Anti-virus
- Anti-virus / Anti-spyware software
- Anti-virus and/or Anti-spyware is only a first line of defense. It is fairly "easily" circumvented, disabled
and/or corrupted by malware. (It's actually very difficult, but malware has the upper hand since both are
simply add-ons to the insecure 1970s VMS style design of Windows.)
- Avoid "Security Suites", particularly if you are on any kind of a network.
- Free programs
At&t customers with 3Mbps or faster service can get McAfee for free.
You can get a free version of AVG.
- AV programs don't protect against recent or, e.g., IE exploits, so keep your removal tools updated and available.
- General guidelines for Removal
- Always be sure to check for updated program and/or definitions before scanning.
- For best results, run a complete scan.
- Viruses sometimes prevent downloading and/or installation of anti-virus programs. If this happens:
- Try downloading and installing Malware Bytes in Safe Mode with Networking. If you can't download it, try
downloading on another PC and copying to a USB drive. In rare cases you'll also need to rename the
downloaded file.
- In extreme cases, you may need to remove the hard disk, install it as a secondary disk in another PC, and
scan it there. Note that this method will not scan as completely as a normal scan will.
- Rootkits are undetectable (by definition) to virus scanners on the infected PC. In most cases you will
need to remove the hard disk, install it as a secondary disk in another PC, and scan it there.
- Often, removal of malware will break TCP/IP (or other things). See this.
- Recommended Removal programs
- Malware Bytes
- Installs and Runs in Safe Mode as well as Normal Mode
- Free version does not run in the background
- Purchased version contains real-time protection
- Super-Antispyware
- Finds many Rootkits (when scanning as secondary file)
- Catches a few things Malware Bytes misses
- Loads an update component on startup
- Finds tracking cookies
- Purchased version contains real-time protection
- Norman Malware Cleaner
- Runs in normal mode without requiring installation
- Catches a few things the above two miss miss
- HijackThis
- Use this program to clean up hooks and other damage done to browsers, startup programs, etc.
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