AdwCleaner, the definitive tool for deleting adware

Nowadays the business models for making free software sustainable in most cases involve the inclusion of adware. Toolbars, changes to the browser start page, or installation of programs that recommend other third-party programs at the same time—all this can load up your computer with junk. Luckily, AdwCleaner is an expert in this field, and can detect and delete all sorts of adware from your computer.

As an efficient and practical freeware tool to disinfect Windows, the program is one of the most downloaded on Uptodown for obvious reasons. It takes up less than 2MB and with no need for installation can treat and resolve problems of a varied nature:

• Hijacking: This technique is based on somehow taking over the software installed on your computer to modify the information it supplies. Most commonly, it changes the default start page on your browser and sends out pop-ups automatically.
• Toolbars: Another unwelcome visitor that’s usually automatically suggested in the installers for any program. The extra toolbars for your browser might turn out to be useful in certain cases, but most often they’re purely a showcase for third-party ads.
• Adware: Some of the system elements that might cause problems include cookies of dubious provenance that store data with no clear purpose, shady registry entries, or installed programs of questionable repute.

The way it works is extraordinarily simple. When you click the scan button the analysis will start and you can see the actions to be carried out in the lower activities tabs. Once the scan has finished you can run those fixes by clicking the ‘Clean’ button, as well as generate a log in a plain-text file from the ‘Report’ button. This last step is more than advisable to in order to find out the filepath on your hard drive for the detected software and delete it manually.

Ultimately, many of the elements fixed will not be completely deleted; rather, AdwCleaner will store them in a quarantine that you can later access to definitively erase them or restore them if they turn out not to be harmful.