Is there a truly free reliable spyware and virus scan?

Question

out there that will not try and charge you that you trust

Answer 1

★★ SECURITY SOFTWARE & TIPS ★★

◙ The very best virus scanners are free. Mcafee & Norton Antivirus are mostly hype and won't do as good as the free ones. -- About.com & Smart Computing Magazine

◙ Download and install AVG. Use it first and see if it finds any viruses or trojans.

☞ http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

◙ After running AVG go here and run this virus scanner online. There is no need to install it on your computer.

☞ http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

◙ Microsoft's New Live Safety Center. Download this scanner to check and remove spyware, viruses, get rid of obsolete files and junk off your computer, and improve your PCs performance.

☞ http://safety.live.com/site/en-US/default.htm?s_cid=msep

◙ The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool checks computers running Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003 for infections by specific, prevalent malicious software—including Blaster, Sasser, and Mydoom—and helps remove any infection found. When the detection and removal process is complete, the tool displays a report describing the outcome, including which, if any, malicious software was detected and removed. You can run this tool online FREE.

☞ http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx

◙ Best spyware remover is Ad Aware. Download and install the free version.

◙ http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

◙ Here is a wealth of information about fighting spyware and spyware producers. Join their free forum for answers to your questions. -- Smart Computing Magazine

☞ http://www.spywareinfo.com/
☞ http://www.spywarewarrior.com/
☞ http://www.google.com/search?q=adware+info

◙ When malware (adware, back doors, cookies, dialers, hijackers, key loggers, spyware, thiefware, trojan horses, viruses, worms, and zombie pcs) or other undesirable software are installed into your computer they sometimes leave Uninstall entries in your Add or Remove Programs control panel. For some applications, you can remove the software using this Uninstall method. Other times they are there just to appear legitimate and only provide a hint that you are infected. This list contains entries left behind by undesirable programs in your Add or Remove Programs control panel. This information will allow you to determine if an entry in your Add or Remove Programs list should be uninstalled.

☞ http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/uninstall/

◙ Startup programs are programs that are automatically started by Windows when the operating system starts. The problem is that many programs, adware, back doors, cookies, dialers, hijackers, key loggers, spyware, thiefware, trojan horses, viruses, worms, and zombie pcs set themselves to start automatically when Windows starts. As more and more programs are started automatically, your computer's valuable resources are drained, thus making your computer start to operate slow. This database will allow you to search for programs that you find starting automatically on your computer and determine if they are considered to be malware (harmful), unnecessary to run, or necessary to run. To examine your computer for programs that are automatically started by Windows, you can download and install Autoruns by Sysinternals. You can then search for entries found in the programs output using this database to determine if the program should be running. If from the information you decide they are not necessary to run, you can uncheck that entry in the Autoruns program and it will no longer start.

☞ http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/startups/

◙ Before downloading email attachments in Gmail and Yahoo Mail click on the link that says, "Scan With Norton Antivirus".

◙ Before downloading any software from the internet type it into http://groups.google.com/ to see if that title is known for spyware or viruses. Google Groups has over 1 billion posts spanning 25 years to help you. Even after checking it there ALWAYS scan it before opening it. You just can't be too careful. -- Smart Computing Magazine

◙ A lot of the download sites like http://www.download.com/ and http://www.tucows.com/ scan software before releasing it to the public. But just for safety sake you should still scan it yourself.

◙ If you have a broadband modem or network router the firewall in these is not as effective as a software firewall. The firewall that comes with Windows XP isn't very good either. Download ZoneAlarm and your system will be a lot safer. Zonealarm is a two-way firewall. This means it guards your internet ports and also keeps spyware from reporting back to it's owner. -- Smart Computing Magazine

☞ http://www.zonelabs.com/

◙ Here is a really great article on browser hijacking. This will show you how to get rid of it. There is a tutorial and software to get rid of part of it. You'll need to make some changes to your computer's registry to get rid of the rest of it. Click on the chatroom link on their main page if you need help.

☞ http://www.spywareinfo.com/articles/hijacked/

◙ Here is Yahoo!'s Internet Security section.

☞ http://security.yahoo.com/

◙ Get more information at these PC Magazine Web sites.

☞ http://www.pcmag.com/
☞ http://www.smartcomputing.com/

◙ Top 100 Computer & Software Magazines.

☞ http://netvalley.com/top100mag.html

★★ TOOLS FOR SPECIFIC VIRUSES & TIPS ★★

◙ Sometimes you'll get a particularly nasty virus that cannot be removed with conventional tools. For times like these you can (quite often not always) download a removal tool for that specific virus. Below are some sites you should look at.

☞ http://www.grisoft.com/doc/Utilities/Ing/us/tpl/tpl01
☞ http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/tools.list.html
☞ http://www.bitdefender.com/site/Download/browserFreeRemovalTool/

◙ Below is a tool called "Stinger" that Macafee put together with all 54 of it's tools in it.

☞ http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

2

Answer 4

All of these are ones that I personally use and all are free.
Try this scan, its free, it removes
I-Worm/Stration · BackDoor.Generic3.GBB and .GBC · Worm/Generic.FX · Exploit.WMF
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/5390/lng/us/tpl/v5

Spybot - Search & Destroy detects and removes spyware, a relatively new kind of threat not yet covered by common anti-virus applications. Spyware silently tracks your surfing behaviour to create a marketing profile for you that is transmitted without your knowledge to the compilers and sold to advertising companies. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you haven't intentionally installed, if your browser crashes inexplicably, or if your home page has been "hijacked" (or changed without your knowledge), your computer is most probably infected with spyware. Even if you don't see the symptoms, your computer may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging. Spybot-S&D is free, so there's no harm giving it a try to see if something has invaded your computer.
http://www.safer-networking.org/

http://superantispyware.com/
SUPERAntiSpyware is the most thorough scanner on the market. Our Multi-Dimensional Scanning and Process Interrogation Technology will detect spyware that other products miss! SUPERAntiSpyware will remove ALL the Spyware, NOT just the easy ones!
Easily remove over 100,000 pests such as SmitFraud, Vundo, WinFixer, SpyAxe, SpyFalcon, WinAntiVirus, AntiVermins and thousands more!

Answer 5

There are dozens of free antivirus, antispyware, firewall and online malware scanners that are proven safe, reliable and full featured. In the following link is a partical list of programs to choose from
I recommend..
AVG Free 7.5
MS Defender
Spybot
SyGate PFW
SpywareGuard
SpywareBlaster
and they are all located at the following site.

Answer 6

Grisoft AV and Adaware

Answer 7

Norton Internet Security is great. Almost anywhere you buy it, it comes with a mail in rebate that is equal to the price of the software (excluding tax).

Rather than renewing your subscription every year, you can just keep buying a new copy and sending in the rebate.

Answer 8

Yes go to your start menu/ clic all programs/accessories/system tools/security center and you will find what you need there from micro soft

Answer 9

yes there is downlohttp://www.myspace.com/computer_worksad the free avg antivirus and adaware here keep them updated

Answer 10

go to komando.com for lots of freebies