Windows operating systems
13.08.20191633
Malware can end up on a computer or laptop in a variety of ways. You should clean the system as soon as possible to avoid problems such as unauthorized transfer of personal data to intruders or disruption of the PC as a whole. The following methods will allow you to get rid of viruses yourself completely free of charge.
What to do if the virus is not removed
There are two options to solve the problem:
- Reinstall the operating system. Before this, data from the device is copied and transferred to other media. Then they start cleaning and reinstalling. The procedure requires experience and knowledge, so an ordinary user may not be able to cope.
- Take the device to service. Experts will appreciate the ability to restore files and clean your computer without reinstalling. But if the master says that you need to reinstall, you must agree.
Many laptop owners do not turn to specialists due to the high cost of the service. However, here it is worth weighing all the features; independent reinstallation with subsequent file recovery can be much more expensive.
Removing trash from the recycle bin
Before you empty the Recycle Bin on your computer, we recommend that you look to see if there is anything useful there. If not, feel free to start cleaning.
To empty the Trash, right-click on the corresponding shortcut on the desktop and in the context menu that appears, left-click on “Empty Trash”.
If you want to preview the files before deleting, then quickly double-click the left mouse button on the shortcut to open it. Browse through the files and at the top, after the address bar, left-click on the phrase “empty trash”. The computer will ask you to confirm the action. Left-click on “yes”.
Now you know how to completely clean your computer. Don’t forget to do this type of system cleaning at least once every six months, and let others do the computer repairs!
How to get rid of viruses on your computer (3 methods)
There are three effective ways to get rid of viruses on your computer or laptop. The most radical and fastest way is to format the infected hard drive partition.
Modern viruses can be added to startup, stored in RAM, and there is no guarantee that a virus or Trojan will not get into your brand new or freshly formatted logical drive. Therefore, you need to format the infected partition together with the system one (drive C:) or format the entire physical disk (all existing logical drives of the physical disk of a computer or laptop).
Then you need to reinstall Windows and configure the system. Installing a fresh antivirus, updating and checking all flash drives connected to the computer is required.
The next method of removing viruses is available only to professionals - manual virus removal. To do this, it is necessary to identify a specific virus and remove it in such a way that the virus loses at least 2 abilities: to automatically launch and reproduce (copy). Thus, it will no longer affect the operation of the system after the system is rebooted - it will become safe.
For the average user, it would be better to use anti-virus scanner programs. With this approach, the search, identification of the virus, and removal occur automatically.
The user most often can only influence the result of such a program - delete it permanently; remove to quarantine; ignore malicious or potentially dangerous programs.
Below we will look at the most popular antivirus scanners for quickly removing viruses. We will give them an objective assessment, pointing out their obvious advantages and disadvantages in use.
Utilities for quickly removing viruses. Antivirus scanners
Modern programs (utilities) for quick virus removal are effective software packages for selective operational (2-5 minutes) scanning of local disks and memory of a laptop or computer to detect the presence of malicious software and remove or isolate it.
The main advantage of this type of antivirus software is that it does not require independent installation and therefore can be used periodically and in conjunction with a resident (main) antivirus already installed on the Windows system.
This approach to work allows you to carry out control checks for the presence of viruses with an antivirus already installed or even without it.
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is one of the best utilities for finding and removing viruses and Trojans.
It is described in more detail in our separate article - “The best free program for quickly removing viruses and Trojans.”
But even without reading additional material, the process of downloading, installing and directly using it does not cause any difficulties. The program is completely Russified.
You can use Malwarebytes Anti-Malware to your advantage and enjoyment!
AdwCleaner
Another interesting utility from the developer Malwarebytes. Adwcleaner is not an anti-virus scanner in the full sense of the word, but it is very effective against various kinds of browser extensions, pop-ups, built-in advertising and other garbage.
I would like to remind users that only a specialist can distinguish between a classic virus and a garbage extension or browser toolbar.
This antivirus cleaning utility scans very quickly and looks for any software junk on your computer very well.
Therefore, we really hope that you will like the utility and will serve you faithfully.
