I have deleted a spyware without using an antivirus software

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Way back 2004, when I was still using windows 98 OS, my computer was infected with a spyware. I didn't know about spyware at that time. (I learned about it when I have installed the AD-aware SE, still in windows 98.) My computer suddenly functioned abnormally and strange messages began to display on the screen. The computer suddenly hanged, the mouse and keyboard didn't function as well. I restarted the computer and the same thing happened. I restarted again but this time, I immediately pressed CTRL-ALT-DELETE keys simultaneously while windows was loading during startup. When the task manager opened, I was surprised to see the letter "a's" pop-upped in the windows process successively. I realized that, that was the culprit so I just ended the task process . I restarted windows again in safe mode, searched for the file "a" and it appeared. It is an a.exe file. I deleted it, restart windows again in normal mode and the computer ran fine now. But now, I already have antivirus software. I just use this strategy when strange thing happens in my computer. But I don't recommend this to anyone who has little knowledge of windows processes. You can go to www.processlibrary.com to know more about windows processes. Do you have similar experiences of removing virus and spyware w/o using an antivirus?