Cleaning viruses on the computer. Cleaning your computer from viruses: tidying up RAM and registry

At some point, you realize that you need to completely clean your computer. How to completely clean your computer from viruses? First, check if there are those same viruses, clean the registries, clean the RAM of the device, the recycle bin ...

Cleaning your computer from viruses must be done from time to time without fail, so that it copes well and quickly with its tasks, and also remains in working order for as long as possible. Otherwise, you will need computer repair, and very urgently.

We are treated for free

Let's talk today about how to clean your computer from viruses for free. To cure your computer from 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 starts up, press the F8 key.

In the context menu that appears, 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, turn it on and repeat the procedure again.

  • Then, after booting in safe mode, turn on the AVZ program;
  • Go to the file menu - system restore immediately;
  • Select all items and click execute.

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

This is not the end of cleaning the computer from viruses, the maintenance continues and we are trying to figure out further how to clean the PC of viruses. Go to the File - Troubleshooting Wizard menu and clean up the system. This will neutralize viruses, but will not remove them.

Curelt Help

Computer virus treatment continues. As you remember, we downloaded the Curelt utility, which allows you to clean your computer from viruses for free. The program needs to be run and tested. When viruses are found, you will be prompted to disinfect or remove them. Several hours of scanning will make it possible to remove viruses from the system.

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

  • load the operating system;
  • enable virus scanning;
  • the check will end in a few hours.

Once free of viruses, you can put your hard drive back in place.

What to do if cleaning the computer from viruses did not completely remove them? In this case, you can advise using another free (or paid) utility or, in extreme cases,.

We clean the RAM

Let's talk about how to clear the RAM on your computer. If your RAM is busy all the time, look at what exactly. To do this, 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. To unload unnecessary programs from the operating memory, click on the "End process" button. Just try not to accidentally end the process that is necessary for the system to function.

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

We've covered two of the most common ways to clean up your computer's RAM. If after that 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 find the reason and carry out the service at a professional level.

We clean the registry

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

To go to the registry editor, you need to click start, select the Run item. Then click open and write regedit in the field that appears. Then click OK.

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

Carefully review the entire list and select from it entries about programs that have already been removed. After selecting an entry about 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 trash can

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

To empty the trash, right-click on the corresponding shortcut on the desktop and left-click on "empty trash" in the context menu that appears.

If you want to view the files before deleting, then by double-clicking the left mouse button on the shortcut, open it. Browse the files and at the top, after the address bar, left-click on the phrase "empty the trash". The computer will ask you to confirm the action. Press the left button on "yes".

Now you know how to clean your computer completely. Do not forget to do such a cleaning of the system at least once every six months, and let others do the repair of computers!

Infecting a computer with viruses is not a new topic for every computer user. When the operating system is loaded, various information windows appear, some programs do not work correctly, the browser start page changes, and various add-ons are installed. It also happens that the computer does not turn on at all or it boots for a very long time, then it slows down during operation.

If you have at least one of the above signs, then you definitely have caught a virus. Therefore, let's figure out in what ways you can remove the virus yourself from your computer.

Using antivirus software

The first thing to do is scan your computer using the installed antivirus program. I have Avast installed, so I'm showing on it. Find the corresponding icon in the tray and click on it with the mouse.

The main program window will open. Now make sure that you have the latest virus definition installed: in the "Settings" go to the "Update" tab. See when the last update was received, if necessary, click on the "Update" button.



From the dropdown list select Full Scan and click "Start". If you have a different antivirus program installed, find the same item in it and enable a full scan of your computer.

Thus, we will perform a full scan of your computer for viruses. This process will take a lot of time - 11 hours, however, it all depends on how much information is stored on the computer - the larger its volume, the longer it takes to check.


When the process is completely finished, try to cure the found threats. If this cannot be done, then it is better to delete them.

It would be better if we scan the computer for viruses with another anti-virus program: for example, Dr.Web CureIt or AVP Tool. To use for home, but not for commercial purposes, these programs are completely free. In addition, they do not require installation on a computer - there will be no conflict with the installed antivirus.

You can download Dr.Web CureIt from the official website by following the link:
https://free.drweb.ru/download+cureit+free/

AVP Tool is a utility from the Kaspersky laboratory that cures an already infected user's computer. Download it from the official website at the link:
http://www.kaspersky.com/antivirus-removal-tool

It is better to download programs from the official website so that the latest updates of the virus database are installed in it.

To scan your computer using one of the utilities you have chosen, go to safe mode: when loading the operating system, press the F8 button. Now run the program and do a full scan.

At the end of the process, try to disinfect or remove the found threats. Please note that after deleting certain files, some pirated programs may not work.

