Is spyware active while the computer is shut down?

Question

i was wondering if spyware is still active while its shut down bcuz its on my laptop right now

Answer 1

Nope...

Any form of Malware must have the computer system turned on, the operating system running, sometimes the user logged on, and really wont do much unless you are on the internet.  

Some forms of Malware are so bad that they will use up all of your CPU or memory, but most want to cause a vulnerability in your system so that others can remote into your machine.

Spyware is truly just collecting what you surf so that advertisers will know what to send you in pop ups or in SPAM.

Your best start is to read to this forum -

http://www.castlecops.com/HijackThis.htm...

Which will walk you thru the tools listed -

http://wiki.castlecops.com/Malware_Remov...

One important thing is the fact that you should completely update the Operating System and ALL of the patches.  If your machine is patched for the vulnerability on the HD, then YOU cannot get infected.  It is the more proactive approach (patching your machine, keeping your software updated, using the most current firmware and drivers).  AV is ALWAYS reactive!

If you need any help (especially if the forum is slow), please let me know!

Edit - Nice site Steve... How active / responsive is the BLOG?  Sometimes Castlecops gets busy?

Answer 2

Once you shut down the computer the spyware is no longer active.  It can only affect the system when it is in Windows (or in some cases the virus does infect the BIOS or other motherboard components, generally not the case nowadays though).

If your computer is infected though I would recommend going through the following guide.  It's long but the steps will help you to solve the problem with the computer:

http://ultcomprepair.blogspot.com/2008/0...