DIY Virus removal

It seems that getting viruses is an inevitable part of computer ownership anymore. “ I’ve spent many a night cleaning“ viruses of of our family’s computers, and have often been thankful that I have had the skills to do it myself, rather than having to pay someone $100/hr. “ In the spirit of sharing, here are four quick and easy virus removal tips you can do yourself:

Step ONE – Install anti-virus software: “ As simple as this may seem, about 25% of the computers I see don’t have antivirus installed. “ Some viruses are “tricky” enough to block installation of AV software, but for many this is all of the cleanup you need. “ The anti-virus software I’m currently reccomending is:

Avira Free

Avast Home

FortiClient Standard

Pick one of the above – all of them are free. “ (I’m partial to Avira, but all three work well). “ Download it to your computer and start the installation. “ Follow the prompts, hitting “Next” or “Ok” as needed. “ You’ll probably need to reboot to finish the installation

Step TWO – Clean up your temporary files: Often viruses keep their files in your computer’s temporary files. “ Cleaning out these unneeded files can be a big help. “ The easiest way I’ve found is to download and run TFC. “ Here’s how to run it:

• Download TFC here, and save it to your computer.
• TFC“ will close all programs when run, and reboot your computer when it’s done, so save and close your work first, and make sure to let TFC run uninterrupted.
• Start the program by double-clicking on it.
  
• Click the Start button (in TFC) to begin cleaning. “ It’s going to take a long time, so be patient!
• TFC should ask to reboot your machine when it’s done. “ If it doesn’t, do it yourself to ensure a complete clean process.
  

Step THREE – Install and run Maywarebytes’ Anti-Malware:

• Download Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware here, and save it“ to your computer. Download the Free Version.
• Double-click mbam-setup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
• At the completion of the install, be sure a checkmark is placed next to
  [✓“ ]“ Update Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware
  [✓“ ]“ Launch Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware
• then click“ Finish.
  
• If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version.
  
• Once the program has loaded, select“ Perform Quick scan, then click“ Scan.
  
• When the scan is complete, click“ OK, then“ Show Results to view the results.
• If the scan finds any malware, be sure that the boxes near them are checked, and click“ Remove Selected. If it finds a particularly “evil” file, it may have to restart your computer to remove it.
  
• When completed, a log will open in Notepad. and you may be prompted to Restart.

Step FOUR – Download and run GMER rootkit removal: rootkits are extremely sneaky viruses that can hide from most antivirus software by pretending to be legitimate parts of your comuter’s operating system, or even the antivirus software itself. “ GMER doesn’t run under Windows7 64 Bit mode, so skip this if that’s what your computer runs.

If “ your computer is“ particularly“ messed up, you can download the files above onto a CD-R or Flash Drive on another computer, and try the above steps in “Safe Mode”. “ Microsoft“ has Safe Mode startup instructions for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.

http://tjschmitz.com/blog/2010/09/01/diy-virus-removal/