Treatment of a computer from viruses using antivirus programs does not give us a 100% guarantee that it is now clean. This requires a few more steps.

Removing incomprehensible programs from startup

At this point, you need, or those that you use extremely rarely. Press the Win + R combination and in the Run line write the msconfig command and click OK.


A window will open. Here, the checkboxes mark the programs that run together with the operating system. Disable the launch of all programs you do not need: uncheck the boxes opposite them. Look for the presence of incomprehensible programs in the list, with an unclear location or manufacturer.

When done, click Apply and OK.


If you are in doubt about whether to disable a certain item from the list, hover over it with the mouse in the "Command" section and look at the location of the file. Then find it through your explorer and note the date it was downloaded. If it was in the days when the computer was infected, then you can safely uncheck the box.


Related videos:

Checking recently installed programs

To do this, go to "Start" - "Control Panel""Programs and Features".


In the next window, click on the "Installed" column and look at the latest installed programs. If among them there are those that you did not install (incomprehensible, unknown name and content) - click on it with the mouse and click "Delete".

To ensure that the utilities do not leave any traces behind, use on a PC. This can be done manually, or using special utilities.


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Checking processes in the task manager

Due to the load on the central processor, the performance of the computer can be significantly slowed down. If before there were no problems and freezes, but now you are faced with this, then perhaps this is the result of the work of a malicious program.

Click on the "Start" button and in the search bar enter "Task Manager", then press Enter.

Here go to the "Processes" tab and make sure that there are not very large values ​​in the "CPU" column. If you notice anything suspicious, right-click on this line and select from the context menu "Open file storage location".


File Explorer will open the location of the file. Look at "Date of change" file. If it matches the number when you presumably caught the virus, then delete this file and go back to "Task Manager", select the required line with the mouse and press "End process".


Removing temporary files

At this point we are where all temporary files are stored. First you need to enable the visibility of files and folders. We go "Start" - "Control Panel""Folders settings".


In the next window, go to the "View" tab and put a marker in front of the item Show hidden files, folders and drives... Click "Apply" and "OK".


We are looking for another "Temp" folder on the computer:

C: - Users - YOUR Account Name- AppData - Local - Temp

Delete all files from it too.


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Checking the hosts file

Sometimes viruses can get to the hosts file. Go to the following path:

C: - Windows - System32 - drivers - etc

Click on the file with the name "hosts" with the right mouse button, select "Open" and open it with notepad.


For the Windows 7 operating system, the text should be written in the file, as in the figure below.


To reduce queries to the DNS cache and DNS servers, frequently loaded Internet pages can also be written in the hosts file. If you notice suspicious information there, delete it.


If you went to the desired folder and did not find the hosts file there, then this may be due to a virus. Turn on the visibility of hidden files and folders as described above. Then open the hosts file that appears and see that the text that should be by default is written there.

If it is changed, write everything as it should be. In the event that the file cannot be edited, create a new one with the extension .txt and the name hosts and write all the text, as in the picture above - for the operating system Windows 7. For other operating systems, the text is different, so look on the Internet.

We clean the registry

This must be done if you have uninstalled the suspicious program via "Programs and Features", or have terminated an incomprehensible file in the processes.

To open the Registry Editor, press the Win + R combination. Next, in the Run window, write the regedit command and click OK.


Now, on the "Edit" tab, select "Find" or press the combination Ctrl + F. In the search bar, enter the name of the program, or part of the name that you deleted after "Programs and Features" or "Installation and removal of programms"... In the search bar, you can also enter the name of the file that you completed in processes.

If either a registry branch or a parameter is found by its name, it will need to be deleted - select the parameter or registry key with the mouse and press Delete.

Clearing browser cache and removing add-ons

If the virus is associated with a browser, then first check where the shortcuts created on the desktop lead. To do this, right-click on the browser shortcut and go to "Properties".

Here, in the "Object" field, check that the link leads to the drive and folder where the browser is installed. If the link leads to a suspicious file, delete the shortcut and recreate it.

To clear your browser cache, use a special program such as CCleaner. Download, install and run it on your computer. Then, in the "Cleaning" section on the "Applications" tab, select the necessary items with checkmarks, click "Analysis", then "Cleaning".


Now go to the "Extensions" tab, if there will be installed extensions that have incomprehensible names, or you did not install them yourself - click "Remove".


Live CD creation

This is useful if your computer is blocked by a virus: it turns on, but the operating system does not load. How to burn a Live CD to a USB flash drive or disc and clean your computer, read the article by clicking on the link.

To do this, you will need another computer from which you can download an image, a blank disk or a flash drive. You will also need to change the boot priority in the BIOS. You can also read an article about this by clicking on the link.

