Can a spy-ware be removed by an anti-virus?

Answer 1

Yes, a spyware can be removed by an antivirus. Antivirus are designed to detect and clean threats present in your computer. Antivirus has libraries of virus signature that contains footprints and data that a virus may contain. Antivirus software will scan each file and check its virus signature database to find any match for any virus signature. Antivirus will attempt to clean or delete the spyware if possible. If you are running a full system scan, try running it as administrator to avoid cleaning errors.

Answer 2

It can be, yes, but since this is not really the job of an anti-virus program, you shouldn't count on it. You will be safer if you get an anti-malware program, like Spybot (there is a free version), or Malwarebytes (must buy after a free trial). There are also a few behavior-based anti-spyware programs, which might be good, like zemana antilogger, but I don't know if it is worth the cost. These will try to detect the logging of keystrokes, unauthorized screenshots, and other such activity. They will not generally scan for spyware, however--just watch for spyware activity.