Repairing and restoring an ‘infected’ computer
You visit a website and a window pops up informing you that your computer is infected with hundreds of malicious programs. You inadvertently click on an “OK” button. Or you download a piece of free software and automatically click on several install and agree buttons. Perhaps you get a spam or joke email and when you click on a link you’re taken to a website which has several pop ups you can only close by clicking on “OK.” Maybe you go to a map site looking for directions and download an application in order to view the map you requested.
And then it begins. Your computer takes ages to boot and then you get popup windows urging you to buy a program to rid your computer of threats. Your internet browser may have an irritating toolbar or when you try to go to Google you arrive at a site that looks like it but has tons of advertising. When you try to go to any website another three windows open loaded with ads and visiting a website takes a lot of work closing browser tabs or pop ups.
You could hire someone to restore your computer’s performance and rid it of spyware or “extortionware.” However, besides the inconvenience, this could get mighty expensive over time. An alternative could be to follow a set of steps to try to clean and repair your computer yourself.
The first thing is to stop rogue programs from running when the computer starts. You can do this by opening Task Manager in Windows 7 by depressing the Alt, Ctrl, and Del keys at the same time, or in Win 8 or 10 right click on the Start button in the bottom left to get a menu containing Task Manager. Under the Start Up tab disable anything that has a name similar to the malware that is plaguing you with pop-ups. When you’re finished reboot the computer and see if the offending program has been stopped.
Even if the popups stop you still need to eliminate the program and any other malware on your computer. In Win 7 click the Start button and open the Control Panel or right click Start in Win 8 or 10 and pick Control Panel. If you’re lucky the offending programs and toolbars can be uninstalled in the Programs section.
A mighty useful and free program that contains no spyware or malware is CCleaner (www.piriform.com) which has built-in tools to uninstall programs and let you select which applications will run at startup.
Next you need to prevent your internet browser from opening numerous ad websites and restore Google or Bing as the default search tool. If you’re using Google Chrome, Mozilla Firebox, or Internet Explorer you can reset it to its defaults which should disable any nuisance toolbars and addons. This is a different process for each browser but luckily the How to Geek website has illustrated instructions (https://tinyurl.com/ ovrxvjk).
A final step will be to run an anti-malware removal tool such as Malwarebytes. Go to the Malwarebytes site at www.malwarebytes.com and download the free version. You may have to type the website address directly into the location bar since spyware and ad-loaded search engines often redirect searches for Malwarebytes to other websites loaded with malware.
Many malicious programs will try to prevent Malwarebytes from installing or running. If this is the case then you may need a version of Malwarebytes called Chamelion (https://www.malwarebytes.com/chameleon). When Chamelion runs it will try to kill all running malware processes and then download, install, and run Malwarebytes.
If you installed CCleaner you should use it to repair the registry when Malwarebytes is finished. This will get rid of any lingering damage to the system caused by malware that may be slowing down your computer.
These are the basic steps I’ve used to cure many infected computers and the process usually works without losing files or disabling legitimate programs. It won’t cost you any money and you’ll have the satisfaction of fixing your computer by yourself.