Remove a virus, clean your computer from viruses. How to easily remove a virus without installing an antivirus How to clean your computer from viruses

There are many ways to infect your PC with malware: by visiting unsafe sites, through infected media, the virus can even be sent by email. But not only the methods of infection differ in diversity, but also the viruses themselves. Every year the number of viruses known to us increases. Among them there are both practically harmless ones, like those that help us download games for free on the Internet, and very dangerous ones that can completely damage your PC. Developers of security software are well aware of this whole situation and mercilessly raise prices for their programs. But, fortunately, there are still ways to clean your computer from viruses for free on your own.

Before you start virus treatment, you need, of course, to make sure that your PC is really infected. As mentioned earlier, there are a huge number of different viruses, and if you think that they differ only in name, then you are deeply mistaken. Most viruses are indeed quite of the same type and work and are eliminated according to the same scheme, but among them there are also those that differ significantly from each other, including in the method of interaction with the system. Because of this, detecting and eliminating a virus in time can be quite problematic. Today, twelve types of viruses are known:

Worm. The main task of this virus is to “clog” your PC system. He does this in two ways, through installation various programs and through the launch of background processes that slow down your PC. The main signs of infection in this case will be slowdown of the system and the appearance of various programs on your PC. To verify the presence of a worm, try launching the Task Manager ( key combinationAlt+Ctrl+Del) and in the “Processes” and “Services” sections, look for incomprehensible processes with names made up of random sets of letters and numbers. By the way, this type of virus, although it does not cause damage to the user’s personal files, can be very dangerous. If you run this problem too hard on a weak PC, the freezes can be so severe that even just using the computer will become problematic, not to mention treating it.
Trojan. The operating principle of this virus is simple and clear from the name. It hides inside programs and is completely harmless until the program itself is launched. However, once it is launched, it can be used for a variety of purposes. Most often, a Trojan is used to delete or steal data.
Spyware. Spyware viruses are used to remotely collect personal data from users. Most often, attackers are interested in passwords, addresses, card and account numbers.
Zombie. This type viruses got their name because it turns an infected PC into a zombie. Once on the computer, it gives its owner complete control over it. Most often, the PC owner does not even realize that his computer is controlled by someone other than him.
Blocker program. As the name suggests, a blocker program blocks a user's access to something. Typically, this is either access to sites or to the system itself. The main goal of this virus is extortion. When blocked, the user sees a message in front of him saying that he has violated something and now must pay a fine by sending an SMS message. It is clear that even after the funds are debited from your account, your access will not be unblocked.
Boot viruses. Like a worm, a boot virus attempts to slow down your PC's system, but while a worm slows down the OS, a boot virus slows down its startup. And just as in the case of a worm, the main thing here is not to let the virus grow, as this threatens you with not being able to boot your PC.
Exploit. The main goal of “exploits” is to create holes in the OS security system. Through them, attackers will be able to download other viruses into the memory of your system.
Pharming. “Pharming viruses” are used mainly to promote websites. Once on the computer, this virus hacks the browser and begins to constantly redirect the user to the attacker’s website, no matter what he does. This virus spreads through Trojans and worms.
Phishing. Phishing is the sending of viral emails to steal personal information. These emails usually ask users to provide their personal information, promising them some kind of reward for doing so. The attackers will use the received data to enrich themselves at your expense; they will steal money from accounts, apply for loans, etc.
Spyware. Spyware collects user data, analyzes it, and then uses it for the attacker's personal gain. For example, to create advertisements that will definitely interest him.
Rootkit. A rootkit is a virus that allows an attacker to get into your files and then hide all traces of their presence. Rootkits themselves are not dangerous, since they are only a means for infecting the system with other viruses. But they make the already difficult process of detecting a virus even more difficult.
Software virus. A software virus is something between a “worm” and a “Trojan”. Like a Trojan, in order to exist, it needs another program within which it will live, but at the same time it can self-replicate, infecting more and more files.

As you can see, there are many factors indicating possible infection virus. Slowdown of the system, installation of incomprehensible applications, the appearance of banners and pop-up windows - all this and more indicates the need to check your PC.

