Free Virus Scanners/Cleaners?Follow

AVG antivirus... it's updated just as regularly as Norton or McAfee, it's just as powerful, and as long as you're not using it for commercial purposes it's absolutely free. I couldn't recommend it more highly.

While you're at it, get Ad-Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy. Run AVG, then run Ad-Aware, then run Spybot. AVG eliminates virus problems, while Ad-Aware and Spybot remove adware/spyware. Once you've run all three (and rebooted as many times as necessary), you should have a clean system.

INSERT

Live CD. follow the instructions after burning the CD and booting live with it, then mount your drives, and run:

clamscan -v -r /

that will scan and clean your entire system even if you are running NTFS (default file system for XP and 2k) this will not clean out the spy/add/mallware, but will clean your system of all viruses. this is a lot lighter then Knoppix too so it will load and boot faster then Knoppix, but is not as good at detecting all types of hardware so you might be stuck with just command line instead of a GUI, but if you follow instructions that will not be a problem.


Trend Micro

you can also use that for scanning your system online if you have highspeed connection. Trend Micro will get rid of most of your problems and should alow you to install an anti-virus program like AVG or AntiVir and have them work. a lot of viruses out there will disable all virus scanners if they are installed on the system.

That is the reason i like the Live CDs (Insert and Knoppix) so much better then any other type of scanner for fixing and cleaning out a windows system that has been infected by a virus or more then 1.

Trend Micro will be the easier solution and could take hours litterally to scan and clean your system depending on your connection type, and how badly infected your system is. It will not get everything, but should get your system at least semi functional again.

Insert or Knoppix (knoppix uses f-prot and there are not instructions on the CD you will have to visit the f-prot page for details on how to make it work, but with knoppix you already have a web browser that is GUI based so you can get there and read the instructions no problem) are the best solution for cleaning viruses off of any windows system as both ClamAV and F-Prot are way better then any virus scanner in the world that runs native in windows. yes better then norton, or mcaffee, or avg, or antivir, or any of hundreds of others that are out there, and in linux they are 100% FREE tools.

IIRC both ClamAV and F-Prot offer windows ports, but i do not think either are free, and if you are already infected you should not install them until you have either hit the trend micro site, or use one of the live CDs to clean out your system.

as for spyware junk, ad-aware and spywareblaster are great, but do not forget spy-bot... spy-bot is yet an other tool for cleaning out your system and complements ad-aware very well plus it has a nice little imunization tool that blocks known spy/add/mallware URLs from getting into your system thus reducing the odds of getting infected again. with those 3 spyware tools and trend micro or live CDs you should be ok.

as for ZA, DO NOT put that cr4p software on your system. it is not a firewall it is an intrusive piece of junk that can and will screwup software that you need/want to install or already have installed. all a firewall is supposed to do is controll the flow of traffic into and out of a system it is not supposed to check what files are installed, it is not supposed to change files that are installed, it is not supposed to curropt files that are being installed or removed form your system, and that is exactly what ZA does.

if you are running XP (windows in general for that matter) without a router that has NAT (not dNAT) then you need to at least activate the built in firewall for XP and you should install SP2 as much as i hate SP2 it is far more secure then running a windows system without a NAT router.

for a firewall i ONLY sujest external hardware firewalls like a NAT router, or if you know enough about basic networking and have the parts for a spare PC put together an IPCop firewall.

enjoy and good luck.



Edited, Mon Jan 24 12:37:18 2005 by Singdall

Considering the price of a PC and the value of a virus-riddled PC, Norton is worth the $. Of course, nothing cures stupidity.

If you're one of those people who are incapable of keeping a computer virus free once you get it that way, maybe you should consider a game console.

I just want to say thanks to everyone for the great advice, I reall appreciate it... (Despite what I'm about to type below.)



I messed up with not being careful about where I went on the internet a few times when my computer was clean, and I've learned my lesson, it won't happen again; hence I made a thread about how to remove all the viruses/spyware/adware so I can keep it clean.

But if you're one of those people who want to call people stupid, or say they're incapable of doing something, wrather than trying to help, maybe you should take some time away from your comp. I suggest hanging out with some friends, or maybe just taking a nap?


Edit: I don't know why I didn't put this in this post, or my very first one, I must've not thought things through enough. Anyways, I've seen Mcaffe talked about quite a few times, and I already have Mcaffe. I often run the virus scans, and quarintine all the things that come up, (because it doesn't let you delete or *clean* them.) and then go into manage quarintine files, and then delete them.

But it's wierd because even after immediatly doing that, I can run the exact same scan, and more problems will pop up that I guess weren't picked up the first time, or just have came back on since I did the scan a few minutes ago!? I even often have to turn off Mcaffe to get my internet to surf at a decent speed, and I regularly turn it off when playing online games. I admit, I'm no computer wiz, so again if anybody has any advice on how to deal with Mcaffe wrather than downloading something else, please give me the heads up. ~Thanks.

Edited, Mon Jan 24 23:24:52 2005 by UlrikTheSlayer

It almost sounds like you have more spyware than anything, and a virus scanner won't get that stuff. (well, not all of it anyway).

Take Sabo's advice and get Spybot and Adaware. I also use both, and they work great.

Just go get Norton System works.. All the free stuff does is remove someone elses spyware, and install its own.. Norton removes it all, no sweat. Just configure it so it doesn't start on its own.. keep it updated.. and I think you'll appreciate the investment.. Nothing is free.. sorry ..

I like Panda anti virus. They also have a free online anti virus scanner.

I just installed and ran the scans for all three programs, and wow... I'm already telling a difference. Each program came up with like hundreds (no joke) of errors on my computer. I can't thank you enough for recommending these to me, I greatly appreciate it, and I would just like to say that if anybody else is reading this thread and wondering which virus/adware/spyware cleaners are good and which aren't, I can gaurantee the one's this person recommended are good.