The best way to scan for and remove adware on a Windows PC

Microsoft Windows 8 and newer versions come (by default in most cases) with Windows Defender which already offers protection against the most widespread malware like viruses, Trojans, and worms. However, Windows Defender won't detect and/or remove adware. Adware is usually not harmful by itself but can be very annoying. Here's how to get rid of it.

The recommended way to detect and remove adware from a Windows PC is to download and run Microsoft Safety Scanner. The scanner is created to be available for 10 days after download, just to make people use the latest version when running new scans. Microsoft recommends to download the latest version before every scan. It doesn't require installation. Everything you need to do is download the executable file and run it. The tool is officially recommended by Microsoft and is completely free.