Has your computer been infected? Are there popup windows on your screen asking for payment to clean your infected computer. Is the Metropolis police chasing you for browsing the internet? Or do you just want to check your computer for your peice of mind. Well we have 5 basic steps for you to take to help achieve a clean PC clear of viruses.
There’s only one way to guarantee a computer clean from all virus and bugs and that’s by doing a low level format of a hard disk and reinstalling Windows from scratch.
However the following steps can be taken for the vast majority of virus infections.
We do not recommend you follow these steps unless you are comfortable in using a computer as if something goes wrong or is performed incorrectly they can severely affect the running of the computer. Please make sure you have a backup of all your data before attempting any virus clean up
Step 1 – Clear all Junk Data
Windows leaves a lot of junk around when you use the computer and a lot of the time this is where bad files hide, so it is good to delete them, and it has the added bonus of speeding up virus scans as there are less files to go through.
There are ways to do this manually but generally it is a bit long winded to go through all the options so we recommend CCleaner to do it all for us.
- Download, install and run CCleaner.
- On the left hand side select the “Cleaner” tab.
- Deselect cookies for your browser if you want to keep your user name and password history. Also make sure the recycle bin does not have anything you need.
- Now simply click on “Run Cleaner” at the bottom right hand side.
- When it finishes just close CCleaner.
Step 2 – Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free utilises Malwarebytes powerful technology to detect and remove all traces of malware including worms, trojans, rootkits, rogues, dialers, spyware and more.
- Download, install and run Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free
- Make sure you are connected to the Internet and let the program update.
- Select “Perform a Full scan” then click on “Scan” and give it about 30 minutes to 1 hour to complete. Longer if you have a lot of files.
- On completion of the scan make sure all items on the list are ticked and click remove items. Restart windows if it asks you.
- In some scenarios where you are unable to run or Install Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, try and attempt the following Step 3 before attempting this step.
- If neither work, then Windows has been affected and we would need more specific symptoms to advise you how to proceed. So feel free to contact us for any questions.
Step 3 – Combofix
Combofix is a freeware program designed to scan a computer for known malware, spyware and remove them. Be very careful when using this specific program.
- Download Combofix from bleepingcomputer.com website
- Close or disable all running Antivirus, Antispyware, and Firewall programs as they may interfere with the proper running of ComboFix. Instructions on disabling these type of programs can be found again at Bleepingcomputer.com
- Run combofix by clicking on the downloaded combofix.exe file then clicking on “Run”. Follow the steps making sure you read the disclaimer. If it asks you to install Microsoft recovery do so.
- When this is completed a blue screen should come up saying “Scanning for infected files”
- Now do not touch the computer until you see a log.txt file pop up. this indicates combofix has completed.
- Make sure to re-enable your Anti-virus program
Step 4 – Run a Full System Anti-Virus Scan
- Load your Anti-Virus program. We recommend avast! Free Antivirus for the free option and Norton Antivirus for paid for antivirus software.
- Check for updates for both the program updates and the virus definition updates, download if necessary.
- After you have fully updated your Anti-virus program, run a full system scan.
- On completion confirm that all infections have been removed.
Step 5 – AdwCleaner
- Download AdwCleaner from bleepingcomputer.com
- Make sure all other programns are closed and click “Search” and wait to see file list.
- Close file list and click delete
- Computer will restart
Still Having Virus Problems?
If you feel these steps have not cleared your computer fully please contact us with symptoms you may still have. There are many other scanning programs but they tend to be more target specific so we need to know more so please call us on 0207 22 11 355, or email us at info@bapcs.co.uk
