How To Use Autoruns To Manually Clean An Infected PC

There are many forms of malwares and Trojans that infect your PC which you are not able to remove with the help of anti-malware or antivirus because you aren’t able to launch these programs.

So in such cases you need to remove the malware manually. You can use Autoruns from sysinternals to remove the malware manually. We have outlined some of the most popular reasons due to which you need to remove the malware manually

• Maybe you aren’t able to run resource hungry anti-malware programs on your PC
• You might have to clean someone’s computer because they weren’t careful while browsing the net
• The malware that got installed isn’t letting you to use any of the anti-malware programs or software which could enable you to remove it easily
• You might think that anti-malware software don’t perform their job properly or efficiently

Before we start with the guide on how to use the Autoruns to remove the malware manually first let’s talk about Autoruns. It is a very useful tool that everyone should have because with it you can manage the list of programs that run every time you turn on your PC.

If a malware is installed it’s probably in the Autorun menu and you can detect and remove it from there. Best part about Autoruns is that it is a standalone utility which doesn’t need installation and can be used anywhere instantly.

How To Use Autoruns

1. After you launch the autoruns for the first time you will be presented with a license agreement so agree it to go to the main window
2. In the main window you can see the list of programs that run when you turn your PC on, log in or you launch your internet explorer
3. To disable a program from launching just uncheck the box which is beside the entry of the program
4. To permanently remove a program then you should press the Delete key after selecting the program. This removes the program from the startup menu permanently but the program remains in your computer which you need to uninstall or delete

How To Identify Suspicious Software

Most of the programs that are running in Autoruns are legitimate programs and you need a fair amount of expertise to find out which ones are the suspicious entries. So we have prepared some tips for you that will enable you to differentiate malware from legitimate programs.

• If the entry is signed by a software publisher or has a description then it’s a legitimate software
• If you recognize the name of the program running then also its legitimate but sometimes malware copy the name of the legitimate software and also some malware adopt the name Diskfix or searchhelper so you should be wary of them
• Malware entries sometimes appear as Logon tab of autoruns
• Malware is most often located in C:Windows folder or the C:WindowsSystem32 folder
• If you doubt a name then right click the entry and click on search online

How To Remove The Malware

After you have followed the tips and found out about the malware now you have the following choices on how to remove the malware or you can follow all of them it depends on you.

• Temporarily disable autorun entry
• Permanently delete autorun entry
• Locate the running process by using task manager and terminate it
• Delete EXE or DLL file from your hard disk after locating it

There you have some of the ways to remove malware. But take note the steps mentioned in this guide might not be grasped easily by an amateur but still you can give it a try and find out.

If you know of any other easy way to remove malware manually then do let us know.