What's a good malware removal tool now days?

[Red Squirrel]

Malwarebytes jumped the shark, they charge now. I ran a scan but not sure what good it did. It "repaired" a few items, but there's a whole bunch of stuff that it wont repair.

Anything else I can try? Is spybot and Adaware still relevant? Been years since I've had to run any of these types programs since I switched to Linux. Just been given a badly infected machine, hoping to clean it out instead of formatting.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Malwarebytes still has a free version. It works fine.

I really like the free version of SuperAntiSpyware, and I tend to use it more than MB. You might not be able to get it 100% clean with either program, but both are a great way to start.

 

[mrjminer]

I think Adaware offers a malware scanner, but I don't know if it is good or not. I've only seen it like once on a client computer.

Uninstalls through add/remove programs, then you are probably going to have to kill run keys, scheduled tasks, and browser extensions, regardless of the scanner(s) you use.

MBAM, MBAR, TDSS, HijackThis + the manuals should generally be all you need. Another to get rid of some browser-based infections is AdwCleaner.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Hmm maybe I got it from wrong source, what is the proper site for malwarebytes? There tends to be lot of fake ones out there when googling, I may have gotten a fake one. It did seem spywareish to me so I was kinda skeptical...

Adwcleaner looks interesting, trying that one right now.

I think I managed to remove a lot of stuff with hijackthis, and then lot of it was actually firefox extensions that I could just uninstall, though I'm always weary when they make it that easy as it could be a trick.

Chrome was infected beyond repair so I just uninstaled it. Though Adwcleaner may have fixed it. The issue with Chrome is how it's all cloud based so stuff like the home page is not set by the system but by the cloud so if it's infected there it always will be.

Also, what's with the trend of getting rid of the menu bar in browsers? I'm seeing that more and more now, annoying as hell. I could not figure out how to get the one in chrome, so could not access settings or anything.

Sometimes I tell myself I want to go back to Windows but man, this ecosystem seems even more annoying than Linux. So much crap to deal with like spyware, and trying to find free programs that you can trust.

 

[Bubbleawsome]

https://www.malwarebytes.org/
Real one. I use it and AVG in conjunction.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Kind of figured, but you never know. I remember seeing a site called firefox-download.com or similar and it was a fake version of firefox but it looked legit. I had ended up downloading through cnet so who knows what I got, I'll redownload and try it again after the other scan.

 

[mrjminer]

Kind of figured, but you never know. I remember seeing a site called firefox-download.com or similar and it was a fake version of firefox but it looked legit. I had ended up downloading through cnet so who knows what I got, I'll redownload and try it again after the other scan.

I wouldn't use CNET anymore. If you do, better make sure you uncheck the boxes for whatever it's going to install, and even then GL.

MalwareBytes from malwarebytes.org

With Chrome, you would have to disconnect it from the user account to remove the malicious extension in some instances. Sometimes, as well, you have to manually delete the extension. If you select the developer mode checkbox under Settings -> Extensions, it will give you the file location. Otherwise, Chrome keeps its settings in C:\ProgramData\Google (might be \Chrome not \Google), then delete the user folder in there somewhere with the extensions in it. You will also want to change the search settings in manage search engines (ie: delete all of the ones that aren't like google or bing), change the new tab url, the home page button url, and reset the browser (available in "advanced" settings). I don't use Chrome connected to any user account, so I wouldn't know how to manage the settings that are actually tied to the account -- I doubt it is that difficult, though.

If the extension says it's controlled by corporate policy or some nonsense, you have to go into regedit. IIRC it's something like Software -> Windows -> CurrentVersion -> Policies -> Google Might be a different path, though, I know the Policies -> Google part is right.

 

[balloonshark]

I either download directly from the source or from majorgeeks or softpedia. The last 2 should state if a download comes with extra "goodies" so read the descriptions carefully.

Whenever I download anything I scan it before I run the file. I scan with my full time av, malwarebytes free and hitman pro free. You can also upload the file to virustotal.com so it's scanned by multiple engines. I do all of the above.

A clean recent image is the best way to "remove" malware. I personally wouldn't trust malware removal programs on my machine. That is why I scan before I run the file and have image backups.