In addition, we should also not forget about threats that do not manifest themselves until the moment when it is too late to correct something. Timely checking your computer for viruses is the key to the safety of your personal files.

Unfortunately, the only way to reliably check for viruses is to use anti-virus software, which is not always possible to buy. But, fortunately, most companies developing security software offer clients a trial subscription to their product, usually for a month. This allows you to download and use the program for free for a period of time. trial period, which is more than enough to carry out a one-time check and cleaning of the system.

In addition, do not forget that there are methods on how to clean your computer from viruses for free on your own. Now the Internet is full of various utilities aimed at fighting viruses, which can be downloaded absolutely free. There are also ways to clean the system yourself, without the help of any software, so to speak “manually”. We'll talk about all this a little further.

Utilities for cleaning your computer from viruses

Free virus removal utilities are essentially the same antivirus software, but slightly simplified. Their functionality is significantly less than that of paid antiviruses from well-known manufacturers, but it is quite enough for the average user with one PC. Let's look at the most popular of them together.

Dr.Web CureIt. CureIt is a virus-fighting utility created on the basis of the well-known Dr.Web antivirus. Unlike the Dr.Web antivirus itself, this utility is distributed absolutely free and anyone can download it from the developer’s official website. Over the years of its existence, the program has proven itself very well; it is believed that it can find almost any virus. It's very easy to use. Go to the application, click on the “Start scanning” button, and when finished, choose what to do with the infected files. If possible, then it is better, of course, to cure them, but if not, then you need to remove them without hesitation, otherwise the infection will spread.
AVZ. AVZ is one of the most famous free anti-virus utilities. Its main advantage is its advanced functionality, which is somewhere at the level of budget antiviruses, and not free utilities. It’s a little more difficult to work with, but it’s quite possible to figure it out.
HitmanPro. Antivirus utility HitmanPro is a little less known than previous versions, but still has its own circle of admirers. This program It’s not for nothing that she’s called a killer, because she’s possible best solution, if you want to clean your computer from viruses for free automatically. Many users note that HitmanPro is able to detect viruses that even some paid programs cannot handle.

These are just the most well-known utilities, but of course there are others, such as NortonSecurityScan, EsetOnlineScanner or Malwarebytes. All of them are distributed free of charge, and some do not even require installation and work directly from the Internet. It's up to you to decide which program to install on your PC.

How to clean your computer from viruses for free yourself

As already mentioned, there are two ways to clean your computer from viruses for free: using free utilities or manually. And if with the first method everything is more or less clear, then the second option may not be clear to everyone. Let's look at them in a little more detail.

Cleaning and formatting the hard drive

It was mentioned earlier that some viruses can have a detrimental effect on the operation of your system. Freezes, pop-ups and permanent installation new files to spread infection - these are essential features of most viruses. It is clear that in such conditions it will be extremely difficult to cure PC, if not impossible. Usually, in such a situation, working with an antivirus is simply impossible, since due to a lack of resources, the scan will take forever.

Therefore, before starting direct treatment, you should do the following:

Disconnect your PC from the network. It is through the Internet that many viruses download new files (although not all). Therefore, you need to disconnect from the network as soon as possible, preferably by completely disconnecting the router, so as not to give the computer a chance to connect on its own.
Go to Safe Mode. For those who are not in the know, safe mode is a computer operating mode in which it uses a minimum of resources and programs. In particular, in this mode it does not allow background applications and processes to turn on, which will not only make it easier to work with an infected PC, but will also prevent viruses from spreading further. To enable it, restart your PC, and while loading, press the “F8” key, when a menu appears in front of you, select “Safe Mode”.

When preparations are completed, treatment can begin. You should start by removing the applications that the virus installed on your PC (if there are any). This can be done through the control panel (section “Programs and Features”) or through special software for uninstalling programs, if you have one installed. You need to remove all applications that are not system and were not installed by you. Finding them is quite easy, since they usually have extremely strange names: from random sets of characters, in Chinese or Arabic, and sometimes they are completely absent.

