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How do I get rid of Spyware/Adware/Viruses?
These days there's all sorts of nasty things that can get on your computer, Viruses, Spyware, Trojans, Zombies, Keyloggers, Rootkits etc. The collective term for these nasties is "malware" - a portmanteau of "malicious" and "software" and the bad news is - a lot of the time you can't just "get rid" of them.
Back in 2005 when I started Technicalbloke.com it used to be both possible and practical to remove these nasties by hand without having to reinstall the whole system, indeed combating these critters was a significant part of my day to day business and I rarely, if ever, came across an infection I couldn't clean up within a few hours. Things move fast in the world of computers though and malware is no exception. 4 years later it has evolved to the point where infections are no longer worth fighting. That's not to say it is technically impossible to remove malware, just that in most cases it is now impractical for reasons which I discuss in this article.
If you are not bothered why this is the case and just want to know how I recommend you deal with infection then my advice is as follows...
- Backup all your important files
- Wipe your computer clean
- Re-install Windows from read only media (CD-ROM or DVD)*
- Re-install the programs you need
- Secure your system
- Restore your files
This is a pretty tedious process which can take all day and go wrong in several ways but, as you might have guessed, that's the sort of thing I can do for you here at technicalbloke.com! Not only that, I do it for a fixed cost (see pricing). On top of that I will ensure it is set up securely, install the world's best free security software and explain steps you can take to remain safe in the future.
For those of you who are wondering why it's not practical to remove malware please read on...
The main thing to bear in mind is that malware is designed to not be removable. Wherever possible it will subvert vital system files, hide itself and disable anything that might allow it to be removed including things like your computers control panel. Many modern malwares come in more than one part and include self healing technology that can detect if parts of them are removed and reinstall themselves. Also, once you have one piece of malware you are likely to get more as selling access to hacked machines is one way the malware authors can make money. Fighting these nasties by hand now often takes longer than a full system reinstall, and if you do agree to a duel you aren't guaranteed to win.
Automated tools are little help. Anti-malware companies like Norton and McAffee are always on the back foot. Their products can only reliably detect the malwares that they are already aware of which is, by definition, a smaller number of malwares than actually exist in the wild. Their software offers you little to no protection from these "zero day" exploits and malware is thus able to penetrate your system under the radar and do what it likes. Naturally the first thing it will do upon infection is detect, disable or otherwise cripple your anti-malware software and make itself invisible to the rest of your system.
The long and short of it is... You cannot trust any program running on an infected system, especially your anti-malware / security software! Once you have a malware infection updating or installing Norton or similar won't help in the slightest. You have no way of knowing what nasties are lurking on your system and even if you cure the symptoms of infection you cannot know if there are still backdoors, trojans, rootkits and keyloggers stealthily running in the background.
If you look you will find some technicians, online pundits and computer shops who claim to be able to remove anything from an infected system without a full wipe and re-install. Searching the web for "malware removal" you will encounter an infinity of tutorials on how to remove XYZ virus and tools to help disinfect your computer (many of which are actually malware masqerading as anti-malware). Even Microsoft have pages advising you to install anti-virus software if you have been infected and offering to sell you software to help. I am calling all of them out right here, right now! At best this information is bogus and out of date OR they are ignorant of the facts, at worst they are liars trying to peddle you software and services that have little or no chance of working.
Modern rootkits allow malwares to hide their presence from every piece of software on a compromised system making them all but impossible to detect but even if you do detect malware on your computer (or it pops up a says hello!) removing it is another matter...
A modern computer comes from the factory with 1/4 of a million files already on it and every program you install adds several hundred more. This gives bad software a pretty huge haystack to hide in.
Without either...
- A) a comprehensive knowledge of the inner workings of every piece of malware out there or...
- B) Reference copies of every infectable file that might be installed on a particular computer, the tools to compare them, a safe boot environment to run them in and access to replacement files to replace the infected ones...
Given that even conservative estimates suggest there are over 50 new viruses released on to the internet every week (note that doesn't including other types of malware of which there are many) and that there is no centralised place where information sufficiently detailed to permit removal of them is published it seems very unlikely that anyone you can afford to hire has (A). Even if you did find such a savant for less than the cost of a wipe and restore by definition they would still know nothing about any "zero day" exploits and back doors that may afflict your machine.
A system such as (B) is at least technically possible but I have yet to find such a system for sale. The problem is that for this to work well someone, somewhere, would have to get hold of pretty much every piece of legitimate software a user might have on their system in order to verify it hadn't been tampered with. There are thousands of commonly used packages out there and this would be an enormously costly and time consuming project - making this a very expensive product to buy. Even then it could not detect or fix infections based on files which are different on every system (such as config files) and would still require an expert to operate. Hopefully at some point we will see an open-source initiative that uses this approach to build such a tool and manages to resolve the significant trust issues involved - but don't hold your breath.
At the end of the day if you want to shop online and feel confident your personal files and details are as safe as they can be you need to ensure your computer is clean. If you have reason to suspect your computer may have become infected the only way you can guarantee it is clean again is to backup your data and have your computer wiped and restored. Of course if you like I can try to clean it up the old fashioned way, sometimes this will work especially if you caught it very quickly and shut your computer down immediately, however I can't guarantee the results of in the same way as I can with a wipe and restore and I would have to charge you by the hour (for however long it takes) so in most cases I don't advise it.
I offer a full backup wipe and restore as a fixed rate service onsite or offsite and unlike many computer shops and services I will make damn sure all your data is kept safe and put back where it was (not just dumped in a folder) including your bookmarks, i-tunes and photos. I also ensure your computer is 100% up to date with the latest security patches and free security software and I'm always happy to answer any questions you have about staying secure.