Win 10 Malware Cleanup

Hi all:

I am running Win 10 and I suspect I have been invaded by malware. Can someone please recommend a malware cleanup freeware app? Now mind you, this is after having McAfee and Win Defender. The system has just become very unstable and browsers keep crashing.

Thanks

I use winzip its not free but seems to work.

 

Good luck Avitec

I use winzip its not free but seems to work.

 

Good luck Avitec

Avitec:

Did you really mean winzip? I thought that was a compression tool???

I've always used http://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download/]. There's an excellent free version and it's never failed me. Good to go for Win10.

... this is after having McAfee and Win Defender.

 

I don't know if it's even possible to have both active at the same time, but if you actually had both running concurrently, they were not working properly. Only one realtime anti-virus protection system should be active, otherwise conflicts and malfunctions are sure to occur. That said, if you only have suspicions but no true indication, it may not be a virus at all but some other problem. Viruses are always the first boogey man to get blamed when something is awry. May also be a bad driver, a bad installation, a bad configuration, or some other malfunction, for whatever reason.

 

Malwarebytes is not a virus protection, not a virus scanner. It checks for malware and potentially unwanted programs, not viruses. A subtle difference, but that's what it does. You still need an antivirus protection program. Malwarebytes does what it does very well, but it doesn't identify or remove viruses.

"Virus vs. malware

 

Before we can answer that, we need to first unveil what, exactly, are viruses and malware. A virus is a piece of code that is capable of copying itself in order to do damage to your computer, including corrupting your system or destroying data. Malware, on the other hand, is an umbrella term that stands for a variety of malicious software, including Trojans, spyware, worms, adware, ransomware, and yes, viruses. So the logic follows: all viruses are malware. Not all malware are viruses." ~ Malwarebytes

 

...but I can also find articles that clearly separate it from virus scanners too. Good question but not a clear answer sorry.

Thanks guys for weighing in. All very helpful. I did go out and find Malwarebytes as suggested by Tgon above and I really like it. I'll run it once a week now. Win 10 is a real challenge though.

Thanks again

I've run the free version of AVG for many years as my daily scan/monitor program. The price is right :D and its done a good job blocking threats.

 

I use CCleaner from Piriform for routine cleaning of my registry (this is what usually causes slow downs). While you could run CCleaner daily, you really don't need to depending on how you surf the web. In my case, I'll run it three or four times a year.

Use AdwCleaner and Malwarebytes together. Works best.