Then, without turning on the Internet, go back to normal system operation and do the following:

Turn on “Task Manager”.
Click on the “Details” button in the lower left corner of the window.
Go to the “Startup” tab and look for all processes with unclear names, like those that needed to be deleted through the control panel.
Write down their names somewhere and then turn them off.
Approximately the same thing needs to be done in the “Details” and “Services” tabs, but be careful, there are many more processes here and some of them, although incomprehensibly signed, are important; remember that all important processes are marked as system ones in the adjacent column.
And finally, the most important part, after closing all processes, one by one, start searching in the system for the names that you wrote down on a piece of paper (you need to search through the search bar in the right top corner Explorer), usually infected files are stored in entire folders, so once you find one file, go to its location and look for others there.
When you're done, you can start scanning through your antivirus; the Internet cannot be turned on until the scan is completed and the disks are cleaned.
Well, don’t forget to empty the trash, just in case.

This procedure, although quite complex and lengthy, ultimately helps solve problems with almost any virus. Although there are still situations when even after cleaning with an antivirus the situation does not change or the system is damaged too much and it can no longer be restored.

Then there is only one solution left - complete cleaning hard drive, so you will lose files, but at least save the PC itself. The easiest way to do this is to start installing a new OS, you will still have to clean up the system disk, and if desired, you can clear the rest.

How to remove a virus from a computer with an antivirus

Now that we have figured out how to remove a virus from a computer manually, let's take a closer look at cleaning the system using an antivirus. There is not much to talk about here, because security software developers are trying to make their brainchild not only reliable, but also convenient and easy to use, and therefore even a novice user can understand its work.

Just a few points worth noting. For example, such as the existence of two scanning modes in most antiviruses. The first one is quick search, the mode we use for regular checks, which takes half an hour. The second is deep cleaning, an in-depth search for threats, which can take from several hours to a whole day (It all depends on the PC). If you have reason to believe that your PC is infected, then the best option would be to combine these modes, first a quick scan to find the main sources, and then a deep scan to “finish off the remnants.”

It should also be noted that there are three options for how you can deal with infected files, namely: disinfect, quarantine and delete. The first one is the most acceptable, since only it allows you to maintain the full functionality of the file. Deletion is the most severe option, since after deletion the file will disappear from your PC forever, and it’s not so bad if it was a personal file, but what if it is a file necessary for the correct operation of the program or even the entire system. Many inexperienced users always delete files to completely eliminate all traces of the virus - but this is the wrong approach. As for quarantine, files placed in quarantine remain on the computer, waiting for updates that can cure them, but you will not be able to interact with them yet.

This is all you need to know about how to clean your computer from viruses for free yourself. In this article, we looked at several methods for solving this problem, studied the classification of viruses and the most well-known programs to combat them. Using the knowledge gained from this article, you will most likely be able to cope with computer virus without outside help.

1. First things first
2. Using antiviruses
3. CureIt by Dr.Web
4. Kaspersky Anti-Virus
5.AVZ
6. Clear memory
7. Finally

Of course, antiviruses have long been invented to combat infection, but their use requires an investment of funds that are not always available, and therefore today we will try to answer the question of how to clean a computer from viruses using improvised means.

First of all

If you notice changes for the worse in the operation of your PC, then it is quite possible that it has come under attack malware. Symptoms that may suggest infection are the following:

The appearance of extraneous inscriptions on the screen;
The speed of the system has noticeably decreased;
When you open the browser, you are immediately transferred to pages unfamiliar to you, and so on.

In such a situation, you need to put the computer into safe mode as quickly as possible, which can be entered by pressing the F8 key while the system is booting. In the window that appears, select one of the safe mode options, and then press the Enter key. If the operating system refuses to boot, then it is likely that the virus has already damaged Windows registry– then we will need a file to restore safe mode, which will need to be launched from the command line. Now you can start the antivirus.

Using antiviruses

Having turned on safe mode, we should start cleaning the computer from viruses; special utilities - antiviruses - should help us with this. Typically, you need to pay a subscription to use them, but some programs are available in a free or temporary free version. Let's take a closer look at them.

