How to scan your Windows PC for trojans, viruses and malware

If you suspect that your PC has been infected with a trojan, virus or other malware, it is recommended that you scan the computer with more than one anti-virus software. Each software uses slightly different methods to discover malware, so if you scan with two or more different anti-virus software from different software publishers, you have a better chance to discover the malware.

In order to discover wether you have Trojan/malware/virus, you should use the following free tools, available on the internet to download and install:

I recommend on using one of the following software:

Discovery Tools

Sysinternal’s Autoruns

Web site: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

This simple software will scan Windows and will list all the applications that are being run at windows boot time or when the user logs on.

It is a useful tool to discover wether a malware is present on your computer by going over the list of items that are Autoruns generates, and looking for suspicious applications that are located at strange folders on your computer.

Autoruns also offers the option to disable the loading of items at boot time.

Sysintenal’s RootKitRevealer

Web site: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897445.aspx

A great software to scan the system and look for hidden RootKits.

Rootkit is a kind of software that hides it activity and presence on your Windows PC. It is not possible to see it in the Task Manager, or list its files in Windows Explorer or through command line.

RootKitRevealer uses several techniques to discover rootkits.

Sysinternal’s TCPView

Web site: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897437.aspx

Trojans and malware sometimes connect to the Internet in order to allow its owner to remotely control your PC or cause damage to your data. One way to discover this is to is software like TCPView to watch which software is connected to the internet now.

If you find suspicious connections that are related to software that you don’t know and did not install. it is very likely that your PC is infected by malware.

You search the internet for the process name to learn more about this malware. I would also recommend on checking this application with one of the anti-virus software listed below.

Sysinternal’s ProcessWatcher

ProcessWatcher is a great tool to watch and track which processes are currently running on the system.

The information it provides is much more detailed than Windows Task Manager. You can use ProcessWatcher to look for suspicious software that is running on Windows.

Discovery, Protection, Prevention and Deletion Tools

Comodo Free Firewall and Anti-Virus

Web site: http://www.comodo.com/

An excellent firewall software, now has anti-virus built in.

Comodo’s firewall alerts you whenever an application running on your PC is trying to access the internet, or act as a server, waiting for incoming connections from the internet. You can choose to allow the connection if you trust the application, or deny it.

ClamWin Free Open Source Anti-Virus

Web site: http://www.clamwin.com/

ClamWin is a free and open source anti-virus for Windows.

It is fast an simple application that offers two options: memory scan and disk scan. Unlike other commercial anti-viruses, ClamWin does not actively protect the computer. I actually find it useful, as the active protection of other software hogs the computer resources and decreases the performance . I would use ClamWin as a secondary anti-virus, just to make sure the primary anti-virus software did not miss a virus or other malware.

Scanning – You can either run the scan manually, or schedule the scans to run at specific times.

Another positive point is that it’s virus definition database is automatically  updated on a daily basis.

I like ClamWin’s quick response and low requirement for system resources. I would definitely use it as a secondary anti-virus.

BitDefender Free

Web site: http://www.bitdefender.com/

BitDefender is a veteran anti-virus software publisher. They offer a free version of BitDefender which you can use to scan for malware.

Direct download link

Malwarebytes AntiMalware Free

Web site: http://www.malwarebytes.org/

Malwarebytes has an anti-malware and virus detection software.

SuperAntiSpyware Free Edition

Web site: http://www.superantispyware.com/

3 thoughts on “How to scan your Windows PC for trojans, viruses and malware

  1. SuperAntiSpyware Review

    I run a computer repair business, and get a lot of malware removal clients… My general arsenal is that i first use Emsisoft Anti-Malware, then Malwarebytes Anti-Malware but if for whatever reason there is still an infection on the machine I use SuperAntiSpyware.

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