How Can I Remove Virus From My Laptop

How To Remove A Virus From My Pc

If your computer is showing symptoms of malware infection, e.g. it is slower, often freezes, we recommend that you do the following:

1.In the main program window, click Computer scan.

2.Click Scan your computer to begin scanning your system.

3.After the scan has finished, review the log with the number of scanned, infected and cleaned files.

4.If you wish to only scan a certain part of your disk, click Custom scan and select targets to be scanned for viruses.

For additional information please see our regularly updated ESET Knowledgebase article.

Before We Start Our Malware Search

Depending on the programming of the virus, spyware, adware, or other unwanted program, it may be possible to remove it yourself from an infected computer. However, it can be a long, tricky process, and it can damage your files if some step does not work exactly as planned.

Therefore, I strongly recommend that before you go through the steps below, you do what you can to back up the information you have in your computer. If you don’t have a complete back-up, follow the instructions below at your own risk.

Remove Virus With Virus & Threat Protection In Windows Defender

Virus & threat Protection is a Windows built-in feature that can be applied to protect Windows computers from virus infection and even use to remove viruses. Follow-through below steps to enable this feature on your PC and remove the virus immediately:

First. Turn On Virus & threat protection in Windows Defender

Step 1. Right-click Windows icon and select “Settings” > Click “Update and Security”.

Step 2. On the Windows Security section, click “Open Windows Defender Security Center”.

Step 3. Click “Virus & threat protection” on the new window > Go to Virus & threat protection settings.

Step 4. Turn on these three options: Real-time protection, Cloud-delivered protection, and Automatic sample submission.

Usually, once you enabled this feature, Windows Defender will automatically scan all drives and files to detect and check virus on your computer. If it finds a virus, do as requested to remove the virus.

Next. Remove Existing Virus from PC by Using Virus & threat Protection

Sometimes, you may also manually run this feature to scan and remove viruses from Windows computers.

Step 1. Go to “Settings” > “Update & Security” > “Windows Security”.

Step 2. Click “Virus & threat protection”.

Step 3. In the “Threat history” section, click “Scan now” to scan for viruses on your computer.

After this, you can restart your computer and the device is now clean of viruses, malware.

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If Need Be Remove A Virus Manually

Some malware must be removed manually. You should attempt this only if you are experienced with using the Windows Registry and know how to find and delete bloatware and other junk files like system and program files. If youre not sure, contact an IT expert who should be able to help show you how to remove viruses.

Signs That Your Computer Running Windows Might Be Affected By A Virus Or Malware

The following indicate that your computer might be affected by spyware, adware, or browser hijacking software.

• The computer takes longer to start to the Windows desktop.

• Applications do not load or frequently stop responding.

• Frequent system error messages occur.

• Unfamiliar icons are added to the desktop.

• The system performs slowly, especially while browsing the Internet.

• Browser windows close unexpectedly or stop responding.

• The browser home page changes and cannot be reset.

• Pop-up windows display more frequently and/or when the browser is not open.

• Unfamiliar toolbars are added to the browser.

• The default web search engine changes.

• Webpages are automatically added to your favorites list.

• Email messages or social media posts are sent from your account without your knowledge.

• Unexpected and near constant hard disk access occurs.

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Are You Wondering How To Speed Up My Pc And Clean Up My Computer

A slow laptop could be infected, struggling with outdated systems, hidden problems or too many junk files and folders. Downloading PC Cleaner is the right answer to how to make a computer faster and run a safe disk cleanup.

PC Cleaner is the best computer clean up tool designed to speed up a PC, free up space, resolve invisible problems, perform a safe disk cleanup and enhance overall performance.

Unlike other computer cleaner programs, you dont have to register your credit card information to be able to download PC Cleaner and run a complete computer clean up!

and clean up your computer right now!

Clean Out Junk Files & Free Up Valuable Disk Space

Searches your hard drive for junk files and permanently removes them freeing up memory for your computer to run more efficiently.

Boost Windows® Startup & Shutdown Times

Allows you to easily manage the programs that launch when Windows® first starts ensuring faster load time and improving overall system stability.

Clean Privacy Files

Use Command Prompt To Remove The Computer Viruses

You may wonder how to remove a virus by other methods. You can also use Command Prompt to remove viruses from the computer without antivirus. The detailed instructions are as follows:

Step 1: Type cmd in the Search bar, then right-click the first result to choose Run as administrator.

Step 2: Type F: and press Enter.

