The best virus removal utility according to users
If a lot of unnecessary advertising materials appear in the browser, files disappear somewhere on the desktop, or other incomprehensible things happen, and the antivirus is powerless against them, a virus removal utility comes to the rescue.
This concept refers to a small program that simply finds and removes viruses and their remnants. This is an inferior antivirus, such as Doctor Web or Kaspersky, but a small part of them that only scans the system and removes all malware.
Such utilities do not require installation and, most often, are distributed completely free of charge. Some antivirus giants release such utilities so that users can fully appreciate the power of their software.
An example of such is the same Doctor Web and Kaspersky.
The first “giant” has such a utility called Dr.Web CureIt, and the second one – Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool. These two programs are the most popular of their kind, but far from the most effective. But they are distributed for free!
Using their example, we can consider the main functions and features of viruses removal utilities. And then we’ll move on to considering those programs that really work effectively against ad viruses and other unnecessary programs.
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No. 6. Dr.Web CureIt
So, Dr.Web CureIt does not require installation.
It's very easy to use.
It all comes down to these few steps:
- Launch the downloaded file.
- Click on one big button “Start checking” (Figure 1.a).
- In the next window, check off the threats that the program will look for on your computer (highlighted in green in Figure 1.b).
- Click the big “Start scan” button.
After that, you just have to wait for the end of the check. This process is shown in Figure 2.a. Upon completion, the user will see a report that displays detected viruses and the files that contain them.
An example of such a report is shown in Figure 2.b. Using the buttons at the bottom of the window, they can be deleted or quarantined.
On the forums you can find reviews that Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool does not find most ad viruses, which Dr.Web CureIt easily copes with.
Some write that it takes a very long time to run and heavily loads the computer's memory. Often it is simply impossible to run other programs in parallel with Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool. Although, all Kaspersky products suffer from this.
In any case, although Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool is the brainchild of one of the best antivirus products of our time, it does not have even a quarter of the power that Kaspersky antiviruses are famous for. Therefore, it is better to use one of the utilities listed below.
No. 4. AdwCleaner
Any topic on the forums that talks about free virus removal utilities will feature AdwCleaner. And this is not at all surprising, because many people choose this particular program as an alternative to the popular Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool and Dr.Web CureIt.
Although, if you take all the many reviews and posts, then it can hardly be considered the most powerful of its kind. But AdwCleaner was created, as they say, with soul and for people.
After a standard and identical virus removal process for everyone, AdwCleaner shows recommendations on how to avoid similar problems in the future.
As for use, this healing utility is practically no different from the above-mentioned similar programs.
The AdwCleaner window is shown in Figure 4. All actions are concentrated in the section with the appropriate name (highlighted in the figure).
To start using it, you need to click the “Scan” button, and then wait until the end of the scan. The “Results” section (located immediately below the “Actions” section) will contain the inspection report. There you can select all the threats found or some specific ones and click the “Delete” button.
Of course, the scanning and removal algorithms for all such programs are different, but the method of use is almost the same for all.
As for AdwCleaner, judging by the reviews people left on forums and social networks, this healing utility works better than Kaspersky and Doctor Web products.
There were cases when the same Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool did not find anything, but AdwCleaner found several dozen viruses and easily removed them from the computer. Although it cannot be considered the best of its kind.
No. 3. Anti-Malware
Anti-Malware is one of the most popular healing utilities. Almost the same thing can be said about it as about AdwCleaner - in any topic about utilities for removing viruses, at least someone will write about Anti-Malware.
The peculiarity of this program is that it is a full-fledged software with several tabs in the main window, extensive customization options, several scanning modes and a great variety of functions.
Thus, the user can set exceptions for scanning, set scheduled scans, restrict access to the utility for other users, and do much more. He also has the opportunity to view history.
In general, Anti-Malware is much more than AdwCleaner, Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool and Dr.Web CureIt combined.
Moreover, this program is distributed completely free of charge. It only has a Premium mode, in which a quick scan is available, the aforementioned scheduler, even real-time protection (!) and many other additional features.
But the main Anti-Malware package is quite enough to detect and permanently remove certain viruses.
In some cases, users use it as a replacement for an antivirus, only checking it from time to time. Although doing so is highly not recommended.
Anti-Malware also has disadvantages. But they are very small. For example, the utility detected Webalta and Conduit for one user, but did not respond to Mobogenie, which is also a completely adware program.
So in the race for the title of “best virus removal utility,” Anti-Malware clearly cannot claim first place. But her place in the top three is guaranteed!
Important: Anti-Malware has a full Russian language. Only for this you need to download it from the official website - ru.malwarebytes.org/mwb-download.
No. 2. Spybot Search & Destroy
This program differs from the others in its very interesting interface - it is clear that few people worked on the program, and they did not spend a lot of time on beautiful design and advertising of their product.
But they spent a lot of time making a truly powerful virus removal tool for any modern computer. The program interface is shown in Figure 6.
As you can see, in the main program window there are such standard items as system scan, quarantine and update. Although there are two scans here - one for the system as a whole, the other for individual files.
This is very unusual for such programs. There is a “Statistics” button, by clicking on which you can see how many viruses were on the computer for the entire time that Spybot Search & Destroy was on the computer, which of them were removed, and so on.
This is also a very useful function that allows you to analyze the main ways threats enter your computer.
But the palm among non-standard functions goes to “Immunization”. It allows you to protect certain files from infection. A very unusual, but very useful feature!
Among the advanced tools there is a report creator, which makes it possible to create a report on the operation of the program and the state of the system.
There are also settings and another interesting item - “Startup tools”. It allows you to specify those programs and functions that will be loaded with the system. For example, you can set automatic scanning at startup.
Most importantly, Spybot Search & Destroy protects against viruses very well - search is at the highest level, and removal occurs without side effects. And this is the main thing for such programs.
Important! Spybot Search & Destroy does not take first place in our rating today for one simple reason - it is unfinished!
For one user, this utility for some reason removed the drivers from the scanner; for another, the computer rebooted. In addition, the creators approached the licensing agreement with humor that was not very appropriate in this case.
If they take their creation more seriously in the future, Spybot Search & Destroy may well outperform other similar programs.