SECURITY
The following applications do an
excellent job of cleaning up extraneous files, spyware, and viruses in
Windows. These freeware versions do not
usually scan at user-defined times
(the paid versions do). It is better to run them one at a time,
preferably in the SAFE MODE, but I have not (yet)
encountered problems with running
them concurrently overnight as an administrator and in the regular
mode. Before running them open them with
administrator priveleges and click
on Update icons (paid versions usually update automatically).
Because automatic updates can interrupt what
you are doing I
recommend that you deselect automatic updating where possible.
Purifying an entire computer will typically take several hours
and I therefore run them
simulataneously overnight . DO NOT INSTALL MORE THAN ONE ANTI-VIRUS
PROGRAM - otherwise they will interfere
with one another and, at best, slow
down detections.
REVO
UNINSTALLER
Deletes detritus left over by
sloppy or nefarious programming. I liked it so much I bought the paid version,
FOURMILAB PAGE ABOUT PRIVACY (includes links to non-tracking apps)
AVAST
ANTI-VIRUS
Recommended , but disable either
this anti-virus or Zone Alarm's. I use Avast.
CCLEANER
Cleans out unnecesary files,
browser cookies, etc. Also the only reliable registry cleaner I have
encountered. You should repeat executions
until nothing changes (MS Internet
Explorer files are especially stubborn).
SPYBOT
Allows immunization against known
spyware. In my experience it catches the most malware of any of the apps.
If you insist on just one
malware removal app, this is the one.
SECURITY
TANGO (Windows, Linux, Mac)
An orchestrated sequence of tasks
to rid your computer of the most persistent malware. Print out the
list of instructions
before using.