Let's face it, the internet is a Mecca of pornography, viruses, and spyware, especially if you run a Windows computer. Spyware is on the loose as you are reading this. But fear not. From detection to extermination of viruses and spyware, it's all here.
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Co-authors: 42 Updated: May 6, 2022 Views: 149,317 Categories: Computer Virus Protection
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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 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 look for other things like viruses. Other scanners remove some kinds of malware but not spyware, so we've omitted those from this list.
SUPERAntiSpyware should be your very first pick if you want to get rid of 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. It 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 SUPERAntiSpyware Pro X. The software works with Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7.
If you want to try the professional edition, you can enable the trial during installation of the free version.
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 Windows 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. This program runs on Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7, as well as macOS 10.12, 10.13, 10.14, 10.15, 11, and 12.
The same company offers the lighter, and portable, Malwarebytes AdwCleaner tool that you can use instead. It finds not only spyware and adware, but also PUPs and browser hijackers.
Avast Free Antivirus can detect and remove spyware before you even know it's on your computer. What makes it different from 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. You can download Avast for Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7, as well as macOS 10.12, 10.13, 10.14, 10.15, 11, and 12.
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 file 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 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. Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows XP users can download AVG. It's also supported on macOS 10.10, 10.11, 10.12, 10.13, 10.14, 10.15, 11, and 12.
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. Their website says the program can be installed on Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7, so there's a good chance it runs fine on Windows 11 as well.
HouseCall is a simple and portable spyware cleaner that doesn't use up a lot of 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. HouseCall is available for macOS 10.12, 10.13, 10.14, 10.15, 11, and 12; as well as Windows 11, Windows 10 and Windows 8.
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) and a list of your own custom ActiveX blocking rules. It's said to run on Windows 10, 8, and 7. Although not confirmed, it probably also runs fine on Windows 11, too.
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 the 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 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. You can use this program if your computer runs Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, or Windows XP.
F-Secure's free spyware scanner is extremely easy to use. It's very lightweight, takes seconds to download and under a minute to start scanning. You don't have to do much to check for and remove spyware and viruses with this program. Just open it from wherever you downloaded it, and let it do its thing—it'll present you with the results when it's finished scanning. You can use this program in Windows 11 and probably older versions, too.
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 200 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. It runs on Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP, and is free for home users only. You must purchase Dr.Web CureIt! to use it in any other form.
Sophos has all kinds of security software, including the free Scan & Clean tool that can identify and delete spyware, zero-day malware, Trojans, rootkits, and more. Like some of these other options, this program is totally portable, so it won't take long for it to start finding and removing spyware and other kinds of infections. However, there are some settings you can edit if you want to, like to compress unknown suspicious files before uploading them to the Scan Cloud, and to delete malware remnants. Due to its "proprietary cloud technology," this tool is always up-to-date, so you don't have to re-download it each time you want to scan your computer. You'll get a report at the end of the scan that shows things like how many threats were detected and how many objects were scanned.
There's a 32-bit and a 64-bit option on the download page. It runs on Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7.
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), Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.
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