There are many ways to infect your PC with malware: when visiting unsafe sites, via infected media, the virus can even be sent by email. But not only the methods of infection differ in variety, but also the viruses themselves. Every year the number of viruses known to us is increasing. Among them there are, both practically harmless, like those that help us download games for free on the Internet, and very dangerous ones that can completely disable your PC. This whole situation is well understood by the developers of security software, who ruthlessly increase the prices of their programs. But, fortunately, there are still ways to clean your computer from viruses for free on your own.

Before starting treatment for viruses, of course, you need 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 really quite the same type and work and are eliminated according to the same scheme, but there are also those that differ significantly from each other, including the method of interaction with the system. Because of this, timely detection and elimination of a virus can be quite problematic. Today there are twelve types of viruses known:

  1. Worm... The main task of this virus is to "clog" the system of your PC. He does this in two ways, through the installation of various programs and through the launch of background processes that slow down your PC. In this case, the main signs of infection will be system slowdown and the appearance of various programs on your PC. To verify that the worm is present, try running “ Task Manager” (keyboard shortcutAlt +Ctrl +Del) and in the sections “ Processes" and " Services“Look for incomprehensible processes with names from random sets of letters and numbers. By the way, this type of virus, although it does not damage the user's personal files, can be very dangerous. If you run this problem hard on a weak PC, then freezes can be so strong that even just using the computer will become problematic, let alone treat it.
  2. Trojan... The principle of operation of this virus is simple and clear from the name. It is hidden inside programs and is completely harmless up to the launch of this very program. However, once launched, it can be used for a variety of purposes. Most often, a Trojan horse is used to delete or steal data.
  3. Spyware. Spyware viruses are used to remotely collect personal data from users. Most often, cybercriminals are interested in passwords, addresses, card and account numbers.
  4. Zombie... This type of virus got its name because it turns an infected PC into a zombie. Once on a computer, it gives its owner full control over it. Most often, the owner of the PC does not even know that someone other than him is controlling his computer.
  5. Blocker program... As the name implies, a blocker program blocks the user from accessing something. Usually, this is either access to sites or to the system itself. The main purpose of this virus is extortion. When blocked, the user sees a message in front of him, which says that he has violated something and now has to pay a fine by sending an SMS message. It is clear that even after the funds are debited from your account, access will not be unblocked for you.
  6. Boot viruses... Like a worm, a boot virus tries to slow down your PC's system, but while a worm slows down the OS, a boot virus slows it down. And also, as in the case of the worm, the main thing here is not to let the virus grow, as this threatens you with the fact that you will not be able to boot your PC.
  7. Exploit... The main purpose of "exploits" is to create holes in the OS security system. Through them, attackers will be able to load other viruses into the memory of your system.
  8. Farming. "Pharming viruses" are used mainly for website promotion. Once on the computer, this virus breaks into the browser and starts constantly redirecting the user to the attacker's website, whatever he does. This virus spreads through "trojans" and "worms".
  9. Phishing... Phishing is a viral email campaign designed to steal their identity. In these letters, users will usually be asked to provide their personal information, promising them some kind of reward for this. The cybercriminals will use the obtained data to enrich themselves at your expense, they will steal money from accounts, issue loans, etc.
  10. Spyware... Spyware collects user data, analyzes it, and then uses it for personal gain by the attacker. For example, to create advertisements that will definitely interest him.
  11. Rootkit... A rootkit is a virus that allows an attacker to infiltrate your files and then hide all traces of their stay. Rootkits themselves are harmless, since they are only a means of infecting the system with other viruses. But they make the already difficult process of detecting a virus even more difficult.
  12. Software virus... A software virus is something between a worm and a trojan. Like a “Trojan”, for its existence it needs another program, inside which it will settle, but at the same time it can self-replicate, infecting all new files.

As you can see, there are many factors indicating a possible virus infection: system slowdowns, installation of incomprehensible applications, the appearance of banners and pop-ups - all this and not only indicates the need to check your PC.

In addition, you should also not forget about the threats that do not manifest themselves in any way until the moment when it is too late to fix something. Timely scanning of your computer for viruses is a guarantee of the safety of your personal files.

Unfortunately, the only way to conduct a reliable virus scan is to use antivirus software, which is not always possible to buy. But fortunately, most security software companies offer customers a trial subscription for their product, usually for a month. This allows you to download and use the program for free during the trial period, which is more than enough to complete a one-time system scan and cleanup.

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 combating viruses, which can be downloaded absolutely free of charge. There are also ways to clean the system yourself, without the help of any software, so to speak “manually”. We will talk about all this a little further.