CureIt by Dr.Web

The most popular of free applications. After the program is downloaded and installed, you should select one of the proposed types of scans. Quick check does not take much time, medium size hard drive it can test for viruses in a few minutes. If you are almost sure that there are still viruses on your computer, give preference to a full scan. It may take several hours, but you can use other programs at the same time.

After the scan is completed, a window will appear on the monitor asking you to disinfect or delete infected files. It’s worth starting with the first option, but if the treatment does not give results, then it’s still worth sacrificing damaged file or a program - it’s better to install them again than to leave a breeding ground for digital diseases on the hard drive.

Kaspersky Anti-Virus

Legendary developer software has recently been offering free version its software, it would be a shame not to use it. After installation, you can immediately perform a full system scan, but to proceed further you will need to create an account and request access to PC protection for a period of one year. For a one-time removal of malware, this version from Kaspersky will be more than enough, but for permanent protection it is worth considering purchasing the paid version.

It is worth noting the unique ease of use of this tool - even a person who first encountered computer equipment, will figure out the program interface in a matter of seconds, and therefore it makes sense to install such an assistant on the equipment of your parents, who are not very technically savvy, so that the appearance of a virus does not force you to deal with it yourself each time.

AVZ

A little less easy to use, but still effective option. To clean your computer from viruses you need to do next steps after the program is downloaded and installed:

Actually, launch it;
In the “File” menu, select “System Restore”;
In the window that appears, select all the items and start the process of executing them;
In the “Tools/Process Manager” menu, remove processes that are not highlighted in green;
Going along the path “File” > “Search Wizard”, begin cleaning up our operating system.

There are a number of other applications that are suitable for cleaning your PC yourself, but the options described should be enough for you.

Clearing memory

Press the “Windows” + “R” keys and in the appeared command line type “msconfig”. In the menu that pops up, go to the “Startup” item and uncheck programs that are unfamiliar to us. Usually there are antiviruses, some drivers and a number of instant messengers, but if you don’t use anything from this list, feel free to delete it, it will be easier to check the box again than to guess what exactly is preventing the PC from working at full capacity.

Finally

After our tools have detected and removed uninvited guests, a few final touches should be made:

Empty the Recycle Bin so that the infected file cannot rise from the dead and cause damage to the operating system;
To get acquainted with the registry, in which, in a few clicks, you can get rid of all the programs that you do not use; to do this, in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software section, click the Delete button on the unnecessary software.

Remember that careless handling of the registry can lead to damage operating system, and therefore it is better to carry out this stage of cleaning under the guidance of a fully competent this issue comrade. Remember that often the presence of viruses on your computer cannot be detected by external signs, and therefore such checks need to be carried out on a regular basis and the more often the better. Once again we remind you that the availability paid antivirus- not a luxury, but a necessity, especially for people who store important data on their device. It's better to pay a few dollars and feel protected than to constantly jeopardize the performance of your PC and the safety of the information on it.

Sometimes, the cause of computer malfunction is infection with viruses. Visiting various sites (and not always suspicious ones), opening an attachment email from an unknown author or connecting a regular flash drive to a computer can become a source of infection for the computer.

How can you independently determine whether your computer is infected? If, for example, when executing some commands, your PC becomes thoughtful, various sites open in the browser on its own, problems arise with launching programs, or installation files, the ability to control the computer is blocked, the account has disappeared from the welcome window, and finally, the computer simply freezes when loading the operating system, then there is a very high chance that you are dealing with a malicious virus program.

In many cases, the user can cope with the virus threat by independently reading the materials on our website. What does this require? First, you need to install latest version antivirus program and update its databases (installation and simultaneous operation in the system of two different antiviruses). Great for home computers free antivirus Avast, and for organizations . If installing an antivirus is impossible because the computer is blocked by a virus and there is a message asking you to send an SMS, then you should go to the websites of large antivirus companies using another computer or mobile phone and use a computer unlocking service (for example https://www.drweb.com/xperf/unlocker). In particularly difficult cases, download the Kaspersky Rescue Disk image from http:// www.kaspersky.ru/virusscanner, burn it to disk, boot from it and perform a full scan of your computer for viruses.

