There are ways you can prevent, or at least make it harder for adware to be installed on your computer. Adware and spyware make your computer sluggish as well as send unwanted information to advertisers or worse, hackers. Here are some ways to detect and remove unwanted adware programs. Also, there are ways to remove programs that are already installed on your computer.

First off, try and stay away from sites that are considered “bad neighborhoods”. Bad neighborhood sites are sites that tend to have spam ware or an abundance of pop-ups. An example of bad neighborhood sites are hacker sites, warez, pirated software, adult and free streaming movies websites. If you do go to these types of sites, try and not to download anything of the pop-ups that come up and be careful of the wording on the pop-ups. A good way to remove pop-ups without clicking on anything is pressing shift f4.

If a pop-up does come show on your computer and asks you if “you would like to proceed to the site,” make sure that you click no. Many times these types of pop-ups trick the user into clicking yes and the pop-up will automatically start installing malicious programs onto your computer.

If you do download programs onto your computer from bad neighborhood sites, you can use software such as Spychecker to check for adware and spyware before you download the program. Also you can run the potential download file through your anti-virus software. Most antivirus software can also check for spyware and adware.

Lastly, use a firewall on your computer. Firewalls block unwanted programs from entering your computer and gathering information. If adware cannot communicate with the internet and with your compute simultaneously, then the adware program will not work. You should also get in the habit of running an anti-virus or adware detection software such as Malwarebytes. Run the scan daily during a time when you’re away from the computer.