This guide is intended to help remove viruses and spyware from personally-owned computers. (Faculty and staff with college-owned computers should contact the Help Desk at x2100 to request service by IT staff.) We recommend running these programs to resolve issues quickly and prevent a visit to the Help Desk.

To install these programs, visit their respective websites and download the installation file.

CCleaner: http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner (there is a free version as well as a paid version)

Malwarebytes: http://www.malwarebytes.org/

Spybot: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html

HiJackThis: http://free.antivirus.com/hijackthis/

If you don't have virus scanning software (or a product you purchased is now out of date), you can also download Security Essentials from Microsoft for free (be sure to remove any installed virus scanning software first): http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

If you have any questions about this guide, please call contact the Help Desk (students x2007, faculty and staff x2100).

CCleaner is an effective tool in removing all of the unnecessary files from your computer that applications create on your computer. Internet browsers usually create thousands of files, all of which come from the websites that you visit. Deleting all of these files will make running the scans below much quicker.

To run this program, follow the steps below.

1. Make sure the computer is in Safe Mode. When the program is open, click on the button titled "Run CCleaner"

The file deletion process only takes a few minutes. Once the log file is shown in the white space, the scan is complete

This is an extremely valuable tool in removing most viruses from your Windows computer. Here is how to run it:

1. Make sure the computer is in Safe Mode. Launch Malwarebytes and check to see if is up to date. Click on the “Update” tab at the top, then “Check for Updates”.

2. Run the Scans. On the “Scanner” tab, select the “Perform Full Scan” option then click “Scan”

3. At the end, a list of infected files will appear in the window (if any). Make sure all are “Checked” and then click the “Remove Selected” button.

4. Restart the computer after you have removed the infected files. MWB may tell you that you need to restart.

5. If there were no files detected on the initial scan, then you are done with this program.

6. If you removed files, then go to the “Scanner” tab and check “Perform full Scan”, scan again to make sure they are gone.

**It is advisable to run the “Perform Quick Scan” feature weekly to help keep viruses from infecting/growing on your computer. MWB does not have a scheduling feature so this would have to be done manually. The quick scan takes about half the time of the Full Scan (or less). **

This is a program we use to remove most spyware and adware from Windows computers. It is fairly simple to use and there is not much to it but here is a walk-thru guide:

1. Make sure the computer is in Safe Mode. Launch Spybot and check to see if it is up to date. Click on the “Update” icon on the left pane.

2. A window pops up, select a mirror from the USA (“USA” is in parentheses on the right). Then Click “Continue”

3. A New window appears with available updates, select all that are there then hit “Download”. Once done, hit “Exit”. Your program is now up to date.

4. From the main menu, select “Check for Problems”. It will scan, which lasts from 30-90 minutes.

5. If Spybot finds problems, make sure all are selected, then click “Fix Selected Problems”

6. If Spybot does not find problems, there will be nothing in the box (shown above) and you should be good to go.

HiJackThis is a small program that scans all of the processes running on your computer and checks to see if any of them are related to known viruses.