How To Clean Up My Laptop From Viruses

How To Remove A Virus

This article was co-authored by Luigi Oppido. Luigi Oppido is the Owner and Operator of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, California. Luigi has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades. He is also the host of the Computer Man Show! broadcasted on KSQD covering central California for over two years.wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, several readers have written to tell us that this article was helpful to them, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 1,459,134 times.

This wikiHow teaches you how to remove a virus from your Windows or Mac computer. In many cases, using a combination of your computer’s built-in Safe Mode and an antivirus program will be enough to remove a virus. Keep in mind that not all viruses will be removable, meaning you may have to reinstall your computer’s operating system from scratch to get rid of a virus.

Download A Device Optimization Program

Device optimization programs like the ones included with antiviruses like Norton and TotalAV make cleaning and speeding up your PC extremely easy.

For example, TotalAVs System Tune Up feature manages your devices memory usage by identifying apps that consume too much of your devices memory and resources and giving you a list of suggested apps to close.

Most top antivirus brands offering optimization features are subscription-based. Fortunately, they are all pretty affordable. And antiviruses like TotalAV offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, which means you can optimize and clean up your PC and get a full refund if you dont want to keep the program making this fix totally free.

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.

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Run A Scan With Malwarebytes

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For illustrative purposes, well describe how to use the Malwarebytes on-demand scanner. To get started, . If you disconnected from the internet for safety reasons when you first suspected that you might be infected, reconnect to it so you can download, install, and update Malwarebytes then disconnect from the internet again before you start the actual scanning. If you cant access the internet or you cant download Malwarebytes on the infected computer, download it on another computer, save it to a USB flash drive, and take the flash drive to the infected computer.

After downloading Malwarebytes, run the setup file and follow the wizard to install the program. Once the program opens, it will automatically activate a trial of the paid version that enables real-time scanning. You wont get charged after the trial ends, howeverby default, the program reverts to the standard free version in 14 days. In the meanwhile, you can disable the real-time scanning for those two weeks if you prefer.

To run a scan, switch from the Dashboard tab to the Scan tab. Keep the default scan option selected and click the Start Scan button. It should check for updates before it runs the scan, but make sure that happens before you proceed.

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Choose Threat Scan to perform a basic analysis of your computers most commonly infected files.

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Malwarebytes presents the results of its scan and lets you remove the offending bits with one click.

Delete Old Files & Downloads

The Disk Cleanup utility is perfect for deleting files you never even knew were taking up space, but chances are you have even more old files that can be deleted in order to free up room.

The biggest culprits to look at are photos, videos, and files in your Downloads folder. Over the course of several years, your Downloads folder accumulates photos, documents, and email attachments that you might no longer need and they take up a ton of room on your computers hard drive.

Consider moving some files to a cloud storage platform, like OneDrive, or backing up files onto a separate drive to free up space on your main computers storage. This can significantly improve your computer speed.

Backing up files also protects you in case your hard drive fails, you lose your computer, or if other damages occur.

You can use OneDrive to keep anything you dont need to access often. Its already built into the Windows operating system, its easy to use, and its free.

To manage your OneDrive, open the File Explorer, right-click OneDrive, and click on Settings.

You can manage all the settings there, including when and where to backup old and unused files. If you want to delete something off of your computer but save it to OneDrive, make sure its synced to the OneDrive cloud before you delete it off of your computer.

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Stop Trying To Clean Your Infected Computer Just Nuke It And Reinstall Windows

Chris Hoffman is Editor-in-Chief of How-To Geek. He’s written about technology for over a decade and was a PCWorld columnist for two years. Chris has written for The New York Times, been interviewed as a technology expert on TV stations like Miami’s NBC 6, and had his work covered by news outlets like the BBC. Since 2011, Chris has written over 2,000 articles that have been read nearly one billion times—and that’s just here at How-To Geek. Read more…

Some people spend hours maybe even days trying to clean an infected Windows system and ensuring its actually clean and safe afterward. Its usually not a good idea to do this just reinstall Windows and start over.

This may seem like a daunting task, especially if you dont have good backups of your important files. But its worth it to quickly obliterate an infection and ensure your system is safe.

