How to Delete Malicious Programs

Malicious programs, or malware, are unwanted programs that can cause annoyances and problems on a computer. Malware includes threats such as viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware and adware. Malware infections can cause a variety of problems, including ad popups, changes to system settings and loss of access to certain areas of your computer, such as the Control Panel or Task Manager. The best way to delete malicious programs is to run an anti-virus program and malware removal scanners that can detect and delete malware.

• 1

  Run an anti-virus scan. Open your anti-virus program, click the "Scan," "Check for Threats" or similar option, wait for the scan to complete and remove all threats that are found. If you don't have anti-virus software, download and install AVG Free, Avast or Avira AntiVir.

• 2

  Go to "Cnet: Malwarebytes Anti-Malware," "Cnet: Ad-Aware Free Internet Security," or "Spybot - Search & Destroy" (See resources) click the "Download Now," link save the file to your computer, and run the install process (agree to the license agreement and click "Next" and "Install" as necessary). Each of these programs is a malware removal tool capable of detecting and deleting malware. If you choose install Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, go to Step 3, if you install Ad-Aware, go to Step 4, and if you install Spybot, go to Step 5.

• 3

  Click "Start," type "mbam.exe" into the search box, press "Enter" (the program will launch) and then click "Scan." Wait for the scan to complete and choose to delete any malware discovered by the scan. You can check for updates before scanning by clicking the "Update" tab and then clicking "Check for Updates."

• 4

  Double-click on the desktop shortcut for "Ad-Aware" created after installation and then click "Scan System" after the program launches. Remove any malware that is discovered by the scan. Click the "Web update" button to update the program.

• 5

  Click "Start," "All Programs," open the "Spybot Search and Destroy" folder, click "Spybot Search and Destroy" and then click "Check for problems." Delete problems that are discovered after the scan. You can update Spybot by clicking the "Search for Updates" button.