Virus cleaning utilities

Free virus removal utilities are essentially the same anti-virus software, but slightly simplified. Their functionality is much less than that of paid antiviruses from well-known manufacturers, but it is quite enough for an ordinary user with one PC available. Let's take a look at the most popular ones together.

  1. Dr.Web CureIt... CureIt is an anti-virus utility based on the well-known Dr.Web anti-virus. Unlike the Dr.Web anti-virus itself, this utility is distributed absolutely free of charge and anyone can download it from the developer's official website. Over the years, 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 button “ Start check”, And at the end 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.
  2. AVZ... AVZ is one of the most famous free antivirus utilities. Its main advantage is its advanced functionality, which is somewhere on the level of budget antiviruses, and not free utilities. It is a little more difficult to work with him, but it is quite possible to figure it out.
  3. HitmanPro... The antivirus utility HitmanPro is slightly less known than the previous versions, but it still has its own circle of admirers. This program is not called a killer for nothing, because it is probably the best solution if you want to clean your computer from viruses automatically for free. Many users note that HitmanPro is able to detect such viruses that even some paid programs cannot cope with.

These are just the most famous utilities, but of course there are others like NortonSecurityScan, EsetOnlineScanner or Malwarebytes. All of them are distributed free of charge, and some do not even require installation and work directly from the network. Which program to install on your PC is up to you.

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 take a closer look at them.

Cleaning and formatting the hard drive

It has already been mentioned that some viruses can have a detrimental effect on the operation of your system. Freezes, pop-ups, and the constant installation of new files to spread infection are inherent features of most viruses. It is clear that in such conditions it will be extremely problematic to heal a PC, if at all possible. 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 proceeding with direct treatment, the following should be done:

  1. 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.
  2. Go to Safe Mode... For those who are not in the know, safe mode is the mode of operation of a computer 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 facilitate the process of working with an infected PC, but also prevent viruses from spreading further. To turn it on, restart your PC, and during boot press the “ F8"When the menu appears in front of you, select the item" Safe mode”.

When the preparations are complete, you can start treatment. You should start by removing the applications that the virus installed on your PC (if 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 uninstall all applications that are not system applications and were not installed by you. Finding them is quite simple, 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, switch back to normal system operation and do the following:

  1. Turn on “ Task Manager”.
  2. Click on the “ More details”In the lower left corner of the window.
  3. ”And find all processes with incomprehensible names, such as those that needed to be removed through the control panel.
  4. Write down their names somewhere and then unplug.
  5. Roughly the same should be done in the tabs “ Details" and " Services”, But be careful, there are many more processes here and some of them, although not clearly signed, are important, remember that all important processes are marked as systemic in the next column.
  6. And finally, the most important part, after closing all the processes, in turn, start looking in the system for the names that you wrote out on a piece of paper (you need to search through the search bar in the upper right corner of the explorer), usually infected files are stored in whole folders, and therefore, having found one file , go to its location and look for others there.
  7. When finished, you can start scanning through antivirus, the Internet cannot be turned on until the scan is completed and the disks are cleaned.
  8. And don't forget to empty your trash, just in case.

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

Then there is only one solution - a complete cleaning of the 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, in the process you still have to clean up the system drive, and if you want, you can clean the rest.

How to remove a virus from a computer with an antivirus

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

It is worth noting just a few points. For example, such as the existence of two scanning modes for most antiviruses. The first is a quick search, which 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 foci, 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 is the most acceptable, since it allows you to keep the file fully operational. Deletion is the most difficult option, since after deleting the file will disappear from your PC forever, and it's no bad if it was a personal file, but what if this file is necessary for the program or even the entire system to work correctly. Many inexperienced users always delete files to completely eliminate all traces of the virus - but this is the wrong approach. As for the quarantine, quarantined files remain on the computer and are waiting for updates that can cure them, but you will not be able to interact with them yet.

That's all you need to know about how to clean your computer from viruses for free on your own. In this article, we examined several methods for solving this problem, studied the classification of viruses and the most famous programs to combat them. Using the knowledge gained from this article, you will most likely be able to cope with a computer virus without outside help.

Today I want to give useful information for beginners, and for some already more or less experienced users, I think it will also be relevant. I'll tell you about such a popular and hackneyed topic as cleaning your computer from viruses. Almost any user working on a computer and surfing the Internet sooner or later grabs some kind of infection on his computer. And even an installed antivirus that works with the latest virus databases does not always protect against the penetration of all threats. It so happens that the hop, and missed a worm of some kind! And at the same time, we may not know about it ... Then only the first symptoms of infection may appear, for example, when the computer is turned on, some folder opens by itself or some incomprehensible heresy is going on in the browser, but in general anything can be ...