Clear Your Cache And Cookies

Every time you visit a webpage, your web browser stores or caches it as a small file in your Temporary Internet Files folder. Similarly, it stockpiles small files called ‘cookies’, which contain information about your browsing history and personal details. Over time, the volume of these files can build up. Periodically clearing out your browsers cache will help it to work faster when loading pages and reduce the amount of valuable disk space that these cached files take up.

In most browsers, these settings can be found within the Settings menu, labelled something along the lines of Clear browsing data or Clear cache & cookies.

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Maintaining Good Pc Performance

Regardless of whats causing your PC to slow down over time, there are a few best practices to keep in mind for better day-to-day performance such as:

• Always close apps and software youre not using.
• Move large files to an external storage drive and/or to a cloud storage platform.
• Regularly empty your Recycle Bin, delete software caches, and unnecessary downloads.
• Restart your computer regularly.
• Protect your device with a reliable antivirus program.

In most cases, these simple fixes should improve your computers speed. Antivirus software like Norton 360 and TotalAV are well known for enhancing computer performance in addition to providing protections against cyber threats.

However, all computers and their components degrade and have to be replaced or upgraded over time. But with proper care, you can delay that and give your computer a long, happy life.

How To Remove Malware From Your Windows Pc

Beware the signs of a PC plagued by malware: slower-than-usual performance, a sudden spate of pop-ups, and other anomalous issues. Yes, out-of-the-ordinary behavior is sometimes the result of hardware conflicts, but your first action should be to rule out the possibility of infection by a virus, spyware, or other nefarious entityeven if you have an antivirus program installed.

Follow this step-by-step guide for instructions on how to get rid of malware.

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How To Clean Your Computer System

This article was written by Darlene Antonelli, MA. Darlene Antonelli is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. Darlene has experience teaching college courses, writing technology-related articles, and working hands-on in the technology field. She earned an MA in Writing from Rowan University in 2012 and wrote her thesis on online communities and the personalities curated in such communities.The wikiHow Tech Team also followed the article’s instructions and verified that they work. This article has been viewed 2,347,198 times.

This wikiHow is like a full-service carwash for your computeryou’ll learn how to clean up unnecessary clutter on your hard drive, get your operating system up to date, and get rid of viruses and malware. You’ll also learn how to safely clean your desktop or laptop computer’s exterior so it looks shiny and new!

Bonus Tips: How To Remove Virus From Laptop With Antivirus

If your PC or laptop has a virus, following the following simple steps to remove virus from laptop.

1. Download and install a virus scanner.

2. Disconnect from internet.

3. Reboot your computer into safe mode.

4. Delete any temporary files. …

5. Run a virus scan.

6. Delete or quarantine the virus.

7. Reboot your computer.

Updated by Daisy

Daisy is the Senior editor of the writing team for EaseUS. She has been working in EaseUS for over ten years, starting from a technical writer to a team leader of the content group. As a professional author for over 10 years, she writes a lot to help people overcome their tech troubles.

Written by Jean

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How Do I Prevent My Files From Being Deleted Or Infected From Viruses

First, you need to turn on the Real-time Protection in Windows Defender or run virus cleaner software on your PC. Next, you can save a copy of all your valuable files to an external hard drive as a backup. By doing so, you can always survive whenever your computer gets infected by a virus or malware.

Here, you may use a reliable file backup software to selectively back up all desired files to an external hard drive at one time:

Remember to select the external hard drive as your target device for saving file images.

Step 1. Launch EaseUS Todo Backup software and then choose “File”, “Disk/partition” or “OS” for different backup purpose.

Step 2. Choose the system, disk partition, files or apps that you want to back up. Then click “Browse” to select a destination where you want to store the backup file.

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EaseUS Todo Backup now supports users to back up files to the cloud. All you need to do is sign up with an EaseUS account, then you could enjoy a large cloud storage space. More advantages of backing up to the cloud include accessing backup files anytime and anywhere, saving file copies offsite, so you don’t need to worry about virus attacks or computer failures, and easier and faster backup and recovery operations.

Step 3. Click “Save” to start the data backup process.

# 4 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 computer from virus infection and even use to remove virus. Follow through below steps to enable this feature on your PC and remove 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 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 virus from Windows computer.

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 virus, malware.

