Cleansing Your PC of Malware for Free

9/15/2009 (cnh/DA)

Malware, often ignored by anti-virus software, has become as big of a threat to PC’s in the business environment and in the home due to the expenses related to loss of Productivity and the cost of repair/cleansing. To cleanse an infected system may take an experienced technician 2 hours or more, at a typical shop labor rate ranging from $65 - $125 per hour, not to mention the loss of productivity due to the down PC and user.
Several free utilities have emerged that do a real good job of cleansing; they can be downloaded for free, and are fairly comprehensive to install and run. If your PC is starting to get sluggish, starting to get “pop-ups,” starting to get warnings from your own anti-virus software, or if you’ve clicked on a “warning” while surfing websites that “your PC is infected” and you had a moment of belief and you clicked to download the “personal antivirus” that offered to save the day, with some time and a little bit if patience, you can rid your own PC of its maladies.

Download the following free software:
Malwarebytes – http://www.malwarebytes.org
Spybot – http://www.safer-networking.org
Ccleaner – http://www.ccleaner.com

Certain infections may stop the infected PC from accessing many known anti-virus and anti-malware sites, including the above, so it may be necessary to download the required setup files from a clean PC and transport the files to the infected PC via network or Flash Drive. Download or copy all three setup files to a location and note the location (to the desktop for example).

Many infections will be easier to remove with Windows in Safe Mode, so it is advisable to restart Windows in safe mode. To start a PC in safe mode, restart Windows; during the restart, when you see the PC Manufacturer logo / startup screen, start tapping the F8 key. In a few seconds, you should see a Windows Startup Menu, and the top of which you should see “Safe Mode,” “Safe Mode with Networking,” “Safe Mode with Command Prompt.” Preferably, select “Safe Mode with Networking.” When Windows starts in the mode you selected, log in if necessary; if there’s an option about “System Restore” do not select System Restore, rather continue in Safe Mode.

Malwarebytes
Browse to the location you stored the setup files and launch the setup for Malwarebytes “mbam-setup.exe” and follow all default prompts. At the Finish screen, leave the default options selected, i.e. Update Malwarebytes and Launch Malwarebytes. When Malwarebytes’ main screen appears, select “Perform Quick Scan” from the first tab. You may continue below while Malwarebytes is still running; your system may be a little sluggish, but there’s no problem continuing and overall will take less of your own time.

Spybot
Browse to the location you stored the setup files and launch the setup for Spybot “spybotsd162.exe” and follow all default prompts. At the Finish screen, leave the default options checked to Run SpybotSD.exe and TeaTimer.exe. When Spybot launches for the first time, it will suggest letting it create a registry backup, and then update its definition files prior to the first scan. Once these are complete, Spybot may restart and then you may start the scan by pressing “Check for problems.”

Once the PC is scanned and cleaned with Malwarebytes, Spybot, and whichever anti-virus is installed, I will reboot the computer. Remember it’s been running in Safe Mode for the scanning/cleaning in order to minimize the number of items installed and running in memory. Restart the computer and allow it to restart normally.

Ccleaner
Ccleaner has several different handy tools, two of which I use specifically after a malware cleansing – Cleaner (file delete) and the Registry tool.
The cleaner tool is a file delete tool. It deletes files from several common repositories on the PC, where some malware may leave remnants, including Temporary Internet Files, Temp file space, Deleted items bin, and many others.

The registry cleaner tool scans the PC registry for several types of anomalies and corrects them. Oftentimes a PC will run somewhat faster after the registry cleaner has been run.
--C