Step 3: Then you can type attrib -s -h -r /s /d *.* and press Enter.

Step 4: Type dir and press Enter. This command will load all the files, including the ones that are hidden and clear any directories or subfolders.

Step 5: As a reference, a virus name may contain words like “autorun” and “.inf” as the extension. Thus, if you find such suspicious files, type del autorun.inf to remove the virus.

Also see: 10 Command Prompt Tricks that Every Windows User Should Know

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Run Shortcut Virus Remover Or Antivirus Software

An antivirus program often doesn’t see shortcuts as viruses, but it’s a good idea to use one of these programs to scan your system. This gives you the assurance that your system is safe from any viruses and threats. Here are some of the recommended antivirus programs to use. Each has varying levels of protection, and so you might want to use more than one at different times for better protection.

• Norton Power Eraser

Steps to remove shortcut virus with free Antivirus Software:

Here, we will use Norton Power Eraser for the example:

Step 1. Download and run Norton Power Eraser.

If a new version is available, Norton Power Eraser will check and download it.

Step 2. In the Norton Power Eraser window, click the Scan for Risks option.

By default, Norton Power Eraser performs a rootkit scan and asks you to restart the system. When you see the prompt to restart the computer, click Restart.

If you do not want to use rootkit scanning, head into Settings and uncheck the Include rootkit scanning option.

Step 3. Depending on your case, use one of the following steps:

Step 4. After successfully removing the risk, click Finish.

Protect Your Identity With Multiple Email Addresses

Protect your identity by using two or more email addresses when you respond to items on the web. Use one address for your friends and business associates, and use a different address for people and companies you do not know as well. Your ISP can provide you with a limited number of email addresses, but there are also many services that allow you to set up multiple free disposable email accounts.

• For the free email account, make up a name with random letters and numbers rather than using your actual name.

• If the free account gets loaded with spam and other unwanted material, you can close that account or just stop checking it.

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Install The Latest Updates From Microsoft Update

Note A computer virus may prevent you from accessing the Microsoft Update website to install the latest updates. We recommend that you set the Automatic Updates service to run automatically so that a computer is not missing any important updates.

Enter Safe Mode On Your Pc

Youll first need to restart in Safe Mode, which limits your computer to the basic operations that it needs to function. This is helpful when removing viruses from your computer or laptop, because it should deactivate infected files as well.

Depending on the degree of computer access you currently have, you can get to Safe Mode in a few ways:

Option 1: Enter Safe Mode from the Settings menu

Press the Windows key + I to open the Settings menu. You can also reach the Settings menu by opening the Start menu, then scrolling down to Settings.

Select the Update & Security category. You may need to scroll down to find it.

In the Update & Security settings, select Recovery, then click the Restart Now button under the Advanced startup heading.

From here, your PC will restart and display the Choose an option screen. You can tell Windows 10 how you want it to boot. Navigate through Troubleshoot> Advanced options> Startup settings> Restart.

After another restart, youll see a new list of options for loading your OS. Select 4 or press F4 to start in Safe Mode.

Option 2: Enter Safe Mode from the sign-in screen

If youre unable to log into your computer, you can restart in Safe Mode from the sign-in screen. While there, press and hold Shift while clicking the Power icon and selecting Restart.

Your computer will then restart to the Choose an option screen. From there, you can follow the same process as is outlined in the previous step.

Option 3: Enter Safe Mode by shutting down your computer

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What Damage Could Viruses Do

We loathe computer viruses, undoubtedly. But do you know exactly how viruses can damage your computer? There are many types of viruses, and they behave in different ways. To sum it up, a computer virus is simply a type of program that causes your computer to act in an undesirable way. It can be a dangerous infiltration designed to drag your computer down, erase important files, track your habits, or give hackers access to your personal information… A virus is a great nuisance. Some viruses like the Locky virus and CryptoLocker, also known as ransomware, delete computer files, encrypt them, even change the file extension to .locky or .encypt. Other viruses hide files and leave users with nowhere to unhide them.

Clean Up And Remove Shortcut Virus With Cmd

Applies to external and internal devices

If your external devices like a USB flash drive, external hard drive, or SD memory card is infected with the shortcut virus, you should remove the virus immediately. The infection spreads whenever you plug the external device into a Windows PC or laptop.

Follow the steps below to remove shortcut virus with Command Prompt.

Warning

Be careful while using the CMD command line to resolve your issue. Improper use of CMD can result in severe damage to your system.

