Thursday, September 30, 2010

Thursday Sept 30th

Today I will be going over virus removal. I had two appointments today that were centered around this, each one I ran the same exact gambit of anti-virus tools and was able to clean up the machine and get it working like new. Beginning with diagnosis, being able to recognize a virus is 10x more important than actually knowing how to clean it out. Most viruses will slow down, lock down, and eventually destroy your computer if untreated.

Typically they come in the form of "virus cleaners" that offer to scan your computer for free and they ALWAYS find a "virus" on your system. They will then offer to sell you their product in order to remove the virus; **Never do this!** after getting your information they will then initiate hundreds and thousands worth of charges to that bank account and will ruin you financially if you allow them to. Only trust technicians when it comes to proper virus removal, and never take the easy way out by purchasing the software.

When it comes down to virus removal there is two schools of thought on how to do it properly. Manually and Automatically, either works as well but doing it manually requires much more in depth knowledge of computers than I can go over in a blog post. Doing it automatically through programs requires a toolkit with the proper programs to do the removal. typically you need a rootkit remover, a malware remover, and an active anti-virus protection system.

I cant recommend any rootkit removers, they are dangerous to use without the proper know how and again I cant explain how to use them in one blog post.

Malware Remover:
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

Active Anti-Virus:
AVG(free)
Avast(free, for one year(?))
Norton(paid, yearly subscription)
McAffee(paid, yearly subscription)

I also suggest getting Ccleaner and using it regularly to keep your computer cleaned out of useless junk.

Once you have your tools either on a flash drive or on the computer in question you'll need to start the computer up in safe mode. You can do this by restarting the computer and mashing the F8 function key as it boots up. It should give you a list of start up options including 'Safe Mode' and 'Safe Mode With Networking'. If you can use 'Safe Mode With Networking' otherwise 'Safe Mode' should work just as good. From there you need to run Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, which should clean up the majority of viruses with a simple scan. After a scan, Malwarebytes will ask you to restart the computer; do so and then run Malwarebytes again in normal mode. This should clean out the majority of viruses in your computer, If this doesn't work I can only advise calling a local technician to do the cleanup for you.

Once your computer is cleaned you will need an active anti-virus agent, and of the ones I listed above should work equally well. I always suggest either AVG of Avast merely because of the cost(FREE!), but if you have a preferred system and don't mind the cost McAffee and Norton work just as well.

8 comments:

The Reviever said...

I could recommend Ad-Aware from myself. Been using also Spybot- Search and Destroy along with a "regular" antivirus.

Defective Robot said...

Thanks. I was actually hoping to find some good advice on getting rid of viruses. My computer is being slower than usual

Unreal said...

Same as The Reviever for me :P

John Powel said...

You have very educating posts. nice work.

anon1337 said...

This could be very helpful thanks.

JooLamp said...

I hate viruses, had one before and had to format my harddrive :/ hope you get your comp clean, man

RandomlyRated said...

thanks for the details

Gicioch said...

Spybot would be my recommendation, helped me alot.