Viruses, worms, spyware, adbots -all of these nasties fall under the broad category of “malware” – that is, stuff you don’t want on your computer. All of these infect your system, with varying results. Some may simply present a particular banner ad at a website, based on your browsing history. Others may annoy you with unwanted pop-ups. The worst may monitor your keystrokes looking for passwords or credit card info. Much malware is poorly written and interacts badly with your computer, often slowing the entire system down, and in the most severe cases, totally corrupting your Windows installation.
So, we all agree that malware is bad. Given that there are literally scores of anti-virus programs out there, what’s the best way of removing an infection? This article will give you the tools and methods to clean most infections out of your computer.
To perform this task, you will need a second computer where you can access the internet, and a removable USB drive – often called a flash drive. This will allow you to download the required tools with the assurance that they aren’t infected by your current virus.
On the “good” computer, download the following two tools: Rkill and SUPERAntiSpyware Portable. Save both files to your flash drive. (Make note of the filename downloaded from SUPERAntiSpyware. In order for it to sneak by some viruses, it downloads with a random filename, so we can’t tell you in this article what it will be.) Now we’re ready to get to work on the infected computer.
The first thing to do is to restart the infected computer in safe mode. Safe mode is a special state of Windows where it runs with just the minimal processes required for operation. It doesn’t load any video drivers, sound drivers, startup programs, or -hopefully – viruses. To start your computer in safe mode, turn it off, wait a few seconds and then turn it back on. Before the starting Windows screen appears, while you still see a black screen with text, press the F8 key. (I usually just start pressing the F8 key as soon as I turn the computer on, about one press per second.) After a bit you’ll see a screen with boot options. Select the first – Safe Mode. The computer will proceed to start in safe mode. Since no video drivers have been loaded, keep in mind the screen may well look different.
Some viruses have been known to be able to infect safe mode. So the next step will be to attempt to stop the running virus. Insert the flash drive. You may get a screen asking what you want to do with the drive, select the option to Open to view files. If not, open My Computer and browse to the flash drive. Double-click on Rkill to start it. When it’s done it will display a screen showing what processes were stopped. You can close that window. Keep in mind that Rkill didn’t remove the virus. It just stopped it from running, allowing us to remove it with the next tool.
Browse back to your flash drive and double-click the SUPER Anti-Spyware file you downloaded earlier. This will start the portable version of SUPERAntiSpyware. On the introduction screen to SUPERAntiSpyware, click the button labeled Click here to start. Select your language, and then click the Scan your computer button. Now just click the Next button to perform a complete scan of your system. The scan may take quite a while. Once it’s done it will present you with the number of found infections. Click the OK button to continue. The next screen shows a complete list detailing what it found. Simply click the Next button to remove the infections.
When SUPERAntiSpyware is done, restart your computer and let it boot normally. Your computer should now be malware free!
This article is provided by Steve Smith, The Computer Psychic. All content is protected by applicable copyrights, and may not be reproduced without express consent of the author.
The information in this knowledge base article is provided “as-is” with no warranty, express or implied, as to the suitability or validity of its content. It is up to the reader of this article to determine if the steps outlined herein are appropriate for his or her use. As with all tasks on the computer, be sure to have a current backup of your data before proceeding.