Here are some relative tutorials that may help you remove some specific virus from your PC and storage devices:

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Download A Virus Scanner

There are two types of scanners that can detect and remove computer viruses and malware: real-time and on-demand.

Get it forMac,PC,Android

Using both types of scanner might be necessary to remove the virus. If you dont have a virus scanner installed, this is the time to reconnect to the internet and download one.

Even if you cant connect to the internet, you might still be able to download Microsoft Safety Scanner because you started up your computer in Safe Mode with Networking.

How To Manually Remove A Virus

Here is the deal: wed really like to discourage you from engaging in close-quarters combat with any kind of malware. Removing viruses manually requires comprehensive knowledge of your operating systems darkest corners and depends heavily on the type of malware youve encountered. Any mistake might result in unwanted casualties.

However, if you are comfortable using tools like Registry Editor, can identify malicious processes, and do not object to losing some data, we can recommend this help topic from Microsoft.

If it were our decision, wed leave it to the pros. With Clarios cybersecurity software, you get a reliable all-in-one solution that protects you from any kind of malware or ID theft, as well as secures your Wi-Fi connection. Over 600 on-demand security experts are available to assist you 24/7.

To show you how serious we are about digital security, weve included a short section on preventing viruses from infecting your system.

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If One Piece Of Malware Slips By Your Computer Is Compromised

RELATED:How to Remove Viruses and Malware on Your Windows PC

The key to securing your computer is ensuring it doesnt get infected in the first place. Thats why people run antivirus applications that can check programs before they run, ideally preventing a piece of malware from running even once. If malicious software makes it through this protection, it has free rein over your system until its discovered and removed.

This is a problem for many different reasons. The malware can take this chance to burrow deeper into your system, hiding itself from being discovered by installing a rootkit that starts up during the boot process. It can infect various system files. It can use its access to transmit your personal data, credit card numbers, and passwords over the Internet.

Worse yet, malware can function as a Trojan horse, opening the floodgates to additional malware that it will download and install from the Internet. If you find your computer is actually infected by a piece of malware, you dont know if thats the only piece of malware thats infected your computer.

How To Protect Your Computer From Viruses

Here are some key ways that you can protect your computer from viruses:

• Use anti-virus software or a complete internet security solution, like Kaspersky Total Security. For your Android mobile, consider Kaspersky Internet Security for Android.
• Research apps and software by reading user reviews.
• Read developer descriptions before you download apps and software.
• Only download apps and software from trusted sites.
• Check how many downloads apps and software have. The more, the better.
• Check what permissions apps and software ask for. Are these reasonable?
• Never click on unverified links in spam emails, messages or unfamiliar websites.
• Do not open attachments in spam emails.
• Keep software, apps and your operating system updated.
• Use a secure VPN connection for public Wi-Fi, like Kaspersky Secure Connection.
• Never insert unknown USB sticks or disks into your computer.

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Optimize Startup Applications With The Task Manager

Your computer usually launches all kinds of different processes, tasks, and programs upon booting up. Some programs are necessary and helpful, but others can unnecessarily slow down startup times.

You can manage what startup programs you want to be running in the background using the Task Manager.

Open the Task Manager and choose the Startup tab. Youll see a list of all of the programs that launch every time your computer turns on .

Again, antiviruses like TotalAV make this process easy by letting you easily enable and disable startup programs.

What Are The Signs My Pc Is Infected

Malware comes in many shapes and forms, but there are some common things it may do to your computer. If you notice that your search engine, browser homepage, or even desktop wallpaper have changed without you doing anything, it may be time to run a scan as described above. Other symptoms could be your computer running hotter or slower than usual or seeing popups or notifications that you havent seen before.

Google has a great video describing some of the common symptoms of malware.

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Always Keep Your Software Up To Date

Outdated software is one of the major causes of malware infections out there, mostly because they come with many vulnerabilities exploited by cybercriminals.

Keeping up your software permanently up to date will lower the chances for malicious hackers to get inside your device or limit any possibility for them to infect computers.

We know it can become a tedious, yet necessary task to constantly update your software, particularly those that patch frequently.

Heimdal Patch & Asset Management is a great solution that will automatically update your software, without any annoying confirmation pop-ups. Its light and unobtrusive, so it wont slow down your system.