Best adware removing software that's free

Question

What are some of the better free adware removing software out there?

I tried adaware but I keep getting these funny redirects in firefox when I search in google that go to ad/affiliate type pages.

Answer 1

I would recommend Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. It is free and has never let me down.

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Webpage

Answer 2

AVG Anti-virus

Malware Bytes Anti-Malware

Spybot S&D

Those are the three that I use, luckily I'm in an environment where I just re-image an infected machine instead of removing malware, so if there are any newcomers I may have missed them, but these are the biggies.

Answer 3

Also, if you're adventurous, and feel competent in your skills, then there is ComboFix, from

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix

ComboFix is not for the light-of-heart though, proceed with caution...

Also, i throw in my vote for MalwareBytes too; that is an excellent one!

Answer 4

SUPERAntiSpyware.com | Remove Malware | Remove Spyware - AntiMalware, AntiSpyware, AntiAdware!

Answer 5

First of all, check out your c:\windows\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file. You may find it populated with bogus IP's for all the usual anti-malware sites. Clean it out.

Second, I recommend pulling the hard disk, putting it in as a second disk (either via USB or direct attached) and doing the malware cleanup from the clean-booting system. I've found even the best anti spyware software does poorly at removal when installed on a system post-infection.

Short of that, you may be stuck with manual removal, such as this site:

http://forums.maddoktor2.com/index.php?showtopic=21291

Answer 6

I've always been very happy with Hitman Pro. It's actually a tool which downloads, installs, configures and runs all sorts of different free anti spy ware tools, like Ad-aware, Spywareblaster, ...

Answer 7

Nothing beats educating users how to properly avoid malware infections on their computers.

That said, I use Windows Defender because it comes with Vista/7.

Answer 8

I've always used Spybot Search & Destroy

Answer 9

I always use the combo of Spybot Search and Destroy and Lavasoft's Adaware Free Edition. I find if those two do not remove everything or help me clean it, it is time to reinstall the machine.

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

http://www.lavasoft.com/single/trialpay.php