| In this tutorial Brain Box Computers does provide links to free software trials. For a complete review of anti-virus software that we recommend Click Here. Chances are if you are reading this you already have a virus and need to get rid of it. It is VERY important to have virus protection and also to have current virus definitions. If your software has expired then you do not have the latest definitions. If you do not have current virus software check out some of the software links on this page. Many of these companies listed have a free 30 day trial. |
In this tutorial we will be covering how to remove and/or scan for viruses. First off if you already have a virus program make sure it is updated. If you do not have one here is a link to a free program that works well. Please keep in mind that many of these free programs are not sufficient to actively protect your computer so you should consider buying virus protection. Industry leading virus detection rates, the fastest virus updates - Kaspersky Internet Security 6.0 Once you are one the page click on the download tab and you will be able to download a 30 day trial. |
| Once you have anti virus software and the latest updates we can proceed. The first step is to disable the system restore temporarily. You can do this by right clicking on my computer either from the desktop or by selecting the start button on your desktop. Right click my computer and go to properties. Then select the System restore tab. Check the box that says “turn off system Restore on all drives”. |
| Step two: Before we check for any spyware or viruses Download Ccleaner. This will remove junk files from your computer that have gathered over time. Do not worry it is very safe to use. Click here |
| Select the download tab located near the top just off to the left of center page. Save the download to the desktop. Double click the file and open it. You will be prompted to install the program. You are given options as to what you want to install. I personally select everything but the yahoo tool bar. I have no use for another tool bar in internet explorer or Fire Fox. You will now see the Ccleaner icon on the desktop. Double click to open up the programs. By default almost everything is selected for the program to scan through. I always let it scan what the default is however if you do not want certain items scanned feel free to deselect them. Next hit the analyze button. The program will run and some times can take a few minutes if you have never cleaned these items out. Once the program is done you will see a list of everything it has found. Keep in mind that you are not actually deleting any of your programs or files just the items from things like Google that show your recently searched items and all those junk pictures your computer saves every time you visit a site. Go ahead and hit the run cleaner button. The junk files are now removed from your hard drive and you have just cleaned up some space on your hard drive. Now that those junk files are removed here comes the second part of using Ccleaner. Select the issues button located on the left column. It is the one with the blue Cube. Now select Registry Integrity. All the items under it are now selected as well. Go ahead and hit the scan for issues button. Once the scan is completed select the Fix selected issues… button. You will be prompted to make a backup of the registry files. Select YES. Save the file to a place you will remember like the desktop or under my documents. If for some reason something goes wrong you will be able to re-back it up. Once saved you will be given an option to select one issue at a time or all of them at once. I always just hit the “Fix all selected issues” Button. You will be prompted again saying are you sure you want to fix all the issues select yes. The vast majority of these issues happen when you uninstall programs. Not all the traces are removed and this just cleans them up. Next were moving on over to the tools button on the left side. Select the Tools button. You will see the window on the right now shows a list of programs that are installed on the computer. Go ahead and remove any programs that you no longer want installed. This often includes toolbars and old programs that you no longer wish to use. Do not remove something if you do not know what it is. Only remove programs that you recognize and no longer wish to use. You may be prompted to reboot after un-installing certain programs. Just select restart later and we can reboot once we are all done. Keep in mind that this is a great program to use if you ever need to reinstall some software because it is no longer working. You can use Ccleaner to uninstall the program and then just load it back up. |
| Step three: Reboot your computer. You will see the bios screen that appears when your system first boots. Start pressing the F8 key on your keyboard. You will get a screen that gives you several options. Select “Safe Mode”. Windows will then start to load. You will be given an option to do a system restore or continue using windows in safe mode. Select using windows in safe mode. After you log in under your user name and windows has loaded go to the start button and open up your anti-virus software. Run a complete scan on the computer. Your virus program should pick up any viruses you have and remove them. Once completed reboot your computer. Allow windows to start normally. Once windows has loaded up right click on my computer go to the system restore tab. Re-enable the system restore. |
| You should now be virus free. If you are not then you may need a certified computer repair tech to come out and look at your system. Or if you have a free/older Anti-virus software consider upgrading with one of the products we recommend on this site. |
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