How to Remove Viruses and Malware on Your Windows Computer | Antivirus

Whether you see a message saying there is a virus, or your computer seems slow and unreliable, you will need to check for malware on your computer and remove anything you find. Here's how to clean your computer of viruses and malware.

While many viruses and other types of malware are designed just to cause havoc, more and more malware is being created by organized crime to steal credit card numbers, online banking credentials, and other sensitive data. Regular old-school viruses are not a real problem. The problem now is ransomware and spyware, and this requires new tools and new technologies.

Was your antivirus detected as a virus?

If you see a message pop up saying a virus has been detected, that's fine. Antivirus has noticed a virus and may remove it without prompting you.

This type of message does not mean that there is a virus running on your computer. You can download a file that contains a virus and an antivirus can remove the file before it causes a problem. Or, a malicious file on an infected webpage that could have been noticed and dealt with before it caused any problems.

In other words, the "virus has been detected" message that occurs during normal use of your computer does not mean that the virus has actually been done with anything. If you see a message like this, it is possible that you are visiting an infected webpage or downloading a malicious file. Try to avoid doing this in the future, but don't worry too much.

You can also open your antivirus program and check its quarantine folder or its virus detection logs. This will show you more information about what was discovered and what your antivirus software did with it. Of course, if you're not sure, go ahead and run a scan - it just can't hurt.

How to scan for malware, spyware, ransomware, adware, and other threats

If your computer is behaving badly - whether it's very slow, your webpages are running strangely, or you're seeing ads appearing in places where you aren't familiar with it, then you likely have some kind of new malware on your computer. Spyware will track everything you do or redirect your search and homepage pages to places you do not want. The adware will infect your browser and even Windows, and the ransomware application will try to lock your computer.

No matter what the problem is, our first step is always to download and run a scan with Malwarebytes, the best anti-malware tool on the planet. It is not an antivirus product, it is designed to solve modern threats. It is the only product on the market that can easily clean spyware and spyware.

Download, install and launch Malwarebytes, then start a scan of your computer. It will guide you through the system cleaning process.

You don't have to buy a license to clean the PC, but if you don't want it to happen again, you probably will, because it will make sure that this problem doesn't happen again.

How to scan for regular viruses

To check your computer for malware and remove any malware it finds, you will need an anti-virus program. Windows 10 and 8 include Windows Defender, Microsoft's proprietary antivirus. Windows 7 doesn't include any built-in antivirus software, so you might need something else, like Avira.

Windows Defender (Beta 2) is non-intrusive and great overall, but it's not the only thing you need. Our favorite antivirus solution is a combination of Windows Defender and Malwarebytes so you have complete coverage.

To check for regular viruses in Windows Defender, open it and start a new scan. It will go to the system and scan it completely to see if there is anything you missed. And of course, Windows Defender runs in the background by default

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Windows Defender and Malwarebytes' suite should get rid of the vast majority of malware you may encounter, and if you have both of them running, it should protect you from going forward as well.

If malware and Windows Defender aren't able to get rid of malware

Use Safe Mode for stubborn malware

If you have a very malicious infection, you may need to scan for malware from outside your regular Windows system. To do this, you'll need to Boot Windows in Safe Mode, which will prevent it from loading normal startup applications - including, hopefully, this malware being nasty. Run a Windows Defender scan and then scan Malwarebytes from within Safe Mode and you might have more luck removing malware that usually couldn't.

To boot into Safe Mode in Windows 8 or 10, hold down the Shift key while clicking on the "Restart" option, then go to Troubleshoot> Advanced options> Windows Startup Settings> Restart> Safe Mode. In Windows 7, press F8 while your computer starts up and a menu of boot options will appear allowing you to select Safe Mode.

Use the Bootable Antivirus Tool as the last resort

If that doesn't work, you might need to completely exit Windows and use a bootable antivirus tool. This type of antivirus tool goes into a clean environment - completely outside of Windows - to find and remove violent malware, and you might not be able to see or remove it from within Windows itself.

Windows Defender itself can do this with the "Windows Defender Offline" feature if you are using Windows 10. You can check out our Windows Defender Offline guide here. Other antivirus software can do this as well - look for anti-virus "boot disks" such as the Avira Rescue System. You can see our guide to using the Avira Rescue System here.

How to get a second opinion from Windows Defender

If you already have an antivirus installed, but think you may have viruses that are not detected, you can get a second opinion from another antivirus product. Usually, it's a good idea to run two antivirus programs in tandem, since the real-time scanning process might conflict with each other. But if you have one real-time scan running all the time, you can use a second scan for you to manually scan every now and then.

On Windows 10, Windows Defender (Beta 2) is perfect for that. Even if you have another antivirus installed monitoring your system, Windows Defender can sometimes scan a schedule - or manually scan it when you choose it - to see if it can find anything that isn't in your current antivirus. Here is a guide to enabling and using this option.

A variety of other antivirus providers provide one-time scanning tools - for example, ESET Online Scanner. These programs will download to your computer and perform a quick scan without a long installation process.

If the scanner alerts you to a problem, you will need to remove the malware. If you have a virus, your current antivirus might not be up to the task. You may want to uninstall it and install another antivirus product after the process is complete.

You should also install Malwarebytes to deal with adware and other unwanted things

As we mentioned in our guide to the best antivirus software, your antivirus isn't enough - you should also have a more comprehensive anti-malware program. Not all regular antivirus software covers the regular antivirus software, which mainly searches for harmful infections. You might have "junkware" on your systems like browser toolbars, search engine switches, Bitcoin miners, and other types of obnoxious software that only exist to make their creators' money. Be careful when downloading programs from the web, that your computer is not filled with obnoxious and unwanted toolbars.

But if you already have a hoax system on your system, you will need to remove it.

Most antivirus programs will not bother touching "junkware". To deal with junkware, we recommend getting MalwareBytes Anti-Malware. As long as you use it from time to time to scan your system, you will be able to keep yourself free from obnoxious software that has not been detected or removed with your average antivirus program. And because it includes protection against exploitation, it can keep you safe in the future as well.

How to wipe your computer (and verify your backups)

If nothing can properly remove viruses - or if malware has damaged your system so that Windows cannot function properly after removing viruses - you can go to the "nuclear option": return your computer to its factory state. You will keep any personal files, but any programs that have been installed will be removed and your computer system settings will be reset to their default state.

In Windows 8 and 10, this is much easier - you can just use the "Reset this PC" feature to reset Windows to its factory defaults. You can find instructions for doing this here. If you are using a Windows 7 computer, your manufacturer might provide a restore partition that you can access by pressing a specific key during the booting process. Refer to your computer manual for the exact key you need to press this.

You can also reinstall Windows on your computer by downloading Windows installation media for your computer from Microsoft.

Warning: Just make sure you have a backup copy of any important files before wiping your hard drive and reinstalling Windows!

If you have to face malware once, try to do everything you can to make this the last time. Install a good antivirus program, keep your computer up to date, and avoid running potentially dangerous programs. Follow our tips for staying safe online to keep your computer and personal information safe.