Therefore, the computer must be regularly manually cleaned of viruses in order to kill the infection that could invisibly enter your computer! And today's article is just about that ...

You can manually clean your computer from viruses using any antivirus. For example, if you have Kaspersky on your computer, then you can start cleaning your computer from viruses. It costs some NOD32, so you can scan the computer with it.

I will show you how to clean your computer from viruses using the well-known Avast antivirus as an example. I myself have been using it for the last couple of years, first of all because it is free, and secondly, because it protects as it should. "Why did you decide that you are protecting normally ?!" - you ask. Yes, it's enough just not to see any symptoms of viral activity, and also not to see the presence of threats when you regularly start cleaning your computer from viruses using another antivirus and, of course, always observe the stable operation of Windows!

If you would like to install Avast for yourself, then you can find instructions on how to install it and the recommended configuration in a separate article, here:

And now let's go straight to how to clean your computer from viruses.

So, here you are, for example, you grabbed some kind of infection on your computer. By the way, having an antivirus with updated databases on your computer, which is always working and updated, to pick up any rubbish - you still need to try :) And most often this happens when users climb some dumb sites or look naked women, for example :)) Or, for example, on unfamiliar sites they start downloading something that is offered, opening pop-up windows and in this spirit. And more often than not, users connect their acquaintances 'and friends' flash drives to their computer and infect their computer. Virus through flash drives is transmitted very cool :)

This is how often infection occurs!

How to clean your computer from viruses if Windows successfully boots on your computer and you can open the antivirus installed on your computer!

Follow the steps below:

    Updating the antivirus and its virus databases.

    The first thing to do before you start cleaning your computer from viruses is to update the virus databases from your antivirus. What does it mean to update the virus databases? Virus databases are special anti-virus knowledge bases for various types of threats. Using these databases, the anti-virus can determine whether a file is a threat. At the same time, the databases are often updated (sometimes several times a day) just for the sole purpose of making the antivirus respond to the newest threats!

    Updating databases in each anti-virus is the same. Those. you need to go to the update section and click the "Update" button. Buttons and sections may be named slightly differently, but the essence is the same.

    Now I will show the process of updating the virus databases using the example of Avast antivirus.:

    That's the whole update procedure!

    And although updates are performed automatically (unless, of course, you turned them off yourself !!), before manually cleaning your computer from viruses, I recommend updating the databases yourself so that the antivirus with 100% certainty does not miss any rubbish on the computer due to old virus databases.

    Scanning your computer for viruses.

    After the databases have been updated, you can start cleaning your computer from viruses, i.e. to the scanning process. There are several options for scanning in each antivirus, for example: "Fast", "Full", "Custom". If your computer has not been scanned for viruses for a long time, you need to do a full scan of the computer, i.e. check every nook and cranny of your computer for viruses!

    Again, the scanning process is similar in every antivirus. Only the names of sections and buttons are changed. And the general meaning is as follows: go to the "Scanning" section, select "Full Scan" and start the check with the "Start" button or similar.

    Full computer scan process using Avast as an example:

    • I open the "Scanning" section on the main Avast screen:

      In the next window, select "Scan for viruses":

      Now you need to select a scan option. As you remember, I mentioned the "full" scan. But Avast antivirus has a better check option - "Scan at OS boot":

      What is it and what is it eaten with? Scanning at boot time is a scan of your computer for viruses even before the operating system has loaded (in our case, Windows). This allows you to catch the infection that somehow manages to in the system, for example, to disguise itself and is not visible. But even before the system boots, the whole virus is in full view, because they are inactive and do not perform any of their cunning actions. There is only one drawback - while the scan is in progress, you will not be able to work at the computer in any way. And if there is a ton of information on your computer, then you will not be able to work for a long time :) Sometimes scanning can take several hours!

      So, if your antivirus has the ability to scan before loading the OS (i.e. operating system) and you do not need a computer in time, perhaps up to several hours (while the computer is being cleaned from viruses), then choose this scan option!

      If you do not have time, you need to do some work at the computer while cleaning the computer from viruses, then select the "Full scan" option.

      Having chosen the scanning option, you need to check its settings and, if anything, adjust.

      Scan settings are present in all antiviruses!

      In Avast antivirus, to go to the scan settings, first select the scan option from the list, then at the bottom left click "Scan settings":

      OS Boot Scan Settings:

      First and foremost is the choice of the area to scan your computer. Here you need to select the part of the computer that you want to scan. If the computer has not been scanned for a long time or you suspect that it is infected (you see some symptoms), then I recommend scanning the entire computer, and for this you need to select the "All hard drives" item. Optionally, you can scan at least one folder at a time, if you need it :)

      Second, set the scanning sensitivity to maximum so that there are 4 sticks.

