Hey guys,
When you work on computers long enough you eventually find your “power pack” of software that almost always does the trick. Most Tech Guys keep that a secret..but not me. Here’s what I use as my first line of defense when I’m facing an infected computer (Windows only).

First off, all of this software is free, except for one that is a “trial.” The trial is actually fully functional and can be uninstalled after you’re through with it. Secondly, do this at your own risk. The Tech Guy Blog is not responsible for your computer shenanigans. I have no way of knowing what you’ve been up to on there! This is just my usual first run through on infected computers that hit my shop!

Here’s the software list:
Malwarebytes Anti-malware: Download Here
Trojan Remover (trial): Download Here
CCleaner: Download Here

Once you’ve downloaded the software listed above go ahead and update everything (web connection required). Once the software is all up to date, shut off System Restore. Viruses have their own little way of storing themselves along with the rest of your data in restore points; turning off System Restore will delete those points. Now on to the fun part. Print off these direction as they require you to shut down your computer, and boot into safe mode. Do you have them printed yet? Good, let’s begin. Shut down your computer.

1. Boot into Safe Mode
Press your power button and start tapping the F8 key until you see a black screen with a list of options. Choose “Safe Mode.” Why you might ask? Because viruses and malware are super good at ruling your computers life, but booting into safe mode keeps tons of services and software from running including anything in your startup that is a non-essential program..viruses and malware are non-essential.

2. Run Trojan Remover
This program takes care of the worst of the worst. Let it do it’s thing and when it pops up with problems, review the issue and allow it to remove/rename/or delete the problem. Once the scan is completed Trojan Remover will want to restart your computer, don’t let it do that just yet. It has things that it wants to remove on startup, it can do that stuff after your done with steps 3 and 4.

3. Run Malwarebytes
Open the program up and choose “full scan.” It will take awhile. Once it finishes click “show results” and delete everything that it brings up. EVERYTHING.

4. Restart the computer into normal boot mode
Trojan remover will run on startup, before your desktop even finishes loading. Malwarebytes will most likely run at startup as well to finish it’s cleaning process. Once those two guys are finished, go ahead and go to Control Panel and click Add/Remove programs. Uninstall Trojan Remover because we’re done with that. Then go ahead and uninstall any toolbars (except maybe Google or Yahoo toolbars), “smiley” programs, free screen savers, and any other suspicious software that appears in this window.

5. Run Ccleaner
Open the program up and run the regular cleanup it offers. Next click on “registry” on the left side of the program window. Click the analyze button, and once it finds stuff, click fix. It will ask you to make a backup of your registry…DO IT! I’ve never had a problem with this software but better to be safe than sorry right? Once it runs the registry fixes, run them again, and again until it finds no more registry problems.

6. Restart the computer again
Turn System Restore back on. By now your computer should be running like the day it was born. If not, you may have something a little more serious, and you may need to seek the help of a professional. The Tech Guy Blog is located in Southern Illinois, so feel free to message me on here if you’re in that vicinity and are in need of some quality computer services. One last thing…GET A WORKING ANTIVIRUS. If your paid subscription of Norton or a similar program has run out use one of the many FREE antivirus programs available on www.download.com! The Tech Guy suggests you go with AVG Free, Avast, or Avira.

That’s all for now. Let me know your thoughts, wishes, and curses in the comments.

-TheTechGuy

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