Good free virus / trojan hunters

Kevin Johnstone

Hey folks,

I've seen advice pop up now and then for good free programs to stop trojans and virus and spyware but I hadn't paid enough attention as I didn't think i had the problem.

Now I'm pretty sure I do so any advice/links would be greatly appreciated for an all round solution or combination solution!

r.

MoP

Ad-Aware is good for spyware removal.

http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10045910.html?part=69274&subj=dlpage&tag=button


Also try Trend Micro's HouseCall, free online virus scanner.

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

JDinges

HijackThis : scans your system for what's currently running then saves the list as a text file. Then you upload it into their site and it analysis it for you. Works great for catching problem programs. http://www.hijackthis.de/

AVG free edition : free virus scanner, works well. You might have to dig around for the free version, assuming they still have it for DL. http://www.grisoft.com

Spybot : finds spyware, pretty good. Not sure on the website, google will find it.


Semi related-

ZoneAlarm : good firewall, easy to use. http://www.zonelabs.com

WinPatrol : Lets you know whenever a new program is installed or a file type association is changed, very helpful little dog. http://www.winpatrol.com/

I've been using these 5 for awhile now, hope that helps a bit

Rick Stirling

Last time I went back to Ireland to see my folks, their PC was infested (WE DID NOTHING!). Yeah, right.

Anyway, it did take me ages to get it clean, but the following did it.

AVG Free, like suggested. I still use it on my PC and it works a treat. I own(ed?) Norton and it was bad in comparison.

Also Zonealarm, as suggested, for a GOOD free firewall. I dont use it now as my PC has a hardware firewall.

Now, onto your problem - it's likely to be spyware, and Adaware is very good - but I have to say Microsofts Anti-spyware is VERY good too. On my mums PC I had to run both, at that time they were both missing different things.

You can always install both and run them.

Finally, CoolWebShredder. The CoolWeb trojan is a bastard to get rid of, it keeps changing (or did), and this program is free and removes variants of it.

What you shoul do is download them all, install. Run one, reboot. Run another, reboot, run another, reboot. Just go through it a few times to really clean your system and stop things hiding - some masquerade as anti-virus stuff.

Also, on a clean boot, use CTRL-ALT-Delete to bring up you list of applications, and go to the processes tab. Look at EVERY entry carfully. If you are unsure of any, google them. Many viues andtrojans can be seen running, with names like Win32x.exe and Exploerer.exe - things you would skip over.

KDR_11k

Remember, MS anti-spyware now rates some of the most dangerous spywares "harmless" since MS has a deal with Claria (Gator). Just because it tells you "recommended: ignore" does not mean you should ignore it.

sledgy

I second Rick's nomination of AVG - quick, free, simple, scheduled scanning & updates. Norton is just a big fat resource pig that completely defeats the purpose of getting a faster processor.

bearkub

My nasty-removal cocktail that I carry around consists of:

CWShredder
HiJackThis!
SpyBot Search and Destroy.
AVG Free Edition (http://www.grisoft.com/doc/40/lng/ww link to free edition)

Usually with a combination of these and a web browser I can purge almost anything. (don't worry, some little zealot will pop his head in here and tell you all these suck... =] ).

Other than this, besides some random registry changes and file deletions, if these combined don't get rid of things, it's formattin' time!

lkraan

I download the latest version of MxAfee's Stinger every month or so. It finds and kills a lot of virusses and worms and they update it often.
http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/

Kevin Johnstone

AVG free reports 4 Trojan horse Java/Classloaders and Virus and Byteverify embedded objects and infected archives that it cann delete or heal.

any further tips?

Dukester

I sincerely recomend these guys at these forums...

http://www.security-forums.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=48&sid=ed30a3f27be076f6c7a37225d038af38

if you go to this link...

http://www.security-forums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28882

and download the software they tell you to (most has already been suggested in this thread) run it as they tell you to and then post your hijakthis log, they can clean you up!

they have helped me with my personal computer and fixed several for me at work

bearkub

Ror: try running those things in Safe Mode. A lot of times those files are being used for...whatever reason...in normal mode and can't be whacked, but a run in safe mode will sometimes do the trick.

Creamy_Goodness

> Most of these problems could be avoided simply by using Linux. Microsoft appears to have a "one size fits all" policy when it comes to their software. (Windows comes shipped with many computers by default, Internet Explorer and Outlook are bundled with Windows, etc.) Which is probably why a great majority of viruses, trojans, worms, etc. are targeted at Windows OSes.

> Anyways, after I found that my parents' Windows 2000 system kept getting pop-ups even when no browser was running, I had to use a cocktail of anti-virus and anti-spyware programs to get it clean. I basically did a series of Google searches on the machine's symptoms, and came across several message boards where other people were having similiar problems. All I did was follow the instructions, which were basically the following...

1> Download several anti-virus and anti-spyware scanners, such as Microsoft AntiSpyware, Ad-Aware, and SpyBot Search and Destroy.

2> Run several online virus scans, such as HouseCall (http://housecall.trendmicro.com/), and Panda ActiveScan (http://www.pandasoftware.com/products/activescan/com/activescan_principal.htm)

3> Restart the machine in Safe Mode

4> Run the downloaded programs, one after another.

> I don't remember exactly what I did, but I did have to go into the a lot and delete certain entries. I knew that I was dealing with a particularly bad problem because the spyware kept coming back every time I deleted it. Windows NT systems apparantly don't have MSCONFIG, so I downloaded a program that was similiar to it called Regrun. This program allowed me to prevent certain progams from automatically starting up during the next restart, and I believe it was the final nail in the spyware's coffin.

> So now, I have SpywareGaurd, Spybot S&D, and MS Anti-Spyware running on the machine at all times. I also run an occasional Ad-Aware scan and an online virus scan just to make sure the system's clean.

> Hope that helps.

Bort

To get rid of the byteverify(very common, mostly from porn sites but doesn't do anything bad) and the java stuff you need to clear the java cache. If you have jre installed you need to goto control panel/java plugin/ *pic*

If you turn off cacheing you shouldn't get it again.
Not sure how to clear out the cache if you don't have the jre installed.

StrangeFate

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

free online virus scanner, will remove the stuf it finds.

Other than that i'd remve all said syware tools and run all their immunize stuff.

Kevin Johnstone

Thanks for the help lads, much obliged.
I went through all the tips, progs and sites and I can't find anything more now

r.