      Third, check that both the "Search for potentially unwanted programs" and "Unpack archived files" checkboxes are checked.

      Fourth - select the action that the antivirus will take when a threat is detected. If you don’t want to sit with your head buried in the monitor and watch the scanning process, waiting for it to find some virus so that you can remove it, set the value to “Remove”. Then the antivirus will automatically delete everything it finds. If you want to take part in the process of cleaning your computer from viruses and decide for yourself what to delete, and what to spare and skip, then select "Ask". Then the antivirus will ask you what to do with it when it detects each threat.

      Full scan settings (via the system itself):

      Let's start scanning your computer! To do this, press the "Start" button:

      Note!
      If you chose to scan before OS boot, then it will be performed after the next system reboot, and not immediately! Simply put, in order for the scan to start, you need to restart your computer and wait for the virus cleaning to start. It will take place in an unusual "environment", on a black screen, without any pretties like in Windows.

      The computer will start scanning and you just have to wait for the completion. If any threats are found, the antivirus will inform you about it.

      In the case of starting an ordinary - full scan, you can interrupt it using the "Stop" button (1) or temporarily pause (to continue later) using the "Pause" button (2):

    Rescanning with another antivirus.

    After you clean the computer and the threats are destroyed, I would do one more step, namely, I would download a specialized curing program of any other antivirus and scan the computer again. I recommend doing this when the computer was decently infected (for example, a dozen threats were found during a scan with the main antivirus) or after the first cleaning of the computer, you still observe some symptoms of infection. This is quite possible! After all, one antivirus may not detect absolutely all threats. Therefore, for reliability in such cases, I scan the computer with two antiviruses in turn. But this does not mean that you have to install a second antivirus on your computer to re-clean it from viruses, not at all! Almost every antivirus developer has special healing programs that you can quickly download and scan your computer for free. At the same time, they do not interfere with the antivirus already installed on the computer.

    For example, I used similar curing programs to clean the computer from viruses developed by DrWeb and Kaspersky. You can choose any to rescan your computer or download from another developer. For example, I give links to utilities from DrWeb and Kaspersky.

    • You can download the healing program from DrWeb at the link:

      free.drweb.ru

      On the page that opens, click the "Free Download" button:

      We agree to send statistics about the work of the program to the developer (otherwise, you will not be able to download the program!):

      And on the last page, we accept the terms of the license agreement, after which we click "Continue" and the download of the program will begin:

      The size of the program is about 170 MB.

      The healing utility from Kaspersky can be downloaded from the link:

      kaspersky.com

      On the page that opens, click the Download button under the Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool:

      After you download one of the curing programs, you can start rescanning in order to more reliably clean your computer of viruses. Such curing programs for all antiviruses are very similar and have the same number of functions, so I will show you scanning using the example of one program - from the DrWeb antivirus.

      Launching a scan with a curing program from DrWeb.

      I launch the downloaded healing program:

      In the window, put a tick, confirming your consent to participate in the quality improvement program (otherwise you will not be able to continue!) And click "Continue":

      Before starting the scan, enable one option in the settings. Go to settings:

      In the settings, go to the "Exceptions" tab and check the "Archives" checkbox below, so that the archives are also checked during scanning. Then I click "OK" to save the changes:

      Returning to the main window, click "Select objects to scan":

      To scan an entire computer, you need to select all the hard drives of the computer for scanning. Click below on the inscription "Click to select files and folders":

      In the window, check all the local disks of the computer and click "OK" at the bottom:

      Now you can start scanning directly from the window for selecting an area for scanning. Click "Start Check":

      Scanning your computer starts. The program will find viruses and you can remove them.

Here is such a simple sequence of steps to start a thorough cleaning of your computer from viruses in case you can boot the system and safely open the antivirus.

How to clean your computer of viruses if you cannot start the antivirus in the usual way, or if you cannot load Windows itself!

It can easily be that your computer is so infected with viruses that it is simply unbearable to work in Windows and even starting the scanner becomes a big problem (i.e. the computer slows down a lot). Or here's another situation ... Some cunning virus has disabled your antivirus or it just doesn't start due to an error, as a result of which you will no longer be able, as described above, to take and run a computer scan to clean it from viruses. Figurines! The antivirus may not start :) Or maybe you have no antivirus at all on your computer and there is nothing to scan your computer with. Or Windows generally refuses to start due to viral activity (this also takes place!).

In general, in all of the above cases and other similar cases, when you cannot start the scan in the usual way, you will have to run the so-called boot scan - cleaning the computer from viruses from a specially burned disk or flash drive.