To controlly clean your computer from a virus, it makes sense to use the Drweb CureIt utility from the site http://www.freedrweb.com/cureit. This utility does not require installation and can be used in conjunction with another company’s antivirus already installed on the computer.

In addition, we recommend that you delete temporary browser files, for example, using CCleaner, delete suspicious files downloaded from the Internet and clean the Windows registry. However, with cleaning system registry you need to be extremely careful, because if you mistakenly delete any entry, the OS may crash or work with errors.

Well, in conclusion, some tips on how to avoid infecting your computer. These simple rules will help your computer work properly and safely, and you will save your data and nerves. To reduce the risk of infection, you must update Windows regularly. You can set up a system for automatically downloading updates on your computer in the Center Windows updates in the control panel. Organizations are recommended to install a corporate anti-virus with centralized management and conduct anti-virus maintenance on computers. It is necessary to ensure that anti-virus databases are updated in a timely manner. Be careful with by email: Do not open attachments or links from unknown senders. Protect access to mail, Windows login, FTP with strong passwords. It's a good idea to change them from time to time. Use it secure browser, do not install unknown plugins and add-ons. Do not visit sites that are suspicious from a security point of view, and also do not forget to conduct a full scan of your PC for viruses from time to time.

At some point you realize that you need to expose your computer complete cleaning. How to completely clean your computer from viruses? First, check if there are those same viruses, clean the registries, clean RAM devices, cart...

Cleaning your computer from viruses should be done from time to time so that it can cope with its tasks well and quickly, and also remain in working condition for as long as possible. Otherwise, you will need computer repair, and very quickly.

We are treated for free

Let's talk today about how to clean your computer from viruses for free. To cure your computer of viruses for free, you need to find the AVZ program and the Curelt DrWeb utility on the Internet. To start treatment, we need to start the system in safe mode. To do this, when the computer turns on, press the F8 key.

In the appeared context menu Select the "safe mode" option. If this led to a system reboot, then the virus has touched the Windows registry, then you need to find a file on the Internet that helps restore safe mode, enable it and repeat the procedure again.

Then, after booting into safe mode, enable the AVZ program;

Immediately go to the File menu - System Restore;

Select all items and click execute.

After this, you need to go to the service menu - process manager and remove all processes that are not highlighted in green.

At this point, cleaning the computer from viruses is not completed, the maintenance continues and we are still trying to figure out how to clean the computer from viruses. Go to the File menu - Troubleshooting Wizard and perform a system cleanup. This will neutralize viruses, but will not remove them.

Help Curelt

Treatment of your computer for viruses continues. As you remember, we downloaded the Curelt utility, which makes it possible to clean your computer of viruses for free. The program needs to be launched and fully scanned. If viruses are detected, you will be asked to cure or remove them. A few hours of scanning will make it possible to remove viruses from the system.

Many people do not know how to clean their computer from viruses using another computer. Here's how: you will need an uninfected computer with installed antivirus. Be careful not to damage your data. To implement this method, you need to remove the hard drive from the infected computer and connect it to a working one (the computers are turned off). After this:

load the operating system;

enable virus scanning;

The check will end in a few hours.

Having lost the viruses, you can return the hard drive to its place.

What to do if cleaning your computer from viruses does not lead to them complete removal? In this case, you may be advised to use another free (or paid) utility or, as a last resort, .

Cleaning RAM

Let's talk about how to clear RAM on a computer. If your operating memory is always busy, look at what exactly it is. To do this, you need to open the task manager (by simultaneously pressing the ctr+alt+del keys).

After that, in the “Processes” tab you will see the programs that are currently open by the system. For unloading unnecessary programs from operating memory, click on the “End process” button. Just try not to accidentally end a process that is necessary for the system to function.

How to clear RAM on a computer? To cancel automatic loading of programs into memory, remove programs from the automatic loading list. To do this, you can download online special utility Msconfig.

We looked at the two most common ways to clear computer RAM. If after this you find that your memory is constantly clogged again, contact a specialist for whom computer repair is a habit or a computer service so that they can find the cause and carry out professional service.

Cleaning the registry

In order to remember how to clear the registry on your computer, you need to do simple manipulations just once. So let's get started.

