you start scans from a folder or file in Explorer
Updates and scans must be run manually

HouseCall is a simple and portable spyware cleaner that doesn't use up a lot of

or disk space but still provides a full scanner against malware.

Just hit the scan button to start the default quick scan, or go into the settings to change where to check for spyware; you can choose everything or custom areas like certain folders or hard drives only.

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SpywareBlaster

What We Like

Protects your computer from new spyware threats
Lets you restore files damaged by spyware

What We Don't Like

Can't find spyware that's already on your computer

SpywareBlaster is different from the rest of these programs since it doesn't scan for existing spyware, though true to its name, it does 'blast' new threats before they can reach your system.

The way it works is that you can enable protection for your web browsers to protect against malicious scripts, exploits, and cookies that track your web behavior. It does this by enabling a pre-made list of blockades (which you can update manually at any time) against certain websites, cookies, and scripts.

The System Snapshot option provides a way to create a backup of various system settings so that if spyware does happen to make changes, you can restore the backup to get your settings back to normal.

There are also some very specific spyware protection tools included in SpywareBlaster, like Hosts Safe to back up and encrypt the hosts file (which is one target for spyware), an Adobe Flash blocker for Internet Explorer, and even a list of your own custom ActiveX blocking rules.

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Emsisoft Emergency Kit (EEK)

What We Like

Checks for actively running spyware and spyware in the file system
Runs in portable mode
Custom scan options
Finds more threats than just spyware
Also works as a command line program

What We Don't Like

The program files have to be extracted, and they take up nearly a gigabyte of space
No option to install it to check for spyware automatically
Scheduled scans aren't supported

Emsisoft Emergency Kit is a portable anti-spyware tool that you can run from anywhere to scan and delete all types of malware in addition to spyware, like worms, adware, keyloggers, etc.

The reason it's on this list is because it's completely portable (doesn't need to be installed) and is capable of scanning for actively running spyware that's currently loaded into memory.

EEK can also check for spyware traces that exist in the registry and elsewhere that could indicate an infection. There are also some options for finding potentially unwanted programs and rootkits.

This anti-spyware utility supports some other features too, like scanning email data files, finding spyware in archives like CAB and ZIP files, and excluding or including only certain file types in the scan.

There are two versions of this tool — one is a regular application with a user interface and the other is a command line utility that's useful for automated or batch scanning. They are both included in this one download.

This program is around 300 MB when downloaded, and after you extract all the program files, the total space required to run it ends up being around 700 MB.

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Spybot - Search & Destroy

What We Like

Great for advanced users
Helps protect your files from new spyware in the future
Can scan any file or folder to check for spyware
Includes lots of options you can customize
Scans for rootkits, too

What We Don't Like

Might be too advanced for most people

Spybot is great for advanced users who want total control of how the program scans and protects against spyware, but it's not ideal for novice users who just want to delete spyware. For that, use one of the other programs mentioned above.

One of Spybot's most notable features is its immunization option, which blocks common threats in various web browsers. It's as easy as scanning for the vulnerabilities and then hitting Apply immunization.

Another benefit of Spybot is that it makes it a breeze to disable tracking cookies that could compromise your privacy, again with just one click.

Of course, Spybot can also 'search and destroy' spyware, too, using its system scanner. If you have particular files to scan, you can do that too.

Among the many options you can enable is one to scan and immunize not only the current user's files and settings but also those of any other user on the computer.

You can also add a spyware scan option to autoplay devices like flash drives, tell the program which folder holds your internet downloads so that it will do deep spyware scans there, and run rootkit scans.

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Dr.Web CureIt!

What We Like

No installation needed (it's portable)
You can choose what to scan, including just the memory
Lots of scan options
Removes other threats, too

What We Don't Like

Free for personal, home use only

The Dr.Web CureIt! anti-spyware scanner is completely portable, which means you don't have to install it and can even keep it on a flash drive or other portable device.

You can scan the whole computer or check for spyware in particular places only, like in the Windows system folder, temporary files, the user's Documents folder, RAM, and some other places.

You can also add your own custom locations like another hard drive or some other folder, as well as scan inside installation packages and archives.

Dr.Web CureIt! is a bit large when compared to these other tools (over 170 MB), but it can also scan for a number of other malware types like adware, riskware, hacking tools, dialers, etc.

Something interesting to note about this program is that it's the only spyware scanner from this list that uses a unique name with each download, which is to help prevent malware from blocking it.

This program is only free for home users. You must purchase Dr.Web CureIt! to use it in any other form.

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ComboFix

What We Like

A spyware scan runs automatically when you start the program
Important files get backed up automatically before deleting any spyware
Installation isn't required

What We Don't Like

Results are hard to read
No graphical user interface
Windows 10 isn't supported

ComboFix is very much a hands-off, on-demand spyware scanner. After downloading it, just open the ComboFix.exe file to immediately start the whole process.

Here's how it works: ComboFix backs up the Windows Registry before anything else, followed by the creation of a System Restore point. After that, the scan starts automatically and you see the results populate in Command Prompt.

When the spyware scan is complete, a log file is created at C:ComboFix.txt and then opened for you to read through. It's there that you can see if any spyware was detected and removed and which ones were found but not removed (which you can delete manually or use another tool to remove).

ComboFix only works on Windows 8 (not 8.1), 7, Vista, and XP.

More Not-So-Free Spyware Removers

The following are some other programs that are not free but do provide constant, always-on anti-spyware shields as well as on-demand spyware scanners/removers and automatic updates:

Norton AntiVirus Plus ($59.99 /year for 1 device): A huge name in antivirus software. The other non-basic editions have more features but are also more expensive.
Kaspersky Anti-Virus ($59.99 /year for 3 devices): Also protects against phishing attempts and dangerous websites.
Zemana Antimalware ($24.95 /year for 1 device): Includes a browser add-on/toolbar cleaner and has a very simple interface that makes it a cinch to protect your system from spyware.
McAfee Total Protection ($69.99 /year for 1 device): Includes a password manager to prevent spyware from collecting your credentials.
Bitdefender Antivirus Plus ($39.99 /year for 1 device): Light on system resources and can be set up with Autopilot to silently protect against threats.

In addition to offering a discount for the first year and heavy discounts if purchased for multiple years at once, most of these professional anti-spyware programs can be tried for free for a week or so, usually up to 30 days, so make sure to check those out before committing to purchasing something.