Step 1. Connect your external hard drive to your PC, right-click on Start, and select Search.

Step 2. Type Command Prompt in the search box and click Command Prompt to bring it up. Sign in with your administrator account and password if the system asks.

Step 3. Type the letter for your drive, type a colon, and press Enter. For example, if your USB drive or HDD drive’s letter is H, type H: and hit Enter.

Step 4. Type del *.lnk and hit Enter.

Step 5. Type attrib -s – r -h *.* /s /d /l and hit Enter.

If that didn’t work, you are likely infected by another virus. Replace .lnk with another virus extension such as *.exe to delete those suspicious files.

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How To Wipe Your Computer

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If nothing can remove the viruses properlyor if the malware so damaged your system that Windows still isnt working properly after removing the virusesyou can go for the nuclear option: reverting your computer to its factory state. Youll keep any personal files, but your any installed programs will be removed and your computers system settings will be reset to their default state.

On Windows 8 and 10, this is much easieryou can just use the Reset This PC feature to reset Windows to its factory default settings. You can find instructions for doing that here. If youre using a Windows 7 PC, your manufacturer probably provides a restore partition you can access by pressing a certain key during the boot process. Consult your computers manual for the exact key you need to press for this.

You can also reinstall Windows on your computer by .

Warning: Just be sure you have a backup of any important files before wiping your hard drive and reinstalling Windows!

If youve had to battle with malware once, try to do everything you can do make this the last time. Install a good antivirus program, keep your computer updated, and avoid running potentially dangerous software. Follow our tips to stay safe online to keep your computerand personal informationsecure.

Instructions For Microsoft Windows Operating Systems:

1. Make sure your antivirus software is up-to-date.

Windows 10 comes with Windows Defender.

1.1 Double-click on the white shield icon in the icon tray bar on the lower right portion of your screen . When you move your mouse over the icon, it should say “PC Status: Protected”.

1.2 Click the “Update” tab, click on the “Update” button and follow the prompts.

2. Reboot your computer into safe-mode

Follow these specific instructions for Windows 10: .

2.1 Once in Safe Mode, youll want to run a virus scan. But before you do that, delete your temporary files. Doing so may speed up the virus scanning, free up disk space, and even get rid of some malware. To use the Disk Cleanup utility included with Windows 10 just type Disk Cleanup in the search bar or after pressing the Start button and select the tool that appears named Disk Cleanup.

2.2 Next, while still in Safe Mode, run a full scan of your system: Double-click on the white Windows Defender shield icon in the icon tray bar on the lower right portion of your screen and select. When you move your mouse over the icon, it should say “PC Status: Protected.”

2.3 On the “Home” tab select “Full” and click the “Scan now” button.

3. Download and install an Anti-Spyware program

3.1 These programs have free versions that can be run for personal use and have solid reputations.

• Ad-Aware .*

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Prevent A Shortcut Virus Infection By Turning On The Windows Firewall

It’s too much of a hassle to remove the shortcut virus, and so it’s a good idea to keep your computer protected from this virus. An easy way to do this on a Windows PC is to enable the Windows Firewall.

Here’s how you turn the firewall on:

Step 1. Open Control Panel, click Windows Defender Firewall, and select Turn Windows Defender Firewall on or off.

Step 2. Enable both boxes for Turn on Windows Defender Firewall and click OK at the bottom.

Solution : End The Suspicious Processes In Task Manager

This is one of the most simple workarounds to remove virus from laptop without antivirus and to stop the infection from spreading further into the device. So, you simply need to open the Task Manager, hunt for the suspicious processes which you potentially think can be a virus or malware, and then terminate it. Heres a detailed set of instructions that you can follow:

• Hit the Control Alt + Del key combination. Wait for a few seconds until Windows prepares the security options. Tap on the Task Manager option.
• In the Task Manager window, switch to the Processes tab.
• If you spot any suspicious or bizarre process, tap on it.

Make a quick Google search to know what this process is all about and why is it running on your machine. If you find anything unfamiliar or potentially dangerous about the process, head back to the Task Manager window, right-click on it and select the End Task button to terminate the process.

After terminating the process, reboot your device and open Task Manager again to check if the process is still running in the background.

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Remove Any Temporary Files

Once in Safe Mode, run Disk Cleanup to get rid of all your computers temporary files. Reducing the quantity of files on your device will help speed up the virus scan that youre about to perform in the next step. You may even get lucky and clear up your malware infection before needing to go any further.