In addition to malwarebytes, Superantispyware used to be decent. http://www.superantispyware.com/

 

[Puffnstuff]

I use the subscription version of malwarebytes so it monitors in real time and it gets things that the others miss. The free version will get what is on your drives but you have to manually scan for it. Back in the day adaware was the best you could get but I haven't used it in years. I quit using spybot search and destroy after it became invasive and started altering registry entries totally unrelated to spyware/malware.

 

[ArisVer]

AdwCleaner, MalwareBytes, SUPERAntiSpyware. Together they clean at least 90% of your system (including antivirus). Spybot is a another good program.

 

[PliotronX]

AdwCleaner, MalwareBytes, SUPERAntiSpyware. Together they clean at least 90% of your system (including antivirus). Spybot is a another good program.

Yup, should not have to go any further than these but you might want to manually inspect startup items, scheduled tasks, and connection settings in IE (disable proxy, a lot of software will actually redirect through this setting).

 

[sswingle]

I generally run Malwarebytes first, then Spybot if that doesn't kill the problem, and then SUPERAntiSpyware

 

[ronbo613]

Malwarebytes for sure. Use HijackThis to look around for suspicious items but don't delete anything unless you're sure of what it is.

 

[John Connor]

Here is a collection of scanners that I use.

Herdprotect: http://www.herdprotect.com/

Emsisoft Emergency Kit: http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/eek/

FreeFixer: http://www.freefixer.com/

SUPERAntiSpyware: http://www.superantispyware.com/

Malwarebytes: https://www.malwarebytes.org/

AdWcleaner: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/

TDSSKiller: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/tdsskiller/

Detekt. This one will scan for government type crap: https://resistsurveillance.org/

Combofix: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/combofix/

Junkware removal Tool (JRT): http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/downloa ... oval-tool/

I also use Hijackthis with the online analyzer. http://www.hijackthis.de/en

Many apps can be downloaded from Bleepingcomputer: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/

 

[xgsound]

This is a little presumptuous, but it may be useful. I enclose this after I fix the relations computers. I store shortcuts to the Utilities in a Utility folder on their desktop.
******* 2015 Suggested General Virus/ Malware strategy ********

Download from www.bleepingcomputer.com when they have it.

TDSSKILLER
Adwcleaner
Rkill
Mbam
ccleaner
Startup Control Panel by Mike Lin .. May show rouge startups and save much time.
cpuz

1. Use one and only one anti virus and keep it updated. The free ones are MSE, AVG, Avira, Avast.
2.periodically or when there are problems:
a. run tdsskiller – this checks for rootkits and corrects -3 minutes
b. run ADWcleaner- very fast and effective malware cleaner. scan/ select clean -5 or 10 minutes

3. If problems persist:
a. run rkill – it takes 2 or 3 minutes to start and 3 more to finish DO
NOT REBOOT
b. when rkill finishes, run Malwarebytes a full scan and fix all - 1hour
or so.

If you have made big changes, run ccleaner :
a. analyze, wait, select all and run cleaner
b. select registry on left: scan for issues /select all /backup yes / fix
all selected issues This is the only registry cleaner I trust. It only removes associations that lead nowhere.

This worked well as of one month ago and certainly should give you a good start. -YMMV- JRT and Superantispyware are good too.

Jim

 

[vailr]

Your best chance of cleaning a "badly infected machine" may be to use a bootable USB thumb drive based AV scanner, which completely bypasses the installed operating system.
Such as this one from Avira, just posted today:
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Avira-AntiVir-Rescue-System/1239118568/1
Kaspersky also offers a similar type of AV scanner.

 

[sbpromania]

First, you have to take care of your browser: AdBlock + NoScript, this will prevent some malware from getting in.

Afterwards, you need some active protection, you might try something free, such as BitDefender, AVG etc.

Finally, you can still use the free version of Malwarebytes in order to perform regular scans.

 

[xSauronx]

another vote for emsisoft emergency kit
the command line scanner is very handy on corporate machines

 

[bononos]

Malwarebytes jumped the shark, they charge now. I ran a scan but not sure what good it did. It "repaired" a few items, but there's a whole bunch of stuff that it wont repair.

Anything else I can try? Is spybot and Adaware still relevant? Been years since I've had to run any of these types programs since I switched to Linux. Just been given a badly infected machine, hoping to clean it out instead of formatting.

Rescue disk from bitdefender/kaspersky/etc. But since the pc is riddled with malware, I'll never trust cleaning, a reformat is best.