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i have been using norton anti virus for a while now however i have noticed that it doesnt find and remove all viruses on my computer. could anyone direct me in the way of the best freeware virus removal tools?

THANX

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A few practical, low-risk steps to handle a suspected infection and to fill gaps in the thread: isolate the PC from the network, back up personal documents (do not copy executable files), and avoid doing online banking or password changes from that machine. As pointed out, prevention matters — but if something is already wrong, focus on containment and a trusted scan environment before trying removals.

Use a multi-engine check for any suspicious file (it gives a quick second opinion) and run an on-demand scanner from a clean environment if possible. Two reliable resources for these tasks are VirusTotal for file checks and the Microsoft Safety Scanner for offline on-demand scans. For persistent autostart items, the Sysinternals Autoruns tool is very useful: Autoruns.

A simple workflow to follow now:

  1. Disconnect the PC and back up only user data (documents, photos).
  2. Create or boot from trusted media (rescue ISO/USB) and run a full offline scan.
  3. Upload any suspicious files to a multi-engine scanner to see consensus.
  4. Use Autoruns to inspect and disable unknown startup entries, scheduled tasks, drivers and services.
  5. If the system still behaves oddly or system files are altered, image user data, wipe and reinstall. A clean reinstall is often faster and safer than chasing a deeply embedded rootkit.

As and noted, detection varies between products. Free tools can do a lot, but keep signatures updated and treat differences in detection as a sign to run a second-opinion scan or to use an offline rescue environment. If unsure at any step, preserve a forensic copy of the disk and seek a technician rather than risking data loss.

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Member Avatar for caperjack

i have been using norton anti virus for a while now however i have noticed that it doesnt find and remove all viruses on my computer. could anyone direct me in the way of the best freeware virus removal tools?

THANX

Make sure you are updating Nortons ,it should find ALL.mine does ,i got more trojans/viruses on this machine using Free one than i did with Nortons.
Have you noticed that all free virus removal tool have a version one up in version # that you pay for .makes me wonder whats missing in the free version!

Member Avatar for crunchie

From what I have noticed it's usually a matter of having more options and settings in the paid for versions.

Member Avatar for caperjack

Agree, options to block more !and settings to protect/scan deeper into the OS!
Just my opinion !:)

Member Avatar for kc0arf

Hello,

I think it is more important to defend yourself from infection, instead of detecting it.

Eliminate Microsoft Outlook, IE Explorer, and Macros, and you have a good solid start on defense. Run behind a firewall that prevents network intrusion and port compromises. Keep up your patches for all of your operating systems.

I run with Eudora for email, and Firefox / Safari for web work. Open Office for word processing and spreadsheets. Any common viruses that hit my Linux box or Macintosh fall harmlessly aside.

I am liking more and more about AVG, and also work with AdAware for the one Windows box in the house.

I have found cases where Norton took a good week to get ahold of a virus that was running around work here.

Christian

Member Avatar for dlh6213

Hello,

I think it is more important to defend yourself from infection, instead of detecting it.

Eliminate Microsoft Outlook, IE Explorer, and Macros, and you have a good solid start on defense. Run behind a firewall that prevents network intrusion and port compromises. Keep up your patches for all of your operating systems.

I run with Eudora for email, and Firefox / Safari for web work. Open Office for word processing and spreadsheets. Any common viruses that hit my Linux box or Macintosh fall harmlessly aside.

I am liking more and more about AVG, and also work with AdAware for the one Windows box in the house.

I have found cases where Norton took a good week to get ahold of a virus that was running around work here.

Christian

Well said!!

And for defense, I would also like to add SpywareBlaster and SpywareGaurd.

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