what are the best free adware/spyware removal programs?

Here you are:

Pick and choose at least 2 from the list below. New spywares are created literally hourly, so no single anti-spyware can really detect all malware. Have at least 2 on hand and alternate scanning with each every few days or so. All are free. All can remove as well as detect.

Spybot Search and Destroy:

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index....

Ewido:

http://www.ewido.net/en/download/

Adaware SE:

http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/

A-Squared:

http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/

Windows Defender (Beta 2):

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/s...

Unfortunately, many "paid for" anti-spyware products are in fact either of limited usefulness or downright scams. When in doubt, look at the list of rogue anti-spyware solutions listed here:

http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.h...

And to protect your computer from ever getting infected with spyware in the first place, you can use these 2 freebies:

SpywareBlaster:

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.htm...

SiteAdvisor:

http://www.siteadvisor.com/

2

Depending on how safe you surf, you may not need an active monitoring app,

such as TeaTimer, which is in Spybot S&D.

By installing the hosts file, IE-SPYADs, SiteAdvisor and WinPatrol,

you will have a pretty good line of defense which won't use up any resources.

this is the link you reqire for the apps http://temerc.com/hddncounttuts.html......

for anti virus use http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

for spyware use ewido

http://www.ewido.net/en/download/

And of course a firewall is a must,

tho the XP SP 2 firewall is not sufficient in my opinion.

It only blocks incoming attacks, and should something get thru and that's always possible,

then it can call out to get more things installed or use your machine as a zombie

I'd recommend Zone Alarm, but one of the older versions from here:

http://www.oldversion.com/program.php?n=...

Either of the 4.5 versions seem to work best, less buggy than current ones

Antiviral. (free)

AVG free. Excellent protection available from: http://www.grisoft.com/

Don't use two antiviral products together as they may be incompatible. If your Antiviral trial has run out, then remove product from your computer and get the AVG installed.

Anti-spyware (all free)

O.K. Some quick links to get you out of trouble

Essential products are: Adaware SE from: http://www.lavasoft.com/

Spybot SD http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index....

Spywareblaster http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.htm...

Windows Defender - http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/s...

Spycatcher

http://www.tenebril.com/consumer/spyware/spycatche...

Ewido http://www.ewido.com/

PC starter kit at download.com 20 of the best recommended programes for people new or less advanced in computers. Check all three pages, at bottom see Security/Tools/Fun

http://www.download.com/PC-Starter-Kit/2001-12350_...

Now for some informed reading, courtsey of 2-spyware Research centre.

Anti-Spyware contains the list of all known legitimate anti-spyware programs that can effectively detect and remove spyware, adware threats and other kinds of computer parasites from the system. Listed programs have been carefully tested by the 2-spyware.com research center and successfully passed our strict tests. This means that all of them can quite precisely recognize a particular pest, completely disable it by terminating its processes, deleting its essential files, registry entries and other related objects and eventually clean the infected system ensuring that no unsolicited programs will stay and attempt to violate your privacy and harm your computer.

All the products in Anti-Spyware category really work, do not deceive the user by producing false positives and cannot damage a compromised computer while eliminating found malware. However, it is important to know that not all of them are recommended for daily use. Each spyware remover in the list comes with a review describing its positive sides, drawbacks and impression it left. Such review also includes program screenshots, information about its price, implemented features, performance and general effectiveness. We rate tested programs by giving marks from 1 to 100. The higher mark a spyware remover gets the more effective it is. Please carefully read each review, pay attention to the rating mark a program got and read comments published by other visitors. This will help you to make a wise choice and compare your current anti-spyware program with other modern solutions on the market.

If you cannot find a particular spyware remover in anti-spyware category, take a look on the category of corrupt tools. It contains the list of rogue, fake, illegal, even harmful applications that definitely cannot correctly detect and remove various security and privacy threats and therefore must be avoided.

