Filed under: Security, Utilities, Freeware, How-Tos
Save Your Friends and Family From Malware!
Silly me. I figured as antivirus and antimalware protection became more sophisticated that I'd see fewer infected machines for repair. Man, was I wrong. Even my friends and family - who are fairly computer savvy and careful - have wound up in trouble.
If you're at all competent with a computer, chances are you've had requests from people to fix these problems. I've heard different programs menioned (XP Antivirus, Antivirus 2009, etc.), but it usually goes like this: "Hey, I'm getting this messages from [program] that I'm infected, can you fix that?"
Sure you can.
Over the past couple of months, I've tried different combinations of apps and find these four to do the job nicely. Download them, keep them up-to-date, and you'll be a hero with unlucky friends and family that wind up with an infected computer.
Note: run the first two in safe mode, if possible!
1. Combofix. This one has seen some major upgrades recently, and I use it on every cleanup. Where the old version just gave you a blue screen and said "Hang out for about ten minutes," the current version provides feedback about what's going on. Before any changes are made, ComboFix backs up the registry.
It then hunts out malware it recognizes and removes it. You may need to reboot, but you'll be prompted if it's necessary. It's portable, so just keep it updated on your flash drive.
Based on the comments, BE CAREFUL. Combofix has never caused me any issues, but your experience may be different.
2. SmitFraudFix. I've used it for ages, but there was a brief span where it wasn't doing such a great job (that's when I started with ComboFix again). Things are back in order, and SmitFraudFix is doing a bang-up job once again. Make sure you run all the options with it (update, dns hijack, trusted zone, clean) and answer yes to "Clean the registry?" when asked. Nothing to install here, either, it's portable.
3. SuperAntiSpyware. When I first saw this one, I thougt it was bogus. It looked like some of the rogue apps I was trying to remove - now I know better. While I'm sure some people think this is a crap choice, it's been working great for me. It's got a lot of nice features, and it catches damn near everything that ComboFix and SmitFraudFix don't. Follow-up scans with Malwarebytes and Ad-Aware never turn up more than a few cookies. This one you'll have to install, but it's worth it.
4. CCleaner. Crap Cleaner bats cleanup. It's a great final, general cleanup to run on a system that you've just scanned. Keep the portable version handy for fast cleanup jobs.
This combo never lets me down, and I'm surrounded by users that can't keep themselves out of trouble. Here's hoping it does the job for you, too! Check this post for more malware fighting tips.