CLEAN UP VIRUSES AND WORMS 1. You are about to visit a site developed by Pandasoft, where your system will be cleared of any viruses or worms that you may have. There will be adverts selling stuff but there's free stuff you can use until you are happy that your system is clean, then if you want to, you can go and can buy antivirus software to protect your PC in future. 2. Before you start, if you're on hometime or your ISP (such as Freeserve or AOL) has a cut off time, make sure you disconnect then reconnect to give yourself time to complete the scan, it could take a while depending on your system. 3. If you have access to a printer it would be a good idea to print this guide off, just in case you get lost. It would also be easier to get back to this CleanmyPC site by adding it to your favourites (click 'add to faves'). 4. When you're ready click this link, you may have to give permission to access the Internet if you have a firewall up, and then click the icon 'free online virus check' or 'scan your pc'. On the next page that opens, click next. You may receive some pop up messages that may scare you but they are adverts and you may like to read the content, as this is the reason why you are here. 5. Enter your email address if asked to, click send. Select country if asked to then region then click start. You may be asked to download an ActiveX file, which is fine, when the security warning shows, click ok. 6. If your firewall kicks in enter password and allow to use internet, activescan will then down load then wait……… if you want to browse then open another window or you close the download and have to start again, watch the blue line progress, the file you're downloading will take a look at your systems files, on a 56k dial up it took 17 minutes to check my PC. 7. Click scan all my computer (scans emails too) Allow your firewall through again and watch green line and number of files scanned, there may be some noises made, this is scanning floppy drives. 8. Minimize the window so you can do other stuff while it looks at pc but don't disconnect from the Internet or you will have to start again. It could take ages depending on the amount of files on you computer from start to end it took 27 minutes in total to check mine. 9. CONGRADULATIONS... by now you should have a report saying that you either had or did not have any viruses. Either way your system is clean of these parasites so go on to the next step to clean out some other stuff. CLEAN UP TROJANS 1. You are about to vist a site developed by windowsecurity.com, this site offers a free trojan scan and will remove anything it determines as malware etc. 2. Before you start this process, if you are on hometime or your ISP (such as Freeserve or AOL) has a cut off time, make sure you disconnect then reconnect to give yourself time to complete the scan, it could take a while depending on your system. 3. If you have access to a printer it would be a good idea to print this guide off, just in case you get lost. It would also be easier to get back to this CleanmyPC site by adding it to your favourites (click 'add to faves'). 4. When you are ready click here, the windowsecurity.com page will open. When the security window opens (may take a moment to load) click on 'yes', the next page loads and presents you with some options, to the left ensure that 'scan memory' and 'prompt' are selected, click the boxes to the right for which drives you want scanned, you should place a tick by left clicking your mouse to indicate the drive/s selected. 5. Now click on start scan, this process may take some time so sit back and watch, after the scan finishes, if anything nasty is found, click on remove it. 6. This scan will remove anything you have on your PC at this time, just remember that you are not fully protected in future unless you install this or some other antivirus / antitrojan software, if you decide to install this software you will still not be protected after its expiry date unless you pay for the license. CLEAN UP ADWARE SPYWARE 1. Before you start, if you're on hometime or your ISP (such as Freeserve or AOL) has a cut off time, make sure you disconnect then reconnect to give yourself time to complete the scan, it could take a while depending on your system. 2. If you have access to a printer it would be a good idea to print this guide off, just in case you get lost. It would also be easier to get back to this CleanmyPC site by adding it to your favourites (click 'add to faves'). 3. You are about to visit a site developed by XCleaner, where your system will be cleared of any Adware and Spyware that you may have. Click here to begin the process, before you continue you MUST switch off your firewall. When the page loads click auto install. X-Cleaner Easy Installer will start to load and may take some time depending on your internet connection, when the installer loads click YES. Then keep clicking NEXT until the installation is complete, then click FINISH, you will then be asked if you want to try out Al Roboform click no for now as this is another area of PC security that you may like to try at a later stage. From the XCleaner window click SELECT ALL then START CLEANING, you will be surprised at what will be found, to destroy the nasties click REMOVE IT. You now have to restart your computer so click yes or press [CTRL] [ALT] [DEL] keys all together. 