Virus & Malware Cleanup
So you get a virus or some clear malware thing and you have no idea how to get rid of it. It’s slowing your computer down and messing up your internet browsing.
I’ve helped a lot of friends in this exact situation and the steps are almost always the same. (This is assuming you are running a Windows machine).
Here are the steps you need to take to rid your computer of any malware or virus:
1. Ctrl-Alt-Del and close any processes that you’ve never heard of (if you’re not super computer-literate, this might be a step to skip)
2. Press Windows key & R and type “msconfig” (without the quotes) and then hit enter. Click the startup tab and turn off everything except the maybe 2 or 3 you know. Restart the computer and see if the problem comes back. (if you’re not super computer-literate, this also might be a step to skip)
3. Open the start menu, go to settings—>controlpanel—>add or remove programs. any item called “Xango toolbar” or something else that’s obviously malware. Remove it. (if you’re not super computer-literate, this might be a step to skip)
4. Download Ad-Aware (no links provided because you can google it)
5. Install and update Ad-Aware
6. Download AVG Free
7. Install and update AVG Free
8.Restart computer
9. Hit F8 repeatedly. When the option comes up, go to safe mode.
10. Run Ad-Awareand do a full system scan. Delete/quarantine everything.
11.Run AVG Free and do a full system scan. Delete/quarantine everything.
12. Restart computer
13. See if the computer is back to normal. if it isn’t, call a techie friend (or use our service when it launches) since you probably didn’t do it right. it’s also possible the malware you installed is super evil, and you might have to reformat (this was the case on my sister’s computer 2 weeks ago – first time ever for me). We will have a post soon on how to do a full reformat. Good luck!
