Misconceptions! Let's clear up a few of them.
F r e e w a r e I s I l l e g a l - - NOT!
Plenty of totally free products are available online for home computer users that will help to protect your computer. These products are made by folks who make money by voluntary donations from people like you and me and from corporate users who must pay to legally use these products. They are NOT illegal.
Among the products that you are free to download and free to use are:
Spybot Search And Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/
SUPERAntiSpyware
http://www.superantispyware.com/downloadfile.html?productid=SUPERANTISPYWAREFREE
SpywareBlaster
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
AVG Free Antivirus
http://free.avg.com/download?prd=afe
Y o u r C o m p u t e r I s M a j o r l y S c r e w e d - - NOT!
Even though getting rid of malware is much more difficult than preventing it getting onto a computer in the first place, it is not impossible. You must determine which is more troublesome for you.
On the one hand, you can spend the time necessary to fetch and install all the programs that may be necessary to eradicate malware from your computer. On the other hand, you can spend the time necessary to wipe your computer's hard drive and install everything from scratch.
Each of these Herculean tasks require time and energy. Only you know how many personal files, settings, and other techno-esoterica exists on your computer. You will need to save all this data to removable media if you intend to wipe your computer's hard drive and start its life over again.
Which will take more time and energy? Will 'cleaning' the malware off the Windows-based computer be faster and easier? Or will wiping the hard drive of all data and reinstalling Windows and all your fave programs be faster and easier?
If you have a snazzy new machine with a restore CD, DVD, or a restore partition, you may have an easier time just restoring your machine to factory-new condition.
If you like to tinker and customize your computer, you may revel in the complete start-from-scratch experience.
If you like to watch the magic of malware-eradication software, that may be the action you want to perform.
F e a r Y o u r C o m p u t e r - - NOT!
Above all, when dealing with computers, you need to learn not to panic, and you need to understand that everything can be overcome after you weigh the pros and cons of each choice you have in recovering from each action you take on the computer. This refers also to your Internet habits.
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/malware-removal/remove-xp-antispyware-2009
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