Showing posts with label Malware Removal. Show all posts
Malwarebytes Chameleon 1.62.1
If a virus manages to bypass your defences and infect your PC
then it's easy to assume that you'll just download some other security tool to
remove it, but life may not be so straightforward. Once malware is installed on
your system then it will sometimes block access to common antivirus websites and
tools, making it much more difficult to tackle - unless you have Malwarebytes
Chameleon.
The package is essentially just a collection of files, each of which will try to do the same thing: download, install and run Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. But it tries to do this using various disguised names ("firefox.com", "iexplore.exe", "svchost.exe", making it much more difficult for any infection to figure out what's going on.
The package is essentially just a collection of files, each of which will try to do the same thing: download, install and run Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. But it tries to do this using various disguised names ("firefox.com", "iexplore.exe", "svchost.exe", making it much more difficult for any infection to figure out what's going on.
And so all you have to
do, then, is double-click each name in turn until one of them works.
This plainly isn't a
perfect scheme. "Winlogon.exe", for instance, is the name of a key
Windows system file, and Malwarebytes are presumably hoping that any virus
won't dare to prevent it from launching. But malware could check its location,
first, and block any executables which aren't in your system folders, which
will keep most PCs running while also disabling this particular Chameleon
option.
Still, most viruses
aren't going to go to that trouble, and so Chameleon could still be very
useful. It's certainly convenient: just double-clicking a file is all it takes
to download, install and run Malwarebytes Anti-Malware on a PC, making the tool
very handy for any portable security toolkit.
Platforms: Windows 7 (32 bit), Windows 7 (64 bit),
Windows 8, Windows Vista (32 bit), Windows Vista (64 bit), Windows XP
Version: 1.62.1.1000
Licence: Freeware
Version: 1.62.1.1000
Licence: Freeware
Download link:
Tag :
Malware Removal
Malware Scene Investigator 1.25
Malware Scene Investigator is a portable free tool which
quickly scans your PC for security problems. It can't then fix them - you'll
get warnings only - but that's still enough to be very helpful.
The program is very small (a 482KB executable), and extremely fast, checking our test PC in just a few seconds. A tabbed interface then displays the results in two forms: clicking Report provides a quick summary, while the Detailed Log tab gives you a more in-depth view.
The program is very small (a 482KB executable), and extremely fast, checking our test PC in just a few seconds. A tabbed interface then displays the results in two forms: clicking Report provides a quick summary, while the Detailed Log tab gives you a more in-depth view.
Despite its small size
and extreme speed, Malware Scene Investigator tries to cover a wide range of
issues. It can highlight HOSTS file manipulation, unknown drivers, and dubious
proxy settings. It looks for unusual disk partitions, Registry modifications or
startup programs. You'll be warned of executable files in your temporary
folders (a common route for malware), and the report includes general
information about your PC's state (open network connections, running processes,
scheduled tasks, recently created \Windows\System32 files, and more).
We tested this out on a
test PC, and the program did generally quite well. It highlighted some active
third-party drivers, for instance; picked out an unusual Windows service
setting; even warned us about a suspicious startup entry which we had already
become concerned about.
Checking for outdated
software was less successful, though, at least in our case. The program claimed
that we had an outdated version of Flash installed, but this wasn't true: it
just hadn't identified our installed Flash version correctly.
Malware Scene
Investigator isn't for novices, then. And you can't rely 100% on everything it
says: the program can only give you pointers as to what you should investigate
next.
But, if you are worried
a PC has been infected by malware - or just want a general security check -
then the program is worth a try, and it certainly deserves a place in your
security toolkit.
Platforms: Windows 7 (32 bit), Windows 7 (64 bit), Windows 8, Windows Server, Windows Vista (32 bit), Windows Vista (64 bit), Windows XP
Version: 1.25
Licence: Freeware
Download link:
Tag :
Malware Removal
AdwCleaner 2.202
AdwCleaner is a compact and portable tool which can help you
to remove toolbars, adware and similar browser-based pests.
The program's interface is, well, a little basic. Click "Search" and in a moment or two an in-depth report appears in Notepad, describing any issues you might have. Click "Delete" and AdwCleaner will try to delete everything, displaying another Notepad report on the details. And that's about it.
The program's interface is, well, a little basic. Click "Search" and in a moment or two an in-depth report appears in Notepad, describing any issues you might have. Click "Delete" and AdwCleaner will try to delete everything, displaying another Notepad report on the details. And that's about it.
While this is
undoubtedly very simple, our immediate concern is that there's no general way
to tell AdwCleaner what you want to keep, and what should go. The only control
comes in the Options dialog, where you can instruct AdwCleaner to ignore the
Ask toolbar, or not to examine one or more browsers (the program supports IE,
Firefox, Chrome and Opera).
Does it work, though? To
find out, we installed a few free programs, allowing them to install whatever
they liked. And when we ran AdwCleaner, it correctly detected and displayed
everything we'd just acquired: the RelevantKnowledge service, Babylon Toolbar,
Complitly, Smart Suggestor and more.
We clicked
"Delete", and after confirming that yes, we really were sure,
AdwCleaner went to work, closing all our programs, removing the various files
and Registry keys, and rebooting our PC. You don't get much choice in any of
this - there's no "reboot later" option - and, again, we didn't
really feel in control. But when our system restarted, the unwanted extras had
all disappeared, and that's clearly good news.
AdwCleaner is short on
options, then. It's difficult to see or control exactly what it's going to do.
And there's no real documentation, which all goes to make us feel just a little
on the nervous side.
But, at the same time,
the program does appear to do a reasonable job of detecting and removing common
browser annoyances. And so, while it wouldn't be our first choice of toolbar
remover, it might be worth keeping a copy of AdwCleaner in reserve, just in
case you encounter something that your regular tools can't handle.
Platforms: Windows 7 (32 bit), Windows 7 (64 bit),
Windows 8, Windows Vista (32 bit), Windows Vista (64 bit), Windows XP
Version: 2.110
Licence: Freeware
Version: 2.110
Licence: Freeware
Download link:
Tag :
Malware Removal
