Removing Malware: Tools and Techniques
Devan A. Dunham
American Military University, ISSC342, Instructor Peter Mylonakos

In the digital world, there are many tools and techniques to harm your computer, but there are also the same for protecting your computer as well. Malware, or malicious software, is software that is intended to damage or disable computers and computer systems. It is very dynamic and can be hard to detect sometimes because it may disguise itself as something that should be running on your computer. For example, after installing a program, Jim doesn’t realize that the executable file he downloaded was infected with malware named “Wajam” but disguised itself as “Software Updater” under Control Panel. It ran in the background and updated itself automatically without Jim’s knowledge. So how would Jim detect and remove this virus? First, Jim should always be aware what is running on his computer. On Windows machines specifically, opening the Task Manager and taking a quick look at processes will give the user a good outlook on what is running on the computer. Users should look for anything suspicious or unknown processes and do further research upon discovering them. Another simplified way to discover malware is to use an anti-virus program. There are many available to users and doing a quick internet search will yield thousands of programs, but sticking with reputable programs will serve its purposes. Scanning for malware and other viruses is as simple as click and wait. The program scans all system files and notifies the user upon completion and detection. After discovery of malware, how would users ensure complete removal of software? Detecting malware is the first step of the removal process. Summarizing Spector’s methods (2013), whether it be manually or with help from an anti-virus protection, a user needs to know how to detect malicious software. After detection, there are two common ways to remove the malware. The first method is removing it manually. If you know the name of the malware or any program aliases that it may be disguised as (such as the aforementioned “Software Updater”), then the user can simply go to Control Panel > Uninstall A Program, select the malicious software and uninstall that program. After removing the program, users should double-check the program list again and remove any unknown or unused programs. Any sure signs of the malware, such as pop-ups or unsolicited notifications should stop after removal. The second, most common method is using an anti-virus program to scan all system files. This usually takes time, but will ensure complete detection of most viruses and malware. After the scan is done, the anti-virus program will usually notify of how many system files were scanned, the number of malicious files discovered and where the malicious files are hiding. To remove the files, the anti-virus program will normally ask the user to automatically remove all malicious files. It’s that simple to use. Just click to scan, wait for the scan to finish, then click to remove all files. Like in the first method, any sure signs of the malware will cease to exist. If using an anti-virus program, users should make it a habit to scan periodically in order to ensure complete protection from malicious software.

References
Spector, L. (2013). When malware strikes: How to clean an infected PC | PCWorld. Retrieved from http://www.pcworld.com/article/2039995/when-malware-strikes-how-to-clean-an-infected-pc.html