First off let us start off by taking advantage of a few power tools. The virus utilities that we will be using is Avast and the Adware or Spyware power tool I will be taking advantage of is Malwarebytes.
You can get Avast at this link
You can get Malwarebyte at this link.
Allow me explain a few things about these virus software applications and spyware tools in general.
Just because you have virus scan applications or a spyware tool on your computer does not mean you are 100% defended. Some virus software's such as Avast or Malware bytes may be up to date but if a virus was created yesterday and launched today some machines will be corrupted prior to Avast or Malwarebytes being able to diagnose the virus or spyware and then implement a fix.
As you can see it is easy to be one of the few to get contaminated by nothing more than the lag time between your virus program and the latest changes.
Again lets say you are one of the few that were infected. Lets also say that you were contaminated and the virus was in computer memory instead of on the hard drive. You could run your virus scan software and scan the whole hard disc and never find any viruses because you did not scan memory.
The fact is most software utilities do not scan memory on a quick scan. They don't even scan random access memory on a full scan.
However if you run a boot time scan you can fix the problem before it get installed into memory.
So here is what you should do if your machine get's sluggish or you just think you have a virus or spyware problem.
Don't do a quick scan or extensive scan do a boot time scan. This will save you time because if you do a complete scan and the tool finishes and then guides you to a boot time scan you could throw away a full day. You see if you have 150 gigabytes of data on your pc it will take about 14 hours to scan the hard disk drive and that's on a reasonably fast system. So if you have to do it 2 times the full scan and then the boot time scan it could take up 28 hours.
So now let's fix your system.
1. Left click the orange a = Avast icon bottom right hand corner of the screen
2. Left click scan computer
3. Menu expands click Boot time scan
4. Left click schedule now
5. Now reboot or restart your desktop pc when you are ready to do the boot time scan
That is it as far as doing any other thing in windows for now.
As your machine starts to reboot it will run the boot time scan before windows starts.
Be patient it could take many hours to finish the boot time scan if you have a massive amount of data on your hard drive.
Note: check back every hour or so to make absolute sure it is still running.
This is what could take place if it detects a virus. The program will halt and ask you to get rid of the virus or move it to the vault. If it finds a second virus it will ask you the exact same question. Enter your response delete or move to vault. To speed up the program you can enter delete all or move all to vault. My regular response is to delete all.
Cautious if you delete all you could render your computer unbootable if the virus is a critical windows file necessary to boot the computer with.
It is a chance you probably have to take. I delete all 99% of the time. Not often is it a windows file that is that critical.
Once the software finishes the netbook will then bring you to your login screen. Login to your netbook right now.
Once your machine is up and running you should run the Malwarebytes software tool to find any malware on your machine. Remember adware is not always fixed by your virus software so run Malware bytes.
It might take a few hours to run. So be patient.
Note: You can use this method with most antivirus software applications so whatever virus applications you use look for the boot time scan or a ram scan to fix your viruses.
Viruses do happen even if your are cautious where you surf. So don't feel lousy get even with this experience.
You can get Avast at this link
You can get Malwarebyte at this link.
Allow me explain a few things about these virus software applications and spyware tools in general.
Just because you have virus scan applications or a spyware tool on your computer does not mean you are 100% defended. Some virus software's such as Avast or Malware bytes may be up to date but if a virus was created yesterday and launched today some machines will be corrupted prior to Avast or Malwarebytes being able to diagnose the virus or spyware and then implement a fix.
As you can see it is easy to be one of the few to get contaminated by nothing more than the lag time between your virus program and the latest changes.
Again lets say you are one of the few that were infected. Lets also say that you were contaminated and the virus was in computer memory instead of on the hard drive. You could run your virus scan software and scan the whole hard disc and never find any viruses because you did not scan memory.
The fact is most software utilities do not scan memory on a quick scan. They don't even scan random access memory on a full scan.
However if you run a boot time scan you can fix the problem before it get installed into memory.
So here is what you should do if your machine get's sluggish or you just think you have a virus or spyware problem.
Don't do a quick scan or extensive scan do a boot time scan. This will save you time because if you do a complete scan and the tool finishes and then guides you to a boot time scan you could throw away a full day. You see if you have 150 gigabytes of data on your pc it will take about 14 hours to scan the hard disk drive and that's on a reasonably fast system. So if you have to do it 2 times the full scan and then the boot time scan it could take up 28 hours.
So now let's fix your system.
1. Left click the orange a = Avast icon bottom right hand corner of the screen
2. Left click scan computer
3. Menu expands click Boot time scan
4. Left click schedule now
5. Now reboot or restart your desktop pc when you are ready to do the boot time scan
That is it as far as doing any other thing in windows for now.
As your machine starts to reboot it will run the boot time scan before windows starts.
Be patient it could take many hours to finish the boot time scan if you have a massive amount of data on your hard drive.
Note: check back every hour or so to make absolute sure it is still running.
This is what could take place if it detects a virus. The program will halt and ask you to get rid of the virus or move it to the vault. If it finds a second virus it will ask you the exact same question. Enter your response delete or move to vault. To speed up the program you can enter delete all or move all to vault. My regular response is to delete all.
Cautious if you delete all you could render your computer unbootable if the virus is a critical windows file necessary to boot the computer with.
It is a chance you probably have to take. I delete all 99% of the time. Not often is it a windows file that is that critical.
Once the software finishes the netbook will then bring you to your login screen. Login to your netbook right now.
Once your machine is up and running you should run the Malwarebytes software tool to find any malware on your machine. Remember adware is not always fixed by your virus software so run Malware bytes.
It might take a few hours to run. So be patient.
Note: You can use this method with most antivirus software applications so whatever virus applications you use look for the boot time scan or a ram scan to fix your viruses.
Viruses do happen even if your are cautious where you surf. So don't feel lousy get even with this experience.
Source...