To go to the Registry Editor, click Start and select Run. Then click open and write regedit in the field that appears. Then click OK.

Here is the registry editor. Among the presented items, we are interested in My Computer, which we need to expand and from the selected list we need to expand the HKEY_CURRENT_USER section, then select Software and all the programs on the computer will be displayed in the list that appears.

Carefully review the entire list and select from it entries about already remote programs. Once you select an entry for a program that no longer exists, delete it. To do this, use the Delete button or right-click and select delete. After deleting unnecessary entries, close the editor and reboot the system.

Removing trash from the recycle bin

Before you empty the Recycle Bin on your computer, we recommend that you look to see if there is anything useful there. If not, feel free to start cleaning.

To empty the recycle bin, right-click on the corresponding shortcut on the desktop and in the context menu that appears, left-click on “empty recycle bin”.

If you want to preview the files before deleting, then quickly double-click the left mouse button on the shortcut to open it. Browse through the files and at the top, after the address bar, left-click on the phrase “empty trash”. The computer will ask you to confirm the action. Left click on “yes”.

Now you know how to completely clean your computer. Don’t forget to do this type of system cleaning at least once every six months, and let others do the computer repairs!

Let's imagine that you are a system administrator. And then some body comes to you with its own computer and says, “help! all overgrown with viruses..." 🙂 Is this a familiar situation?

I’ll tell you a “terrible secret” - methods for free and legally (i.e. without pirated copies antiviruses) cure a computer from viruses as many as there are viruses themselves. However, we want to do this as quickly and as efficiently as possible, right? Now we'll tell you how.

Step #1 - Preparation

If your computer still boots and does not ask you to send all sorts of SMS and other crap, then the very first step is to bang all temporary files to hell. If the computer does not boot, then, of course, you can immediately proceed to step No. 2.
The system will not suffer at all from deleting temporary files, but you will significantly facilitate (read: speed up) the work of the scanner/antivirus, which we will also use as part of this review. I don’t think it’s worth explaining that most of all viruses come from the Internet. And the first place on your computer where they end up is just temporary files. Therefore, it is worth getting rid of these deposits of garbage first of all. There are three ways to do this: built-in using Windows, some script, a useful program. The most effective ways- the last two, but we will consider everything in order. Before doing this, it is advisable to close all programs. Built-in Windows Tools
Open My Computer, right-click on the hard drive WITH, in the menu that appears, select Properties. A window will open with a Disk Cleanup button.
Click on this button, the computer will think a little for 1-5 minutes. In the new window you need to select all temporary files and click OK.

That's it. This method is not effective enough because it does not delete all temporary files. Script
For the role of some script, I have saved my file for you, which can be downloaded from the link. You download it, run it, it will do something in a black window and close. Everything is ready. If several users with different rights were working on the computer, then it is advisable to run this script with administrator rights, then it will destroy temporary files for all users.
Useful program
The most useful program- CCleaner. It’s easy to find it on the Internet, ask Yandex :) It’s also easy to download and install, even a schoolboy can figure it out.

After starting the program, you first click the Analysis button, and then the Cleanup button. That's it.

Step No. 2 - Treat

Checking your computer with some scanner, antivirus and other means, for example, Spybot, which we have already talked about. I’ll say right away - the most effective check (and most often the fastest too) is using LiveCD. Some antivirus manufacturers release fresh LiveCD images that can be downloaded for free from the Internet. You just need to burn the downloaded image to a CD. One good LiveCD is produced by DrWeb, you can download it from this link. Go in, click the bold download button, a license agreement falls out at the end of which there is an Accept button. Click on the button and the LiveCD image will download to your computer. Write it down, insert it into the drive and boot. You will see something like this:

Press the button Scanner at the top, then click on the inscription Full scan left. To start scanning, click the button in the lower right corner Begin the scan. That's it, now we have to wait until he checks everything.

Then all found objects can be either disinfected or deleted. In the lower right corner there is a button with an arrow. If you click on it, a menu will appear consisting of 3 items: Cure - treat, Move to quarantin - send to quarantine, Remove - delete.

Choose what you want to do with the viruses found and then click the button located to the left.