The Dink Network

As an intermittant IT guy, I have to deal with this stuff all the time. Unfortunately, there are few solutions to fixing computers riddled with adware and spyware that do not involve a long and ardous process of eliminating almost every last piece of malicious code. Your best bet is to get another computer from your workplace, have the tech guys (or you, if you're the tech guy) set it up for you. Then transfer only your important files, like documents and spreadsheets, from your "adwared" hard-drive to your new computer. If you can't network, you can take out your old hard drive and set it as a slave drive in your new computer. You can then grab the files that way. Every instance of Adware I've seen has to actually be installed and in the registry in order to work, so you shouldn't have to worry about it popping up again by simply having the old drive slaved.

However, if you have a virus... then you should get your drive cleaned of it before doing any of that. If it can't be cleaned, then you'll probably have to kiss it goodbye as it gets reformatted. I seriously doubt the IT guys will want to spend the time working on it.

In the future, try to avoid grabbing cute, free programs like cursors or screen savers, especially if the free stuff was advertized in banner ads. Even things like WeatherBug have been reported to contain spyware. There are often statements buried in the license agreement in these programs that state in cryptic legalese that you're basically giving them permission to install all these extra ad programs onto your computer. And once they are there, they can be extremely difficult to remove, as you already know.

Also, keep a program like Adaware or Spybot Search & Destroy installed on the computer. They will help block and destroy adware before it becomes a problem.