Additionally we provide the list of recommended anti-spyware software that got the highest marks and therefore is the most effective. From the personal experience we can tell that one spyware remover is not enough, different programs find different parasites. You need to do a wise choice.

Anti-spyware tools:

Total Anti-Spyware products in our DB: 71

Recommended Anti-Spyware products:

Spyware Doctor

(91/100) - real time protection; deep file scan; optimal (low) system requirements; complete system scan; highly configurable

Spy Sweeper

(89/100) - real time protection; trial version available; deep file scan; complete system scan; highly configurable

Spybot Search and Destroy

(84/100) - quick performance; real time protection; free to use; highly configurable

Windows Defender Beta 2

(75/100) - real time protection; free to use; deep file scan; complete system scan

For more information from this site http://www.2-spyware.com/anti-spyware

To check software downloads first for malware or problems:

http://www.freedrweb.com/browser/interne...

C Cleaner.http://www.ccleaner.com/

This will tell you a lot about what is on your computer, such as running programmes,cookies, History, settings etc. and will help you clean up and remove unwanted items. Be careful how you use it as it is a very powerful programme and you should read the help index before you do anything with it.

Hope this information is of help to you and others.

First run an ewido scan. There's a 30 day trial. Also AVG free version is good ad removing malware. Also a good firewall is zonealarm. There's hardly any problems with it.

Try some of these:

Spyware, Adware, Trojans, Malware, Dialers, Popups:

http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Editi...

http://www.ewido.net/en/download/

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.htm...

http://www.download.com/Bazooka-Adware-and-Spyware...

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sgdownload.html

http://www.safer-networking.org/

http://www.download.com/HijackThis/3000-8022_4-103...

http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/download/

Online Scanners:

http://www.webroot.com/consumer/products/spysweepe...

http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/virusinfo/scan....

http://www.pandasoftware.com/products/activescan.h...

http://www.bitdefender.com/scan8/ie.html

http://www.windowsecurity.com/trojanscan/

http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner

http://www.spywareguide.com/onlinescan.php

http://housecall65.trendmicro.com/

Spyware, Adware, Trojans, Malware, Dialers, Popups Lists:

http://www.softpedia.com/catList/104

http://www.download.com/Adware-Spyware-Removal/315...

http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads31.html

http://www.filehippo.com/software/antispyware/seta...

http://www.soft32.com/s/Windows/Security/AntiSpywa...

Antivirus:

http://www.grisoft.com/

http://www.avast.com/

http://www.free-av.com/

Antivirus Lists:

http://www.softpedia.com/catList/1

http://www.download.com/Antivirus/3150-2239_4-0.ht...

http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads29.html

http://www.filehippo.com/software/antivirus/

http://www.soft32.com/s/Windows/Security/Antivirus...

Firewall:

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/prod...

Firewall Lists:

http://www.softpedia.com/catList/97

http://www.download.com/Firewalls/3150-10435_4-0.h...

http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads34.html

http://www.filehippo.com/software/firewalls/

http://www.soft32.com/s/Windows/Security/Firewalls...

IP Blocker:

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/peerguardian/pg...

Browser:

http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/

Email, News, RSS:

http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/

System Cleaner:

http://www.ccleaner.com/

System Cleaning List:

http://www.softpedia.com/catList/98

http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads12.html

http://www.filehippo.com/software/cleaning/

System Info:

http://www.softpedia.com/catList/92

http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads9.html

http://www.soft32.com/s/Windows/System_Utilities/S...

ccleaner/spybot search and destroy/adaware free/avg free/

http://ccleaner.com/

http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Editi...

Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.4 http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index....

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/s...

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.htm...

Kaspersky provides both antispyware/antiadware and antivirus in one application. It also provides realtime and web protection against threats. You can download it (you need a valid email) from:

http://www.activevirusshield.com/antivirus/freeav/...

a-squared Free 2.0 http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/download/

It's very good and free. You need to register it with a valid email address, but it's still free.

Xoftspyse all you need