Probably, everyone knows what antiviruses are and what they can do. But antivirus as a means of removing malware is not always convenient. To constantly monitor the system, it consumes too many resources, and to conduct periodic checks, you need to allocate time. On old and slow computers, the presence of antivirus loads the system very much.
Another reason why antivirus software is not always the best malware removal tool is to reduce the life of your hard drive. The presence of an antivirus at times increases the load on it, and if it already has “bad” sectors, it is better not to risk it.
A convenient alternative is special virus removal utilities . There are many more than antivirus programs. And there are even good free options.
First of all, it is necessary to mention Windows Defender (Defender). This free Microsoft malware removal tool can be updated every month along with system updates over the Internet. Recall that the company does not prevent updates from being obtained even for pirated versions of the OS so that these computers do not become carriers during epidemics.
You can run Defender by typing mrt.exe in the console (Start> Run button). Follow the prompts. The utility starts on demand, you can check the entire system, selected folders and disks, run a quick virus scan. You can read more about Defender in the Windows Help.
In addition to Defender, Microsoft offers Removal Tool and Security Essentials, which also often update their databases, are available for download for free and without restrictions.
Manufacturers of well-known antiviruses, such as Dr.Web, Kaspersky Anti-Virus, McAfee and others, release their own utilities. A similar virus removal program can be transferred to a USB drive and used to scan different systems, since it is not necessary to install it. Some manufacturers may offer special versions of programs to protect the portable disk, starting to work when the flash drive is connected to the computer.
The malware removal tool can be packaged into a set of utilities for optimizing the system (the so-called tweakers) or offered as a separate product. It should be noted that only an experienced user can take full advantage of all the features offered by the tool. And for some programs, such as HijackThis, knowledge of what the virus looks like is required. Otherwise, you risk deleting harmless and necessary system files. Usually, the program will offer you a list of suspicious objects and options for actions, or it will check and delete the files itself. The last of the ways of working is the least effective, since only the most suspicious or the most harmful objects for the system’s work are deleted.
The main advantage of any virus removal tool is that it can only be launched at the request of the user.
In many cases, he does not have to be in memory all the time. Although it depends on the specific purpose of the utility.
And for any tool to work well, it, like the heavyweight antivirus, needs to update its databases from time to time (in some cases, you download not the database, but a new build of the program).