Basic Malware & Spyware Removal Guide

NOTE: This guide is intended as a "first-strike" against some of the more common Malware/Spyware and Virus infections, you'll want to make sure you follow these steps first no matter how severe the infection might be.

OK Lets get started!

1. Before we start anything let’s do a full scan of your system to see what (if anything) your virus scanner picks up, a lot of times more recent viruses are able to dodge these programs but it won’t hurt. If your scan detects anything, quarantine immediately. If you are reading this, and don’t think you have any anti-virus installed just skip down to the next paragraph.

Always make sure you are using AntiVirus software from a reputable source. And not some zit-faced greasy spammer, I like free software myself, such as AVG, Avast! or the like. Below are a couples of link to some of the more popular suites with free editions:

* http://www.avg.com
* http://www.avast.com

2. Download and install MalwareBytes AntiMalware and update it. Don’t begin the scan on your system...yet.

3. Download and install Spybot Search and Destroy. Update it, and again don’t run any scans yet...I know its tempting.

4. We now have all of the ammo that we need installed on your machine to start destroying these infections. To start the removal process restart your computer and press F8 while windows loads. (Spam F8 if you need to). Select Safe Mode from the following menu. Safe Mode puts your computer into a semi-diagnostic mode disabling many of the start up cycles where Malware likes to hide.

5. After rebooting into Safe Mode, Its time to run the scanners. (One at a time) Start with MalwareBytes removing and deleting any references found. When finished, close this program and open Spybot Search and Destroy. Follow the same process and delete, cleaning any references found.

Thats it! Pretty easy huh? Now get out there and start downloading stuff so we can do it all again next month! :twisted: This method WILL remove the most common infections, if you're still having issues, head over to infinetnorthwest.com, speak to a technician
and we'll do our best to resolve your issues.

Jeremy C


For more Geeky Guides check out Infinet NW - Local On-Site Support for the Home & Office