My Steps in Removing Virus/Malware

Incidently, a friend of mine who recently was introduced by me into the world of computing and internet, called me this morning asking for advice. He suspected that his PC was somehow infected by a virus or a malware, and do not know how to remove it.

Will first rule of thumb... PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURING... I have repeatedly told him that don't simply clicked Yes to any pop up that appears on a web page. Sometimes it is too hard to remove a particular malware/virus once it has taken root inside your PC.

Well, here is what I would do if I ever encounter this situation. This is just a rough guideline which I try to follow... This usually works on most virus/malware on Windows

a. Try to determine whether the reason your system becoming sluggish or unusable is not because of something else. Sometimes this could be caused by slow network connection, failure of an application, even after a fresh installation. Sometimes registry error due to install & uninstall process could become the reason why your PC becomes so slow.

b. After confirmation that it is because of something else, I'd do the following. Generally I will try to use anti-virus and anti-malware to do it.

c. Verify that I have access to System Restore and als to Internet. This is because I would like to try to stop any application from restoring my PC to a previous point, and also would want to get the latest update to my ati virus/malware.

d. Uninstall your current Anti-Virus. Obviously there could not cater for this virus, since the PC are infected. Install a new one, AVG free edition or Avast is a good choice, because they are free. Install it but DO NOT RUN it yet. Update with latest virus definitions.

e. Install Ad-aware personal edition. Update its definition, but DO NOT RUN it yet.

f. Install Spybot Search & Destroy. Update its definition, but DO NOT RUN it yet.

g. Boot Windows into Safe Mode.HOW ?? Restart your computer and press F8 before Windows loads. Press F8 several times if you need to. Select Safe Mode from the resulting menu. Safe Mode disables much of the startup routine (including some common Malware hiding places).

h. If you already in safe mode, start the Anti virus. Delete or heal any files with virus.

i. Run your Malware Scanners - Run both the scanners sequentially, deleting any references found.

j. Reboot and turn System Restore back on.

k. Enjoy your sanitised computer. Hopefully. If you still want your old anti-virus, uninstall those tools I have listed above, and reinstall the old anti-virus.