Treatment procedure:

    Downloading the bootable version of the antivirus.

    For such a computer treatment, you will have to have a disk or a USB flash drive, where a special bootable version of the antivirus will be recorded (the one that opens and works from the disk / flash drive, before Windows boots).

    If such a breakdown (i.e. infection of the computer with viruses) happened at a time when you do not have a disk or flash drive with an already recorded antivirus at hand, then you will have to write it down. Moreover, if Windows does not even load on you, then you will have to do it through some other computer, otherwise there is no way ...

    So, first you need to download a bootable version of the antivirus from the Internet. This version is distributed, as a rule, free of charge and almost every antivirus. Also, in some antiviruses (for example, in Avast) it is possible to write the bootable version to a disk or USB flash drive directly through the antivirus itself.

    I am a user of similar bootable versions of the antivirus DrWeb, Kaspersky and Avast.

    • You can download the bootable version of the DrWeb antivirus by clicking on this link:

      freedrweb.com

      On the antivirus website that opens, select one of 2 versions: for recording to disk or to a USB flash drive.

      After choosing a version, scroll through the license agreement and click "Accept License Agreement" below:

      The antivirus will start downloading to your computer. Keep in mind that the download version is about 610 MB in size, which means that you will have to wait while it downloads.

      You can download the bootable version of Kaspersky Anti-Virus using this link:

      kaspersky.com

      Here on the page, click the Download button under the Kaspersky Rescue Disk program:

      The download of the bootable version will begin immediately. It is about 270 MB in size.

      The Avast boot disk can be burned to a USB flash drive (or create an ISO file) directly through the antivirus itself installed on the computer. To do this, the "Rescue Disk" component had to be installed along with the antivirus.

      In the main program window, select Tools> Rescue Disk:

      In the window, you need to select which device you want to burn the bootable version: to a USB flash drive or CD / DVD disk (fits on a simple CD):

      There is such a nuance ... If you immediately select "USB device", then the bootable version will be downloaded and will immediately start writing to the USB flash drive, so the flash drive must be connected to the computer in advance. If you select the option of recording to a disc ("Compact disc"), then the recording to the disc will not be performed immediately and the antivirus will create an ISO file (program image), which you can then burn both to the disc and to the USB flash drive. Therefore, if you want to immediately write to a USB flash drive, select the "USB device" option and connect the flash drive before that, if you want to save the program image and then write it wherever you want on your own, then select CD.

      Click the Create Rescue Disk button.

      If you chose the option of recording to a USB flash drive, then the download of the bootable version will immediately begin, after which it will be written to the USB flash drive:

      Keep in mind that downloading can take about half an hour or more!

      If you selected the "Compact Disc" option, then in the next window, click the "Browse" button to select a folder on your computer to save the ISO image of the bootable version:

      An explorer window will open, where you first need to select a folder to save the image, and then specify a name. Specify the name in order not to get confused later on what kind of file it is and what you need it for :) Then click "Save":

      Now, in the previous window, click "Create ISO Image":

      And as in the case of writing to a USB flash drive, the download of the bootable version will begin.

      After the bootable version is downloaded and written to the USB flash drive (or an ISO image is created), you will receive the message "Rescue disk created":

    You can download bootable versions of some other antivirus, if they have one.

    After you have downloaded the bootable version in the file, proceed to writing the antivirus to a disk or USB flash drive.

    Preparing a disk or flash drive with antivirus for computer disinfection.

    If you created a bootable disk with Avast antivirus with a choice of recording to a USB flash drive, according to the instructions from step # 1, then you already have a bootable USB flash drive and you can skip the information from this step.

    If, through Avast antivirus, you decide to make an ISO file, so that you can then write it yourself to a disk or a USB flash drive, or you downloaded a bootable version of an antivirus from the Internet in the form of the same ISO image file, then you need to write this file to a USB flash drive.

    Writing images of programs to a USB flash drive is done through special programs. One of the simplest ways is presented here in this article:

    If you want to burn an image to a CD / DVD disc, then in Windows 8 and older you can do it without additional programs! Just right-click on the ISO image and select "Burn Disc":

    Insert the CD or DVD into your computer. In the window that opens, it remains only to select the drive (if you have several of them in your computer) and click the "Burn" button:

    We are waiting for the end of the recording and you can proceed to the next step!

    If you have a version of Windows 7 or earlier, you can burn the program image (ISO) through a special free program. How to do this is described in the article:

    We boot the computer from a burned disk or flash drive.

    After you burned a disc or a USB flash drive with a bootable version of the antivirus, you need to make sure that the computer after restarting does not start Windows as usual, but starts loading just the burned disc or flash drive. And for this, most often you have to climb into the BIOS settings.

