How to Remove Spyware Protection

The Internet is replete with computer viruses, waiting to spring on your computer at the slightest opportunity. If you have been naive enough, to not use a genuine antivirus and antispyware software, your computer is a sitting duck for rogue malware programs like 'Spyware Protection', that can seriously compromise the whole system. In this Buzzle article, you will find a simple strategy outlining how to remove Spyware Protection from your computer and get your system back to normal working condition again.

Hackers are growing more and more creative in writing computer viruses that can seriously affect your system, by masquerading as a benevolent program. What better way to gain the trust of a potential victim computer user, than gaining his or her trust as an antispyware or antivirus program? That's exactly the strategy employed by hackers today in creating programs like Spyware Protection.

Spyware Protection - A Rouge Malware Program

Before we talk about Spyware Protection removal, let me provide a profile of this malware program, which has spread to computers worldwide. This program typically finds a way to your computer through websites that you visit inadvertently while browsing through search results. Once installed on your system, it will announce itself by popping a window, which is typical of antivirus software programs. It will claim that your system is riddled with viruses which pose a threat to your computer's security and you need to buy the paid version of this program to get rid of them.

Don't fall for this lie. On the pretext of protecting your system, the malware program will slow your system down, block other programs and keep annoying you all the time with alerts. This is how such scareware programs roll. Spyware Protection particularly targets Windows based systems. Let us see how to get rid of Spyware Protection.

How to Remove Spyware Protection Virus?

There are two ways you can disable this rogue malware program. Either you can disable it manually or use the best antivirus software which can do this for you. Let us take a look at both approaches.

Manual Removal of Spyware Protection Virus
To remove the virus manually from your system, you need to know the names and file paths of its executable and other related files. You will also have to clean out the registry entries made by the virus. Boot into safe mode (Restart and hit F8 on reboot to select safe mode) on your Windows PC and run 'Task Manager' by hitting 'Ctrl+Alt+Del' keyboard combination. Kill all processes with random names or ones that are named as 'Spyware Protection'. Next, delete files with path names, which are something like:

• C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\SpywareProtection.exe
• C:\Documents and Settings\[Username]\Application Data\[random].exe
• Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Spyware Protection 2010

Also delete registry entries like 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "Spyware Protection 2010'. I assume you know how to delete registry entries. Once you have gotten rid of these files, install an antivirus software like Spyware Doctor to run a complete system scan and clean the whole system. If you delete the right executable files and registry entries, your computer should be free of this malware program.

Use a System Restore Point
Another way of getting rid of this virus program is to use a preset system restore point to revert the whole system to a previous state, when it was not infected. This is when the system restore points come in handy.

Reformat and Reinstall Operating System
Lastly, if your computer has become a virus zoo, the best way of clearing them out is to format and erase your hard drive. Take a backup of your most important data on an external hard drive and completely reformat the drive using the recovery disk of your operating system. Reinstall the operating system back again and reinstall all the drivers. Install an antivirus software with regular updates to prevent a recurrence of such a situation.

If none of the above suggestions work and your computer is riddled with too many viruses, it's best that you go for a complete formatting of your computer hard drive and reinstall the operating system. That is the best way of purging your computer and getting it back to normal working condition. Make sure that you install the best antivirus software after reinstallation which will prevent further infection of your computer, by viruses like Spyware Protection.