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Hello:<br />
<br />
I was fortunate enough two nights ago to eliminate a virus from a laptop. &nbsp;I used Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. &nbsp;Prior to using this free tool, though, I used a purchased tool called System Mechanic.<br />
<br />
This System Mechanic tool did a good job, in that it optimized the hard drive, so that the laptop would actually allow me to do a Windows System Restore. &nbsp;Prior to running System Mechanic, I had not been able to run System Restore.<br />
<br />
In the future, if I'm not able--for whatever reason--to have such a purchased tool, what free tools out there would do the job just as well?<br />
<br />
Thanks!<br />
<br />
TBSupport
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Hello:

I was fortunate enough two nights ago to eliminate a virus from a laptop.  I used Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.  Prior to using this free tool, though, I used a purchased tool called System Mechanic.

This System Mechanic tool did a good job, in that it optimized the hard drive, so that the laptop would actually allow me to do a Windows System Restore.  Prior to running System Mechanic, I had not been able to run System Restore.

In the future, if I'm not able--for whatever reason--to have such a purchased tool, what free tools out there would do the job just as well?

Thanks!

TBSupport

Other Forms of Software that Eradicate Viruses

Anti-virus software was originally developed to detect and remove computer viruses. However, with the proliferation of other kinds of malware, antivirus software started to provide protection from other computer threats. In particular, modern antivirus software can protect from malicious browser helper objects (BHOs), browser hijackers, ransomware, keyloggers, backdoors, rootkits, trojan horses, worms, malicious layered service providers (LSPs), dialers, fraud tools, adware and spyware. Some products also include protection from other computer threats, such as infected and malicious URLs, spam, scam and phishing attacks, online identity theft (privacy), online banking attacks, social engineering techniques, Advanced Persistent Threat (APT), botnets and DDoS attacks.

Anti-Virus Apps

A vulnerability is a weakness which allows an attacker to reduce a system's information assurance. Vulnerability is the intersection of three elements: a system susceptibility or flaw, attacker access to the flaw, and attacker capability to exploit the flaw. To exploit a vulnerability, an attacker must have at least one applicable tool or technique that can connect to a system weakness, known as the attack surface. Vulnerability management is the cyclical practice of identifying, classifying, remediating, and mitigating vulnerabilities. Other vulnerabilities include security risks, security defects and constructs in programming languages that are difficult to use properly.

Vulnerabilities

Spyware is software that aims to gather information about a person or organization without their knowledge and that may send such information to another entity without the consumer's consent, or that asserts control over a computer without the consumer's knowledge; it has also come to include programs that engage in various kinds of electronic fraud. Anti-spyware is software that removes or blocks that software; some common vendors include Malwarebytes, McAfee, Spybot-Search and Destroy, Ad-Aware and BitDefender.