    What it is and how to set up booting from a disk / flash drive there is described in the article:

    We clean the computer from viruses using the bootable version of the antivirus.

    If you managed to create a bootable version of the antivirus, then when booting from a USB flash drive or disk where it is recorded, you will not see the usual Windows window. Instead, another operating system will be opened specifically for scanning for viruses.

    Now I will show you how to clean your computer from viruses using the bootable version using the Avast antivirus as an example.

    Actually, the boot scanner is extremely simple. In the bootable version window, under the question "What to scan", select the area to scan: all hard disks of the computer (All hard disks) or selected folders and files (Selected folders / disks). If you suspect that your computer is infected or simply haven't scanned it for a long time, then I recommend choosing to scan the entire computer - that is, all the hard drives in it! Basically, if I scan a computer, I always choose the full scan.

    In the second step, check the "Scan all archivers" option so that the antivirus will scan all archives as well. Although it will take longer, the scan reliability will be higher.

    And finally, click "Start scan" to start scanning:

    The computer scan process will start:

    You can cancel scanning at any time by pressing the "Stop" button. As a last resort, you can just restart the computer with the button on the case :)

This is how I personally clean my computer from viruses. I think this approach is effective and since I rarely have problems with a computer (mainly due to hardware, and not the presence of viruses), then this option for cleaning a computer can really be used.

I wish that your computers never catch any infection! :) See you in the following articles ...

Hello, friends! If you are reading this article, then the question is relevant to you How to clean your computer from viruses? And in this material we will deal with this problem. If you still have any questions, watch the video at the end of the page and if you don't find a solution, be sure to write a comment. Let's figure it out together.

We are talking about the Dr.Web CureIt! Curing Utility. What is remarkable about this utility? It doesn't require installation. That is, you can have any antivirus software installed, you may not have a single antivirus installed, you can still check your PC. Another huge plus of this utility is that it is free.

There are two ways to download the utility from the official website:

The size of the downloaded file is already over 130 MB.

  • The second method is longer, but also working. Go to the official website, find and download it there.

The downloaded file has an interesting and new name every time.

In the figure you can see how the file looks on my desktop.

Prepare your computer for virus cleaning

Performing this stage can significantly reduce the scan time, but you can do without it.

Preparation includes several stages:

  • clearing the Temp folder
  • deleting all old restore points
  • emptying the basket
  • disconnection from the network

The browser cache and Temp folder can be cleared using the CCleaner utility.

How to deal with restore points for Windows 7, see the figure below

Learn more about System Restore. Why are we deleting all restore points? To kill the virus that may be there.

Emptying the trash shouldn't be a problem.

Why disconnect from the network? So that nothing gets in the way when checking your computer.

You can also disconnect from the network physically (by disconnecting the network wire from the computer) or programmatically (by clicking Disconnect to the context menu for a network connection)

The preparatory phase is over.

Enter Safe Mode

We are looking for a utility from the Start menu system configuration and launch it

and select the operating system to boot by default. In the Boot Options section, check the box Safe mode(point stands - Minimum) and click OK

A window will appear with a suggestion to Reboot immediately. If you have all applications closed, click Restart. If not, click Exit without rebooting, close all open programs and restart the computer manually

The computer will boot into Safe Mode.

After cleaning the computer, you must open the System Configuration utility again and uncheck the Safe Mode checkbox on the Boot tab. The computer will boot normally.

You can read in detail how to enter Safe Mode in other ways. It also contains recommendations for restoring your computer's performance.

Clean your computer from viruses

Run the downloaded file. You must agree to participate in the Customer Experience Improvement Program by checking the appropriate box. Then you need to click on the button Proceed

Further, for a complete scan of the entire computer for viruses, you must click on the link

Checking the box at the very top Checking objects- all checkboxes are automatically selected. Click on the button Run check and we are waiting for its end.

In the window at the bottom there is a table in which the found objects are displayed (viruses, trojans and other evil spirits). You must select from the drop-down list the action that you want to apply to the object and click on the button Render harmless

Then you will see a similar window below.

How to assign actions for found objects... If you know what kind of file it is (for example, your program), then naturally choose to skip, as shown in the picture above. If you do not know what kind of file it is, look at information about it on the Internet (put it in Google from another computer). An excellent option would be to scan the file for viruses online. If it turns out to be a really malicious file (most antiviruses will consider this file harmful), then delete it.

After cleaning your computer from viruses, just close the utility.

Then you need to boot in normal mode (we cleaned the computer from viruses from safe mode) and run the full scan in the same way as described above again. On the site