Poll: How do YOU remove malware?

What is your technique for removing malware on either your own or others PC?

  • I just format and reinstall

    Votes: 44 21.8%

  • I run various anti-virus/malware products and if they fail to remove it I end up reinstalling

    Votes: 88 43.6%

  • I try to find and use a specific removal utility designed for the exact type of malware

    Votes: 29 14.4%

  • I use tools like HijackThis/Sysinternals but not always successfully and I end up formatting

    Votes: 10 5.0%

  • I use tools (as above) and have ways of preventing the malware from "coming back"

    Votes: 31 15.3%
  • Total voters
    202
I used to try and remove the malware which could take hours and requires many tools. These days I take the view that once a system has been compromised you've had it, you can no longer trust the system. Format and reinstall is my aproach which is often a lot quicker starting with an clean acronis image helps as well.
 
I always start with a system restore to a time when the malware didn't exist. Maybe that could be added to the poll.
 
I generally do a very good job of avoiding malware, if I do happen to get some then McAfee has always got rid of it. If I found that McAfee couldn't get rid of it then I'd just format of my hard drive
 
RobH said:
I used to try and remove the malware which could take hours and requires many tools. These days I take the view that once a system has been compromised you've had it, you can no longer trust the system. Format and reinstall is my aproach which is often a lot quicker starting with an clean acronis image helps as well.
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This.
 
I use tools like HijackThis/Sysinternals but not always successfully and I end up formatting.

I never get Malware on my PC, but that's the approach I take if I know someone with Malware.
 
ESETs Sysinspector CD, followed by UBCD4W with it antivirus/malware components. Once thats all done i go back on the installed OS and see about getting NOD32 on there :p
 
i have nod32, windows defender and windows firewall

malware is a program that pretends to be legit but does something else?
 
yashiro said:
If you really want safe browsing, free from malware, use Linux.

But for daily browsing and keeping in touch with folk Linux is way less hassle and maintenance free.
Click to expand...

Windows security has been decent since Win2K/XP and has been very good since Vista / 7.

Consider my setup: Software Restriction Policy, UAC, standard user, Firefox running with low integrity and as different standard user.

If malware comes in via the browser :

It can't write to any medium integrity directory.

If it somehow manages to break out of the low integrity sandbox, it can't write to my user profile because Firefox is running as a different user.

It can't execute because, for a standard user, SRP disallows file execution from directories other than C:\Program Files or C:\Windows

It can't write to C:\Program Files or C:\Windows because of the combination of UAC and standard user.

That leaves us with phishing / Java / Javascript / IFRAME type attacks... which Linux is also vulnerable to?

If malware manages to gain access to my user profile, I'll be impressed. If it manages to write to ( and subsequently execute from ) either of the above two directories, I'll bow down before it and admit defeat. :p
 
Oh my word, eXor. You must be one of the very very very few posters here that actually has a clue what they're talking about
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Most people these days seem to just give up immediately and post up "Switch to FireChrome instead, it's much more awesome but I don't know why." or "Switch to Linux it's so much more secure but again I don't actually know why - I think I read it somewhere on a pro-Linux web site."

:)
 
Superantispyware + Malwarebytes combos seem effectivly but only when a full scan with a decent av scanner is run.

Been using that combo for past 3 years runnning healthchecks on customers pcs daily and seems to get rid of the buggers pretty well :)
 
Malware is not something I get, it has been a long time since I got anything and then my antivirus software (Kaspersky) picked it up straight away and as it was in a zipped file there was not much of a chance infecting my install, simply deleted it.
 
Windows is fine when configured and updated properly. If you switch to Linux and still run as root, never bother to patch your software and download warez/keygens/"codecs" without a thought in the world then the only thing that is saving you is the fact no-one has bothered to exploit you yet.

Telling people to switch to Linux or Mac OS might be a quick fix - but that is exactly what it is - a quick fix, a sticking plaster. It's like telling a maniac driver to avoid busy roads and stick to the side roads - it might reduce the number of nasty things happening but doesn't really address the destructive actions of the user. I will concede that sometimes this approach is the only option, as some people will never learn, but I feel that those who are willing to learn should be taught how to use a computer properly.

Note yashiro this isn't a reply to your post, just a general comment. :)
 
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