Use free Spybot to Search and destroy spyware – Tutorial 1

Search and destroy Windows spyware with free Spybot and our easy to follow tutorials! – Tutorial 1 – Installing Spybot

Want to use free Spybot to clean and secure your PC against Windows spyware and other types of malicious software? If so, visit the official free Spybot: Search and Destroy download page and click to download the latest version. The link should be the very first link in the download section on that page.

Once the file has downloaded, double click on it to start the installation process. The first window you see should look like this:-

Here, select the language you want to use and click on “OK” to be taken to the next window:-

There's nothing really to do on this window other than press “Next >” to move on to the next window:-

Spybot is a completely free Windows spyware scanner, but there are still a few minor restrictions on its use. To see what these are, scroll down to read the licence agreement and when you are happy, make sure “I accept the agreement” is selected, then click on “Next >” to move on to the next window.

Unless you are an advanced user, the default installation path will usually be fine, so leave it as it is and click on “Next >”.

You need to make a few decisions on this step, so let’s go through them now. Simply tick the boxes for the options you want to keep and un-tick the ones you do not. The options are:-

Icons for starting blind user mode: free Spybot has a special accessibility mode for users who are visually impaired. If you or someone who uses your PC is partially sighted, you may wish to enable this option so that the program can be started in this mode.

Additional Languages: Installs additional languages along with the language you selected at the start of the installation.

Skins to change appearance: This will install additional ‘skins’ or ‘themes’ for the program. If you don’t like the way it looks, you can change it by using another skin. This won't make free Spybot any better at catching Windows spyware, but it may make it look cooler.

Download updates immediately: This option makes the Spybot installer connect to the internet and check for updates. It is important to keep your software up to date so that it knows all about the latest Windows spyware threats. However, on our test machine, checking this option resulted in an error. We recommend you select this option but also check for updates manually as soon as the installation is finished.

When you are happy with your choices, click on “Next >” to go to the window below:-

Here we can choose where the shortcuts for the program are created, the default options are fine for the majority of users, so click on “Next >” to move along to the next window.

Some important decisions need to be made on this window. Firstly you can choose if you want to create additional shortcuts on your desktop or on your quick launch bar. More importantly, you can enable or disable "SDHelper" and "TeaTimer". We’ll discuss what these options mean now.

Use Internet Explorer protection (SDHelper): Selecting this option installs a special program module that watches the sites you visit in Internet Explorer and blocks any Windows spyware or potentially harmful content from entering your system.

Use system settings protection (TeaTimer): Seleting this option installs a program module that constantly monitors your system in the background watching for Windows spyware threats entering your system.

Checking these two boxes gives you extra security, so it must be a good idea right? Usually yes, but keep in mind that you probably already have an antivirus monitor running and every system monitor you run slows down your system by a fraction. TeaTimer, Spybot’s system monitor, is quite efficient but still must use some system resources, so the decision to use it is entirely up to you. If you really can’t decide, turn it on for now, you can always disable it later, we will even show you how in a future tutorial.

We do however recommend all users enable the Internet Explorer protection option (SDHelper) so make sure the box for that is ticked.

When you are happy with your choices, click on “Next >”. This will take you to the summary window as shown below:-

You can check your installation options here if you wish, when you are ready, click on “Install” to start installing free Spybot.

There will be a short delay while the files are copied across. When the copy is complete, you will see the following window:-

Congratulations, the installation is complete and you are ready to start searching and destroying Windows spyware! If you want to run free Spybot now, make sure the “Run SpybotSD.exe” is ticked.

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