Best free Windows malware removers?

July 9, 2008 3:15 PM

What free Windows malware detectors/removers should I put on a CD or USB stick?

I will shortly be visiting a relative with an XP machine which I have reason to believe may be less than sanitary. I have not been maintaining Windows boxes regularly for a couple of years, so I am not up with the play, but I have a modest level of cluefulness as a hardcore Unix person and ex-XP user.

If I were to offer to clean this machine up, what I should I use to do so? I was thinking of creating a disk of utilities for the purpose before I leave.

posted by i_am_joe's_spleen to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

I would recommend following this guide. Short of reformatting the machine, it has been the most successful method of removing malware for me. All of the software mentioned in it is free or has free trials that are fully functioning for the purposes outlined in the document.
posted by joshrholloway at 3:21 PM on July 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

I have a security CD exactly for this purpose, just in case things get farked-up. Admittedly. it was created in 2004, so updated versions of the software are hopefully available if they haven't been discontinued.

It contains:

Directory of D:\
05/02/2004 04:19 PM 247,981 BootDisk.zip
08/29/2002 06:00 AM 734 HOSTS
04/23/2003 09:23 PM 3,468,862 UltimateZip_Setup_271.exe
05/02/2004 03:36 PM 3,139,610 pebuilder3032.zip

Directory of D:\AntiVirus\Installers
04/28/2004 09:45 PM 7,876,095 Avast_setupeng.exe
04/28/2004 09:45 PM 4,053,504 antivir_winsfx.exe
02/02/2004 08:24 PM 6,693,376 avg6574fu_free.exe
05/02/2004 03:26 PM 112,384 doomcln-kb836528-v3-enu.exe
05/02/2004 03:25 PM 323,896 windows-kb833330-enu.exe

Directory of D:\AntiVirus\Standalone
05/02/2004 03:20 PM 60,928 antibugbear-en.exe
05/02/2004 03:24 PM 713,216 antinovarg.exe
05/02/2004 03:22 PM 338,944 avast-virus-cleaner-tool.exe
04/28/2004 09:43 PM 2,203,196 f-prot.zip
05/02/2004 03:25 PM 178,224 msblastremover.exe
05/04/2004 07:44 PM 769,031 stinger.exe

Directory of D:\Diagnostic\Installers
05/02/2004 03:40 PM 1,297,742 freshdiagnose_setup.exe

Directory of D:\Diagnostic\Standalone
05/02/2004 03:44 PM 3,246,833 aida32ee_393.zip

Directory of D:\Firewalls\Installers
10/04/2003 05:21 PM 4,427,431 OmniquadPersonalFirewallSetup.exe
04/28/2004 09:46 PM 2,617,008 OutpostInstall.exe
04/23/2003 09:19 PM 3,750,576 ZoneAlarm_Setup_37_143.exe
05/02/2004 03:29 PM 1,176,058 goldtach1612.exe
09/08/2003 08:58 AM 2,170,516 kerio-pf-2.1.5-en-win.exe
05/02/2004 03:29 PM 668,765 primediusfirewalllite.exe
11/21/2003 10:10 AM 8,643,584 sygate-personal-firewall.exe

Directory of D:\Spyware\Installers
11/27/2003 09:34 PM 1,760,378 aaw6setup.exe
03/20/2004 12:18 AM 735,501 bazookasetup.exe
03/20/2004 12:25 AM 3,684,032 spybotsd12setup.exe
04/28/2004 09:41 PM 2,267,377 spywareblastersetup.exe

Directory of D:\Spyware\Standalone
03/22/2004 01:26 PM 160,768 HijackThis.exe
05/02/2004 03:06 PM 137,216 cwshredder.exe
posted by hungrysquirrels at 4:23 PM on July 9, 2008

SpyBot (Search & Destroy) (Updated).
HiJackThis v.2.
AVG Free v.8.0.
posted by grabbingsand at 5:33 PM on July 9, 2008

My normal routine is to first run a full system scan with SUPERAntiSpyware and then follow it up with all the cleaning options and registry cleaning offered by CCleaner.

Also AVG Free (mentioned above) for antivirus.
posted by pmbuko at 7:55 PM on July 9, 2008

I can't believe that nobody's mentioned Ad-Aware. They're the gold-standard, last I checked.
posted by Afroblanco at 10:56 PM on July 9, 2008

Spyware doctor free edition seems good - it's free and you can schedule it to do automatic scans (unlike some other free offerings) once your system is clean. However if your system is really dirty I would recommend running a number of others as well such as Ad-Aware and adn Super Anti Spyware.

For Anti-virus software, I've been pretty happy with Avast, which, again, is free.

And for belt and braces use CCleaner.
posted by mairuzu at 3:10 AM on July 10, 2008