Spybot is failing me. It “fixed” the same 27 items every day for a while (as in, it says they’re fixed, green check mark and everything, but then finds them again the next time I run it). As of yesterday it’s fixed the same 44 problems three times in a row.
AdAware always comes up clean, and I just ran CWShredder and it fixed one thing.
I read the Computer Question sticky but didn’t see this particular problem addressed. I know that some of those free download programs are counterindicated with other free download programs but I don’t know which. I’m about to download AVG, will that cause a problem? Should a novice like myself get into Hijack This? I’m tentatively poking my head into the SpywareInfo forum but I got a database error, and I find you guys are usually much easier to understand than those forums.
Have you rebooted into safe mode and tried to remove the offending items again? If they are running in memory when spybot tries to remove them, they can “reinstall” themselves the next time you reboot.
AVG is an antivurus software and is not effective with spyware. Microsoft Antispyware is freely available as a beta and is pretty good too.
Another option would be writing down the names of the items found as spyware and search the internet for removal tools/directions
Go here, read their FAQ, lurk a bit (just read a few threads to get the idea of it), then register without fear and post your problem. They WILL help you. They have helped me several times in the past, quickly and efficiently.
Bazooka is a program that is very good at finding things, and very quick. It does not remove the adware itself, but it has a website explaining how to remove it, which may help keep your problem away for good.