Getting rid of those pesty viruses

Do you have some nasty viruses, trojans, or spyware. If you’re here, you know you’ve got one. One rule of thumb I always tell people. If an application is pestering you and injecting it’s dirty nose at you at every turn, don’t click on the ad. Start by getting a pop-up blocker on your web browser and tell it to keep out.


Don’t download the antivirus apps that tell you have a problem without your having installed the application at all. And if you do, and they tell you that you have virus, but don’t let you get rid of them until you pay. That’s a rip-off, a bunk application. Get rid of it.

The applications below are my favorite and really help to get a handle on things. The first three are fine for you to install on your own, the fourth is for advanced users and is listed so I can get to the link fast.

  1. Get the AVG Free Virus software. You don’t have to purchase it, but it would be a nice gesture if you like it.
    • I want to have you put on both BitDefender (below) and AVG because they both find things that the other one doesn’t. Install the AVG first and get the viruses out, then put BitDefender on. BitDefender will give you a message that you should uninstall AVG before putting it on, just ignore it and continue.
  2. As for the AVG Spyware, it’s up to you, definitely install it and use it for 30 days and see how you like it.
  3. Use the BitDefender for 30 days and then buy it. It’s great.
  4. The HiJackThis! software, DON’T use it unless you know what you’re doing or I told you to use it. Otherwise it’s here for reference.

Extra Clean Up Prior to Scanning

A couple of extra things to do on your computer to get rid of the virus are these:

  1. Clear out the Temporary files in your internet browser to make sure any and all files from the internet that could have viruses attached to them are cleaned out. You could get yourself in a vicious remove/reinfect cycle if you don’t.
    1. Internet Explorer: Tools | Internet Options | Delete | Delete Files | Click Yes to confirm
    2. Firefox: Tools | Options | Privacy | Clear Now … | Click Clear Private Data Now
  2. Shut off the System Restore for Windows. There are many viruses found in the system files sitting in the System Restore repository. These system files are set off to the side in case you need to restore back to a point in time. Some little nasty viruses hide in this area.
    1. Start | Settings | Control Panel | System
    2. Select the System Restore Tab
    3. Check the box to turn off the System Restore feature and click Apply

Once the BitDefender is done, go to the Advanced link in the lower right corner, select the AntiVirus portion of the system, find the Quarantine area and Delete the viruses permanently.

NOTE: Most importantly, after cleaning up a system, shut it down and wait for 10-20 seconds while the RAM dissipates. This is so that any Memory Resident viruses get flushed from the RAM memory. There are some other little nasties that get you when you do a Reboot and sneak back in. But if you do a shutdown, they die.

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