The best way to know if the computer is infected with a rooted virus is to pay attention to symptoms. Usually, once Windows contacts a virus, misleading things happen, like unknown programs are opened when entering Internet Explorer (and sometimes, other browsers, too), various pop-ups begin to appear on the screen without reason, and so on. In most cases, the virus actually pretends to be anti-virus. It forces the user to purchase a full license by lying that the whole system has been infected and that only by paying you can get rid of infections.
How to get rid of nasty Windows viruses
Paying is not an option, ever – at least when it comes to tactics like the ones described. Although the virus can sometimes restrict internet access and even the desktop itself, here is what can be done:
Repairing the internet connection
Even more problems
Something else might have been broken besides the internet connection. Usually, it is the .EXE file association, and this has to be fixed with different methods, one for Windows XP and one for Windows Vista or 7. The full steps can be found here. If all that has been listed above fails, you will be forced to remove the physical hard drive and connect it to a clean computer, and scan the external drive from there.
Tools that can cleanse the computer
There are several programs that can get the job done, but from our experience, the best ones have always been:
MalwareBytes’ Antimalware BitDefender AVG Microsoft Security Essentials Norton Power Eraser
Choosing one from the list and using it on the infected PC should do the work, but we always recommend that even the scan itself should be done while in Safe Mode. To use one of them, simply download the program on the desktop, install it by leaving all options as default and then run a complete, not brief, scan. For the sake of the explanation, here’s how to do it with the powerful Norton Eraser: Note: Please take in consideration that the above steps are not related to RootKit viruses, which is a severe category of infections. This method will have no effect on them and it will only work with viruses a bit more complicated than the usual breed. We will post a guide for RootKit infections as soon as possible.
