remHead

Free things are hard to come by especially when you are dealing with computer issues. Believe it or not Symantec offers a free method to remove viruses. They have both detailed removal instructions and standalone tools to help you clean up your mess. NAI aka MacAfee also offers this but I prefer Symantec to NAI when it comes to these tools.

I will show you how to use Symantec's website to find the infection and how to remove it. We will also show you how to download their tool for free virus fixes. Then we will go on to show you BleepingComputer's website where they offer up removal information for you.

We will start with Symantec's list of threats and risks which is located at the following URL.

You will see the threats and risks listed alphabetically, showing you the risk type, severity and when it was discovered. Click on a threat name to continue.

free virus fixes

I chose a virus at random and read through what it does. Then I clicked on the removal tab shown below in the following screenshot:

free virus fixes

You will see instructions on how to remove what the virus has done to your machine. You will need to stop and delete the infected files. They assume you are using their antivirus software but with most of the new viruses you can search their site and download a removal tool - the search box is on the right hand side of the site. It looks like this:

free virus fixes

If a removal tool is available for your virus you will see this link on the page. Click it to download and run your tool.

virus fix tools

The site I normally gather my information from is called Bleeping Computer . If you have a rather new virus, go to this link and search for your infection.  Some of the new popular guys are on this list. You will see Antivirus 2009 and SystemCleanerPRO both very annoying viruses on the list. Click on the one you want more information on or search the site using their Google Custom search which you can see below:

virus fix tools

When I brought up the page for SystemCleanerPro I saw this:

virus fix tools

Scrolling down I saw the information I need to manually remove the infection and, like MakeUseOf, they love free tools so they use MalwareBytes which can be downloaded for free.

virus fix software

They continue on how to repair the damage the machine has taken. When one of your resources does not have the virus in question listed do a Google Search. Take into account the reputation of the site. Obviously we would not want to download a tool or follow instructions from a site like destroyyourcomputer or iwillgiveyouavirus but articles leading back to Lifehacker or Instructables should be fine.

Use your noggin and do not succumb to the hackers! Do not buy their application to save your files. Do not give in! If you have problems, post them here and I will do my best to walk you through finding a solution!

In the past, we have covered a lot of virus & malware subjects.   Here are four of them :

How To Get Rid Of A Trojan Horse Virus That Won't Go Away - Varun

10 Free Online Malware & Virus Scanners - Travis

Detect Fake Antivirus software & Spyware Removal programs - Ryan

Do you have another favorite site? Please share them with us in the comments!