Malwarebytes.org

[Noodle2732]

A few great tools for removing malware. Just recently
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware got me out of a fix. I had a customer machine with the XP Antivirus 2009 rouge av, and the customer didnt want to re-install their computer. I had romved about 2 times and had it come back before i tried this. It installed, ran, found XP Antivirus 2009, asked me to reboot, and the virus was gone in about 5 minutes. Also un-installing it took a matter of seconds.

Another great program from them is StartUpLite it list all of the commonly unnecessary startup items from "msconfig" and gives you the option to disable, delete or leave each item.

[Andyuk2007]

this software has already been reviewed by techinibble, its a great program though :D

[ICEinLAVA]

the one and only time i used this application, was for a client that was getting certain website blocked and popup windows. it scan and then removed everything, but upon restart of the machine... Nothing. Had to reformat the drive and reinstall windows.

[Jager]

the one and only time i used this application, was for a client that was getting certain website blocked and popup windows. it scan and then removed everything, but upon restart of the machine... Nothing. Had to reformat the drive and reinstall windows.

I've never encountered that problem with MBAM. Had it start to happen with SuperAntiSpyware, though, which is what prompted my move to MBAM for removal...

[iladelf]

I've found that MBAM can be glacial-slow in running on certain computers. I once began a scan on an infected computer, and 3 hours later returned to find it was scanning files at the rate of, oh, about one every 10-15 seconds. Too slow for my taste.

[Jager]

I've found that MBAM can be glacial-slow in running on certain computers. I once began a scan on an infected computer, and 3 hours later returned to find it was scanning files at the rate of, oh, about one every 10-15 seconds. Too slow for my taste.

I haven't really done much in the way of benchmarking speed vs. accuracy on the tools I use, since I'm typically doing the cleanup with a 1 - 2 day turn-around time (Bricks & Mortar shop I work for...we have about 4 technicians, with one commuting about an hour away to run our other shop...)

[geekhelp4u]

with one commuting about an hour away to run our other shop...)

Don't move to Houston... Work is only 18 miles away but it takes at least an hour every day each way just to get there!

[RyanMeray]

Just wanted to show some love for this one. MBAM has been in my toolkit for about 3 or 4 months now and I haven't had a need to pull out Smitfraudfix or Combofix since. It takes care of almost all Vundo problems as well.

The biggest problem with MBAM is that in its 'full scan' mode, it'll scan JPGs and MP3s. This slows it down immensely and unfortunately does limit its use as an on-site tool for clients who aren't willing to have you there for hours on end waiting on an hourglass.

For offsite repairs and remote situations, though, it's invaluable, and I think it's the best thing since Spybot.

[gunslinger]

Malwarebytes is the only thing I have found that will completely kill XP Antivirus 2009. I had a system in yesterday that had this and much more crap. After a clean up with Ccleaner and easy cleaner I ran superantispyware and it found 316 infections. After removing those and rebooting I ran Malwarebytes and it picked up 30 more things.

Like I told a fellow tech and friend of mine " Superantispyware, Malwarebytes, Smitfraudfix, Combofix, Hijackthis, if these wont do it you will be reinstalling windows.

[abe]

Like I told a fellow tech and friend of mine " Superantispyware, Malwarebytes, Smitfraudfix, Combofix, Hijackthis, if these wont do it you will be reinstalling windows.

True
but i do find it more of a challenge to clean a pc then to reinstall (at my own expense)

[iptech]

True
but i do find it more of a challenge to clean a pc then to reinstall (at my own expense)
^^^
I agree.

Also relying upon software solutions doesn't expand your knowledge and sends a message to the customer that free software fixes are the best option.

[gunslinger]

^^^
I agree.

Also relying upon software solutions doesn't expand your knowledge and sends a message to the customer that free software fixes are the best option.


While I will agree that removing infections manually does expand your knowledge, there is a time and place for everything. If you tried to remove all of the 300 or so infections a computer has manually you are going to be there for a while. Why would you when you can run Superantispyware and kill them all in 20 mins?

Its no different than writing yourself a script to do a task automatically that would normally take a while. Do you manually delete the cookies and temp files one by one or do you use Ccleaner? My point here is: Use some of these programs to kill off most of the infections, what left you can take care of manually if it makes you feel better about your abilities as a tech.

We as computer techs still have to know what programs to use, what to look for, ect. I have seen more people get themselves into even deeper trouble by trying to fix computer issues themselves with freeware programs. I almost always charge these people extra.