As computing has become an indispensable part of life, the complexities associated with it has also grown manifold over time. Malware makers have become more advanced and skillful with time and they know how to fool even powerful antivirus software! Therefore, you cannot really sit content after installing a reputed antimalware suite on your home PC. Sometimes, malware manages to creep into the system despite your best efforts to keep them at bay. If that actually happens, you need to spring into action and clean your PC of the rogue entrants as soon as possible.
How To Clean An Infected PC Successfully
Cleaning infection and eradicating malware from your PC may be simple or tedious, based on the level of infection and impact. Sometimes, it may require a few minutes and some users also spend days to get rid of malware from their systems.
Below listed are a few effective methods that will be of use when you find the PC is infected with various types of malware:
Diagnosing The Infection
At times, certain PC conditions can be caused by various factors and malware may not be behind the scene. For example, sluggishness in PC operations can be caused by factors like fragmented HDD, erroneous registry entries etc. This can also be caused by malware attack. So, you need to find out the real cause of several PC problems rather than jumping into conclusion that it is caused by virus invasion! Use Windows Task manager and Registry optimization utilities to find resource hogging apps and state of the Windows registry. Similarly, the disk checking utility can be used to find hard disk health status.
Signs of Malware Infection
Sadly, there is no fixed pattern of malware infection, but seasoned users can sniff the rogue quickly. Some viruses can wreck havoc in registry while some others can hijack the web browser. You may find the browser settings and homepage has changed and web usage experience may turn pathetic. If you find everything okay after running Windows integrated diagnostic utility and still the PC behaves strangely, it is time you detect the malware. Some malware also renders the antivirus ineffective and eliminate core files to stop it from running.
Trying Online Tools To Fix The Infection
If the infection is not severe, you can get rid of it by using online free virus scanner tools. These tools have small footprints and run without installation. Once run, they will inspect the HDD and OS and detect the malware. At the end, you can use the tools to eliminate the found malware. Security vendors like Eset, Kaspersky and BitDefender offers such online virus scanner tools. They are free and user friendly. You can use such tools when the malware has not affected or hijacked your web browser, though.
Trying A New Antivirus Software
When the PC is infected, it is likely that the malware has compromised the existing antivirus software. If online virus scanners fail to detect or remove the malware, use a new antivirus tool. Some of the top antivirus tools offer installation in safe mode. They can be handy to remove persistent malware that resists installing the antivirus normally. The new antimalware will offer to remove the compromised software as well during installation. The new antivirus will run in safe mode to find the rogue app and remove it. Some of these tools create a safer pre boot environment and run the detection and cleanup process.
Resorting To Rescue Disk
When you are dealing with a very stubborn malware that cannot be removed through safe mode, using a rescue disc is the last option -that is before you call the antivirus tech support! A lot of antivirus tools including the likes of Norton, ESet and McAfee offer rescue disc creation. If you have created such a disc, use it to boot into a safe environment and run an intensive scan to remove malware. Using such rescue discs, usually does not require much tech expertise. If you have not created a rescue disc, there are options still. You will find Linux based anti malware rescue discs that can be used to salvage malware invaded systems. Some, such software let you create a bootable USB disk which is easier to use.