Malicious Software Removal Tools - How to Protect Yourself from Malicious Programs

There may be many suspicious programs and applications in the computer that are likely to be harmful. They may gain access to your PC when you are surfing the Internet or downloading some software. They may also get in contact with your PC when you use various external storage devices such as external hard drives or pen drives. Such malicious programs may prove harmful to the computer and damage the data.

Many a times it happens that you download a specific program for using it for some purpose, and later, you come to know that it was the program which contained viruses, worms, Trojans, and spyware. It is always recommended to scan the file with an effective updated antivirus software to protect your PC from being affected by malicious programs. There are many malicious software removal tools that are available in computer stores, as well as on the Internet.

How to Remove Malicious Software?

There are some viruses which have the capability of hiding from antivirus softwares. If your computer is infected with such viruses, you may run the malicious software removal tool to detect the harmful applications and delete them. If your computer has a Windows OS installed, you may download the tool from the Microsoft Corporation website. For installation, you need not disable or uninstall the antivirus software from your system. After you've finished with the download and setup, run the application.

A window will appear which will have three scanning options such as quick scan, full scan, and customized scan. If you select the 'quick scan' option, the program will check for areas on the hard drive which are more likely to be prone to malicious software. If you select the 'full scan' option, the program will perform a full system scan. This would be a thorough scan and may take a few hours. Usually, when there is a malicious program detected during a quick scan, the computer will prompt you to run a full system scan.

If the 'customized scan' is selected, you can choose specific folders or drives that you think are infected by malicious software. After the scan, the program will display a window which will show the details of the scan, and if any malicious software was detected. If any such harmful program is found, the tool will delete the program and make your system free from any viruses and harmful applications. You also have an option of cleaning few or all files that the tool detects. The tool may prompt you to restart the computer for successful removal of the harmful applications.

Malicious Software Removal Tool and Antivirus - The Difference

Many people have a misconception that a malicious software removal tool is the same as any antivirus software. But there is a certainly a difference. An antivirus software prevents the system from being infected by a virus or spyware. Whereas, a malicious software removal tool is intended to contribute in the post-infection cleansing of the system. It scans for any malicious programs after the system is being infected by such harmful programs.

For total computer security from viruses, it is recommended to keep your system updated with the latest version of antivirus software and also a malicious software removal tool.