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Windows Quick Start Wizards

Nifty tools to help secure your computer.

Online Virus Scan

Think you might have a virus but have no anti virus software? Try Symantec's FREE Online Virus and Security Check!

Antispyware Scanning Tutorial

Return to Security Checklist
Return to Antispyware Guide

Before You Scan:

All of this software is designed for Windows 98 and above. Users must be logged into Windows with administrative priveleges before they continue.

If your computer is unable to access the internet, then you must perform the downloads on a functional computer (such as a friend's, a neighbor's, or a functional campus machine), and save the respective downloaded files onto a CD-RW or a USB Flash Drive.

You can significantly decrease the amount of time required to scan your computer if you clear out all of your temporary directories. These are located at:

  • C:\Windows\Temp
  • C:\Windows\Prefetch
  • C:\Documents and Settings\ username \Local Settings\Temp
  • C:\Documents and Settings\ username \Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
Microsoft AntiSpyware
  1. Download & install

    To download Microsoft AntiSpyware (beta), go to http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx and follow the download instructions. Save the installer on your desktop. If you cannot access the internet from your computer, download the installer on another machine and either burn it to a CD-ROM or to a USB memory stick, and move it to your own computer. Double-click the installer to begin, and select all of the default installation settings.

    Once you've finished with the installation, start the AntiSpyware Setup Assistant. Select Next from the welcome screen. The setup assistant will ask you if you would like to enable the AutoUpdater. Select Yes and continue. When prompted, accept Real-time Security Agent protection. On the next screen, select No to opt out of the SpyNet community, and click Finish.

  2. Scan your computer

    In the next screen, you'll see that by default Microsoft AntiSpyware is set to run a spyware scan each night at 2 a.m. Click on the Run Quick Scan Now button to begin your scan. This could take several minutes. When your scan is finished, you'll see the following screen:

    Click on View Results to continue. You'll be presented with a display of your results:

    Be certain to select Remove for each of the items in the list. In most cases, you can trust the recommended action and just click on Continue. When the items are removed, you'll recieve a confirmation screen:

    Click on the OK button in the confirmation window, click on Return to Scan Summary and you'll be returned to the main screen:

    At this point you can exit out of Microsoft AntiSpyware.

  3. Troubleshooting tips

    • Be sure to set the automatic scan to a time when you're going to be online.
    • If you've removed spyware from your machine, but are still having trouble getting online, you should try running the WinsockXPFix.exe tool available on the ADCS SafeComputing security downloads page.

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