02 September 2010

Computing Moment: How to remove viruses and malware from your PC for FREE

I am writing this guide for the everyday user.  You don't need any special skills or knowledge, just be able to read instructions and follow them.  I am writing this because it seems like every week, another one of my friends e-mails me regarding some hot deal they just found on the net or a link to free anti-virus software or some other completely out of the blue topic with some sketchy looking link.  

Being tech-savvy, I quickly recognize sketchy emails / msgs as a scam and that clicking on the link would not be smart for my computer. It would most likely infect my system, causing me to send out unsolicited emails or use my email in an attempt to hack my online services (like Facebook, PayPal, E-Bay, YouTube, Web Banking, etc.)


Step 1:  FROM A NON-INFECTED COMPUTER - CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD -   Make sure you don't use the same computer because most likely the virus will see what you are doing and get the new password as well!

Step 2:       Click here -  http://www.malwarebytes.org/  and click the "DOWNLOAD " blue button. It will take to one of several sites hosting the file.

Step 3:      Save the file to your computer, somewhere handy and easy to find.

Step 4:     Now that you have this handy (and FREE) program saved to your computer. Install it.  make sure you uncheck the option to install any toolbars.

Step 5:    Once it is installed - Start it.

Step 6:    You will be prompted with 3 options : Quick, Full, or Flash scan.  Select the "Full Scan" option and then click the "Scan" button.  Let it run.  This will take a while.  I suggest baking some cookies in the meantime.  You probably have close to an hour or so to wait it out and its really not that exciting to watch...
## Don't be alarmed if you have tons of issues found ##


Step 7:  When its done it should present you with a list of problems it found. The Malware Bytes program should have a "Remove Selected" button.  Click it.  Let it delete all the crap it found on your computer.

Step 8:  Restart your computer.

Step 9: Thats it.  Hopefully you noticed the system was faster as well.   Congratulations you Nerd!



Hopefully you found this helpful.  If it didnt fix your problem I apologize, this really does work for 99% of the malware issues out there.  If this made your computer worse, sorry again, but I take no responsibility.  Sometimes systems are too infected to save and you just need to reformat.  Best of luck!