How to Manually Remove Adware in Windows XP

Adware may redirect your Internet searches.

Adware refers to small computer programs that are designed to advertise. These programs may change your home page to a particular site, redirect your Internet searches or flood your computer with popup advertisements. In addition, adware may slow your computer, change your desktop icons and decrease your available memory. You can remove adware from your Windows XP computer by using an antivirus program. However, if your antivirus program does not detect the adware or you do not have access to the Internet, you can remove the adware manually.

Instructions

End Infected Processes

1. Press "Ctrl," "Alt" and "Delete" at once.

2. Click on the "Task Manager," then click the "Processes" tab.

3. End all the processes associated with the adware. For a list of these processes, type the name of the adware into the search box on an anti-malware site such as 411-Spyware.com or 2-Spyware.com (see Resources). Alternatively, search for the name of a process in the Process Library (see Resources) to determine if it is associated with any known adware.

Unregister Infected DLL Files

1. Click on the "Start" menu, then click on "Run" to open the Run box.

2. Type "cmd" (without quotes) into the Run box and click "OK." The Command Prompt opens.

3. Type “regsvr32 /u SampleDLLName.dll” into the Command Prompt and press "Enter." Note that "SampleDLLName.dll" should be replaced with the name of the Dynamic Link Library (DLL) file associated with the adware. To find this information, type the name of the adware into the 411-Spyware.com or 2-Spyware.com search box (see Resources).

Delete Infected Registry Entries

1. Click on the "Start" menu, then click on "Run" to open the Run box.

2. Type "regedit" (without quotes) into the Run box and click "OK." The Registry Editor opens.

3. Locate all of the registry entries associated with the adware in the left pane of the Registry Editor and delete them. To delete a registry entry, right-click on it and select "Delete." For a list of registry entries associated with the adware, type the name of the adware into the 411-Spyware.com or 2-Spyware.com search box (see Resources).

Delete Infected Files

1. Click on the "Start" menu.

2. Click on the "Search Programs and Files" box.

3. Search for and delete all of the files associated with the adware. For a list of files associated with the adware, type the name of the adware into the 411-Spyware.com or 2-Spyware.com search box (see Resources).

References

• Windows: Adware and Bad Things It Does
• FasterPCCleanClean: How to Remove Digital Protection

Resources

• FasterPCCleanClean: Search Box
• 2-Spyware.com: Search Box
• Uniblue: Process Library