4. You MUST now restart your firewall. CLEAN UP HARD DRIVE 1. Before you start, if you're on hometime or your ISP (such as Freeserve or AOL) has a cut off time, make sure you disconnect then reconnect to give yourself time to complete the scan, it could take a while depending on your system. 2. If you have access to a printer it would be a good idea to print this guide off, just in case you get lost. It would also be easier to get back to this CleanmyPC site by adding it to your favourites (click 'add to faves'). 3. The site you are about to visit is topshareware, click here to start, you should be looking at a window displaying HS CleanDisk Pro 5.11. 4. Towards the bottom click on the 'download ' button, then click open and wait, you will then get another window saying 'this will install HS Clean disk Pro, do you want to continue?', click yes, follow the instructions by clicking next, click the radio button to accept the terms and conditions, click next, and keep clicking next until you get to the install button, click the install button, you may be asked if you want to create the directory so click yes, then the finish button. 5. You have just installed the software so now go and register your email address to receive free information if you want to, otherwise click ok. 6. You may need to allow your firewall through so give permission. The next step is to actually run the software so make sure 'files' is selected, if you want to back up what's deleted click the padlock button, then click find. The software then runs through your system searching for junk. When done have a look through the junk by moving the slider, when you are ready click delete. You will need to restart your computer to clear out the remaining junk so, add this site to your favourites so you can return, if you want to register and buy the software please do otherwise you can only use CleanDisk for 15 days. There are other utilities well worth a look at such as 'memory' optimization. 7. You now need to restart your computer. UPDATE WINDOWS 1. Before you start, if you're on hometime or your ISP (such as Freeserve or AOL) has a cut off time, make sure you disconnect then reconnect to give yourself time to complete the scan, it could take a while depending on your system. 2. If you have access to a printer it would be a good idea to print this guide off, just in case you get lost. It would also be easier to get back to this CleanmyPC site by adding it to your favourites (click 'add to faves'). 3. To prevent unauthorized access to your computer, you must download and install windows updates on a regular basis, these updates consist of security fixes and other files that keep your computer running smoothly, click here to start the process. 4. You should be looking at the windows update page. Click on the scan for updates button. When the 'Pick updates to install' page arrives, click 'Preview and install updates'. 5. Depending on how long it was since you last updated your PC, will determine the number of updates available. It can take many hours to get all the updates you require so go through the list and remove or add any that you may or may not need. There will be critical updates, your version of windows updates, and driver updates. 6. If you decide to close the site down, you can return at a later date to carry on from where you started off, just look for the icon on the desktop and double click it. DEFRAG MY DRIVE 1. Now that you have cleared out all viruses, Trojans, Adware, Spyware and complete junk, it's time to go and put your computers files in order. When you save stuff on to your hard drive, the system puts that file in the best place and not where you would think (after the last one that was saved). What happens with this process is that when you have deleted stuff, there's lots of gaps or, 'defragmentation'. We need to put the files that belong together in the right places. 2. Before you start, if you're on hometime or your ISP (such as Freeserve or AOL) has a cut off time, make sure you disconnect then reconnect to give yourself time to complete the scan, it could take a while depending on your system. 3. If you have access to a printer it would be a good idea to print this guide off, just in case you get lost. It would also be easier to get back to this CleanmyPC site by adding it to your favourites (click 'add to faves'). 4. click here to begin, then click 'Download a free 30 day trial of Power Defrag 3!' 5. You should be looking at the powerdefrag.com page. Click the 'http://www.powerdefrag.com (United States of America) link, and click open in the download box; it should take about 5 minutes. Then you are presented with the set up wizard, click next and select the radio button to accept the terms and conditions. Keep clicking next and then the install button and launch the software. You can use this software for 30 days before it expires. 6. A new dialogue box opens welcoming you, click ok and then right at the top click the 'Power Defrag Tasks' box to check it. A confirmation box opens telling you that your machine will restart a few times, add this site to your favourites so you can come back later. 7. This process could take a very long time depending on your system, a scan of your drive will take place and determine if you have any errors, then when the window eventually opens and the defrag process begins, click on the show legend button, this will show you what the individual box colours mean. The white spaces are where you have removed all the junk etc. Try pressing the page down or up to see how much mess there is. 8. Ok now click yes and go and sort out your drive.