How To Remove Viruses – Part 3

This article assumes that you have already followed Part 2 in this series of posts. By now you hopefully have a much cleaner computer with internet access restored and most, if not all, viruses removed but it is worth doing some more checks to ensure that all viruses have been removed.

Install SuperAntiSpyware – Download the free version of SuperAntiSpyware (SAS) from Filehippo here.

Close any open programs on your computer and install the program by double clicking the file you just downloaded. Follow the installation prompts and don’t change any default options. At the end of installation click Finish and the main SAS window will appear (if it asks you to confirm your language, select your language and click OK).

You will be asked if you want to update SAS – choose Yes and SAS will now try to update itself with the latest antivirus definitions from the internet. If the update succeeds, skip to the next step. If the update fails, and you are sure your computer is connected to the internet, viruses may still be preventing the update.

SAS works best if it is up to date so it is worth trying to repair your internet connection if possible – follow our articles on virus proxy servers and a hijacked hosts file to try and regain internet access. If you still can’t get on the internet and the update fails, SAS may be able to help even if it is not updated, at least enough to fix your internet access and let you update it so you can then run it again afterwards.

Use SAS To Remove Viruses

1. After updating SAS you will see the Welcome screens – follow the prompts and accept all default options.
2. Click Finish at the last screen and SAS will offer to protect your home page – we recommend choosing ‘No’ to Not protect your home page. The main SAS program screen will now open.
3. Click the ‘Scan Your Computer’ button to open the Scanner Options window.
4. Click in the radio button for ‘Perform Complete Scan’ then click ‘Next’ to start the scan – the process may take up to an hour. The number of ‘detected items’ may increase as it finds more malware.

5. When the scan completes a summary screen appears showing the total threats detected. Click OK to continue.
6. SAS will now display a screen listing all the malware found on your computer – ensure that all the items listed are ticked then click the Next button to remove them.
7. The removal process may require you to restart your computer – if you see a message saying that it needs to restart, press Yes to allow it to do so.
8. If your computer did not need to restart or did not find any malware you can now close SAS.

Use Your Antivirus Software – Update your antivirus software now and then run a full scan of your computer to check for any remaining malware.

Final Steps

If you do not have a good antivirus suite like Norton or Kaspersky (check to see if your antivirus is listed in our comparison of 24 antivirus software packages) we recommend that you buy one now to protect you better in future.

Finally, see our article on how to avoid virus infections to help avoid encountering viruses in the future.

Warning

If you have followed all 3 Parts of this series of articles but you still have issues with viruses e.g. strange popups warning of virus infection, internet pages being redirected to the wrong website, internet pages or programs not opening etc, you may well have a more serious infection than standard antivirus software can find and fix.

At this point we would recommend that most users either get help from a good computer repair technician. However, we will look at more advanced techniques in Part 4 that may be of help for the more confident or adventurous user.