help.artaro.eu

Content

Free anti-malware programs

Tip: keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F searches in the page contents

Any effective antivirus does a good job protecting from viruses and basic malware, but they often lack detection of seriously dangerous malware that is able to hide itself from Windows and therefore avoid detection. While there are no free and effective real-time (scanning all items when they enter your computer; not just on-demand scanning) antimalware programs, you should still run an antimalware scan at least once a month. And you can do this for free!

If using terms "antivirus" and "antimalware" confuses you, read our article about how viruses differ from other malware.

For security purposes, I recommend having two different antimalware programs installed - Spybot Search & Destroy and Malwarebytes' Antimalware. As they do not do real-time scanning, they do not slow down your everyday computer usage. Both have their strong points and complement each other.

Spybot Search & Destroy

It was a flagship of antimalware programs a few years ago, but now its age starts to show. Spybot Search & Destroy (often called just "Spybot" or "Spybot S&D") has still a good detection and removal rate, but its main strong point is adding a special blacklist of malicious sites to Windows hosts file and Internet Explorer's list of Restricted sites - a process called Immunization.

Hosts file is used to resolve IP-addresses to names and it complements DNS (Domain Name Service) servers. What on earth are those used for you ask? Well, help.artaro.eu is actually an IP address 217.146.69.17; www.google.com has several IP-addresses - 66.102.13.99, 66.102.13.103, 66.102.13.147, etc. All computers and programs actually use IP-addresses for moving around the Internet. Which one is easier to remember for you - a name or an IP-address? DNS servers and hosts file help to resolve names into IP-addresses.
A malicious site included in hosts file by Spybot S&D cannot be resolved to a working IP-address, so you are protected from entering the site and therefore chances of getting your computer infected there are zero!

Immunization by Spybot S&D actually does a good job preventing malicious software from getting into your computer in the first place! Combine this with McAfee SiteAdvisor and you get a much safer Internet experience.

Spybot S&D can also do scheduled updates and automatic scanning, so you do not have to worry about running the program yourself.

• Install Spybot Search and Destroy
• Configure Spybot Search and Destroy
• Spybot Search and Destroy scan

Malwarebytes' Antimalware Free

Often abbreviated to "MBAM", Malwarebytes' Antimalware has a very good detection and removal rate. It does have a paid version that includes real-time scanning and some other minor enhancements, but let's keep our protection free, shall we?

With frequent updates to detection library and the program itself, Malwarebytes' Antimalware is a must-have among malware scanners. Its only drawback is the lack of automatic updates and scheduled scanning.

• Install Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
• Configure Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware quick scan
• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware full scan

ComboFix

ComboFix is a malware cleaner that easily removes the naughtiest rootkits and malware from any 32-bit or 64-bit Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 computer. It does not provide real-time protection - this tool is meant for checking and cleaning only.
ComboFix is updated daily, so be sure to download the latest version before scanning.

• ComboFix

 Comments? Suggestions? Ideas? Let us know! 

Your name (public):

Your e-mail (will not be displayed):

Title:

Notify me of new comments to this page:

Your comments/suggestions/ideas (no HTML code!)
By adding a comment you agree that help.artaro.eu owners are not responsible in any way for your comment's contents. You take the full responsibility for your comments.
help.artaro.eu owners reserve the right to remove comments that they find unacceptable because of strong language, inappropriate contents, advertising or spamming.
Our Privacy Policy