How to effectively remove malware and adware from your PC

I decided to write this tutorial because I could not find a working solution to my malware/adware problem. All I kept finding were endless junk articles.

Some background information: I'm working on a Windows 10 PC, so this will most likely work on a machine running Windows 7 and Windows 8 (Windows 7 tested).

Step 1

Run the Adware Removal Tool (file attached below) - you may get the official version here too: http://www.adwareremovaltool.org/

Run it. Let it scan. Could take up to five minutes. At the end of the cleaning process, it will ask you if you want to reset your browsers, reset them all.
 
Step 2

Run AdwCleaner (file attached below) - when you run the version I've attached, it will "download" the latest version when you run the application (don't worry, it's a single file that self executes). You may get the official version here too: https://toolslib.net/downloads/viewdownload/1-adwcleaner/. At the end of the cleaning process, this software will prompt you to restart your PC. You have no choice, so let it do its thing.

Step 3 (optional)

Go to your Control Panel > Programs and Features. Here you'll find a list of applications installed on your PC. Click the "Installed On" column so that you can quickly filter through your programs to see what was installed last. Click on the title of the application you suspect to be malware, then click Uninstall.

*It's best to repeat steps 1 and 2 if you choose to follow through with step 3.

I want to give credit where credit is due. Thank you to the creators of ART and AdwCleaner.