Using AdwCleaner is very easy - after downloading, just click the “Scan” button. After the scanner has completed its work, look at the report and remove garbage from the system, or immediately click the “Clean” button.
As a small fly in the ointment, it can be noted that during use, you will have to download a new utility each time again - it is constantly updated. But this is not such a big inconvenience. We recommend for use!
Comodo Cleaning Essentials
Comodo has in its arsenal not only good resident antivirus programs, but also various scanners for searching and removing viruses and vulnerabilities. This is confirmed by the very convenient and powerful utility for quick scanning Comodo Cleaning Essentials.
It downloads quickly and does not require installation on your computer. Updates start automatically the first time you start the program. In Russian.
It also works very quickly: a Windows 8.1 smart scan with all the necessary programs took about 3 minutes. At the same time, we found some potentially unsafe files and vulnerabilities that we created specifically for testing.
Comodo Cleaning Essentials is recommended for use!
Dr.Web CureIt
This is a healing (important!) utility for the computer. It does not provide permanent protection. With its help you can get rid of lockers, and the most common viruses and Trojans such as Win32, cryptocurrency miners.
To get the latest databases, you only need to download it from the official website, and again every time, since the product is constantly supported and updated.
There is no need to worry that the file has such a “complicated” name. After downloading, launch it, accept the license agreement, and get to the menu. We select objects to check by clicking on the line of the same name.
After choosing, we launch a scan, after which we remove all threats from your computer.
Zemana AntiMalware
Needs activation - activation code below.
An efficient and fast antivirus scanner, Zemana AntiMalware uses multiple engines and technologies to find, isolate and remove complex threats. Suitable for installation on a system that already has a main antivirus.
The main advantages of the program: small size of the installation distribution when downloading; Russian language; easy installation; fast scanning; ability to carry out scheduled inspections.
To activate Zemana AntiMalware Premium, use the official promotional license (for 751 days): GIVEAWAY-3667-2597. Promotion source: https://www.comss.ru/page.php?id=4511
Kaspersky Security Scan
I liked this utility from no less famous company than Doctor Web. It will help get rid of viruses. But its disadvantage is that it downloads itself from the Internet, and if it is not there, on an infected machine, then it is useless. There is no doubt about the effectiveness of KSS. This company has a huge anti-virus database, where all the latest innovations in the hacker industry are promptly added.
To get started, download the installer file from the Kaspersky website. You will be offered a free license of the full Anti-Virus for a month. Then decide for yourself whether you need it or not. After which, having agreed with the license, we launch the program.
After Kaspersky Security Scan is launched, select “computer scan”, and then “change scan settings”.
In this menu, put a check in the “Perform a more in-depth scan of your computer” box, after which we go back and run the scan.
After the scan is completed, we remove the detected threats and restart the computer.
Windows is blocked by a virus, solution to the problem
You turn on the computer, and instead of the usual colored squares, it shows you a window with a message that your system is locked, and to unlock it you need to send an SMS. These are the consequences of the work of Winlocker malware, which evolves and becomes more sophisticated every year. This problem is solved using Dr.Web LiveDisk. We will need a working device from which we can make a bootable USB flash drive or disk. for the media you will be using. In the example I will use a flash drive. When we hover over the button, information about the file will be displayed. We need a storage device with a capacity of at least 1 Gb.
We launch the downloaded file, we get to the bootable USB Flash installation window. IMPORTANT! When a flash drive is mounted, all data from it is formatted, so save the files separately so as not to lose them .
Having created a bootable USB flash drive, insert it into the infected computer and boot from it. To do this, you must select boot from the USB port in the BIOS. On modern computers or laptops, look for the boot menu on some F key. It looks something like this:
Select our bootable USB flash drive there and launch it. You should be in a menu like this
Choose a language. Select Dr.Web LiveDisk and wait for the system to finish loading.
When you choose to continue, Dr.Web CureIt starts automatically. Run the scan and remove the virus.
If you need to save some important files, you can do this with a file manager or Midnight Commander.
