I have 2 of the old lifetime licenses for Malwarebytes its a great program. I also prefer to pull the target PC's HDD and scan it on another PC as a slave drive. That way any malware/viruses cannot go active to protect themselves. Done this for years without issues.
Agree, Malwarebytes is a very reliable antivirus. There's also a free Malwarebytes program called Anti-Exploit which works alongside Windows Defender for zero day exploits and browser protection for extra security.
The company Microsoft bought was GeCAD Software in June 2003, which was based in Bucharest, Romania. Their AV software was called RAV Antivirus. Microsoft also bought Sybari Software Inc. in June 2005, which is/was based in East Northport, New York, USA. and they function as Microsoft Enterprise based AV solution.
Even better! I keep all of the tools I use in a folder on the desktop. Less cloture on a clients computer. And the client will know not to use them, unless you tell them to do so!
I predict this will be one of your most popular videos. Not because there are so many infections these days on Windows 10 and 11 but because you've never covered this topic in the past. As an IT Security Professional, i see SOOOOO many people calling me because their systems appear to be infected when in actuality it is not. The media has done a great job as they always do of scaring the SH*T out of the general public so they spend more and more money on security products that they don't need or will help them in anyway. This is the only stat you need to know as a novice - 94% of all infections happen because your OS is not up to date. Just click the update button daily within the windows security tab and you'll limited your exposure greatly. For those other 6%???? Don't click on links that you aren't supposed to click on and you won't download malicous software in the background; hence needing my service. 😋
The way you show how to use malwarebites doesn't include scan for rootkit. You have to click on the 3 dot at right of the button scan to activate the scan for that.
Infected systems should never go online, before the complete malware and virus removal. In fact after the cleaning process, I would recommend a backup of your important files and then a ssd/hdd format and new installation of Windows, along with a better antivirus/security (because your old one failed and it is inadequate).
That makes no sense... Why bother with the cleanup process if you are going to wipe and reinstall windows anyway? And no AV software is 100% effective. So just because your current one failed this time, does not mean it is therefore inadequate, or that any other AV suite would have done any better. Besides, sometimes malware gets in because when the AV software flags it up, the user overrides the warning and installs anyway. In these cases it wasn't even a failure of the software.
@ You mean that you will backup your files, even though some of them may be infected? The cleaning process is to make sure that your files are intact and no malware process will interfere with them during the backup process.
Also ad blockers seem to block a lot of malware. I would have done a complete clean install of windows, clearing partitions off the boot drive (doing a diskpart clean), if i saw a scammer remoting in and can't even find the remote software app that allowed it.
@@CyberCPU There are some remote desktop software that scammers get installed on victims PCs that can't be uninstalled by normal means. I forget what it's called but i hear about it all the time watching scambaiters.
In a surprising turn of events, Microsoft has announced that it will no longer enforce the mandatory requirement for a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 chip for installing Windows 11.
There's only been two times that I know something got through. This was like 15 years ago. But both times, my files all disappeared. And the first time, I thought they got deleted, but took me a while of searching around to find that Windows probably went into safe mode and hid all of my files to protect them from whatever got through. But I did full virus and malware scans and found how to un hide my files.
For any machine that I suspect of actually being infected, and any machine of a customer that has fallen for the "1800 virus's you need to give us $500 " scam, I pull the hard drive out and scan them from my system. One other tool I use, but it is very not portable , is the online ESET scanner.
Think about what you are saying when you say since windows 10 malware is less common on windows. It is known that most users use windows defender so that means while not perfect windows defender is a much better AV than users are giving it credit for. I remember how Defender was back when it was just more of a scanner than an AV an i can honestly say today's version is a 100% improvement over the original. Those were the days when AVG took longer to do a scan than windows defender did. I remember somebody gave me a computer with AVG on it back in the day and it was so bad i uninstalled it from the computer. Any way my point is i think most advice about defender leaves people not understanding if they should/shouldn't use it based on their usage scenario. There is no reason for any home user to go getting nervous because they heard some one say something bad about windows defender and start installing other AV products.
Windows Defender blocked and removed several programs I have used for years and are perfectly safe and genuine. I refuse to use any app under which have no control. So I use ZoneAlarm, and block all the Windows "security" stuff, Edge, Cortana, and all the rest. And eschew Google completely, I use DUck Duck Go.
That's correct. Windows defender is definitely why we don't see much malware today. I originally had that included in this video but the video got way too long so I cut it out and made an entire video on that topic alone that will come out on Monday.
Sorry I'm late to the party. Looks like you have a lot of experts in the comments, but that's not me. What do you think about norton power eraser, and what's your opinion of Kaspersky?
Several times I’ve run the situations where after I deleted Malware it reinstalled itself. Any additional information to searching the registry would be appreciated..
Hello everyone... I have been experiencing this issue for several months since i upgraded to Windows 11 24H2... I have the issue that still hasn't been fixed where my microphone continues to unmute itself whether i am in a game or open certain softwares like OBS etc, also anytime i open Google Chrome, Nvidia Broadcast opens even if i force close it it will continue to open again and again... Is there a fix that the community is aware of? Sadly i can't roll back to 22H2 as i must of cleared my files 😞 I am so upset Microsoft/Nvidia havent done anything yet to fix this.
Your Malware removal process should be as simple as re-imaging your PC with the last working full image backup you have been taking every few days (you have haven't you ?). If you are not imaging regularly then sorry but you almost deserve the pain of any malware you get. Not only that but you are also protected from rogue Windows updates or any other disaster that can strike any time for no obvious reason. I have been saved so many times over the years by my last image. This is what you really need to be educating people about. There is simply no excuse for people not having an image backup in 2025. If you haven't done a video on this then you should. Hasleo is a free program that I suggest you include. Teaching uneducated people about Malware removal is like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. The hackers have probably already got their bank account details or other important logons. Also tell your viewers to keep off disreputable porn sites because that is how many get infected.
I actually don't recommend imaging computers most of the time. If a system is so bad that it needs to be reloaded then I'll just do a fresh copy of windows. Because it's likely been going on for some time and their image probably isn't much cleaner. I recommend data backups. Also, it's very rare these days to get infected from a porn site. Those sites typically have such a huge IT budget that they are pretty clean. Believe it or not I see more malware come from small religious institutions that don't have huge IT budgets.
I always install a new drive and do a fresh install. Old habits die hard. I do have a number of old drives. Sometime I clean them and use them for storage.
I had an infection a while back maybe a year ago, and I just put the old usb in a new laptop, I totally forgot that was the usb, I thought I through them all out and mistaken that usb for something eles, I was formatting the usb and 3 white boxes flashed on my screen really quick Any ideas, is that a virus trying to execute, it's possible the boxes flashed as I pulled the usb out halfway through the format, as I I remembered halfway through
I'm not as concerned with that as I am with having to install and then uninstall programs that I'm using to repair a computer. The registry is just a database and any entries of portable programs make would be innocuous and irrelevant after the fact. I know for a fact Hitman pro leaves registry entries related to its trial period. However, it doesn't affect the function of the system.
@@CyberCPU It was also not specially for you, who knows how to delete the database leftovers from Programms in the Reg.. it was for normal public to tell or educate that portable programms does leaves their traces as well, similar like installed programms.. not much but some .. anyways thanks for the Reply..
@@arshia1961 to be honest with you, I don't even bother deleting their entries. It doesn't hurt anything to leave them there. Useless doesn't have an effect on the system's performance. Any application that needs to look something up in the registry isn't going to be slowed down because of useless entries. They will mostly be ignored.
@@CyberCPU I might be wrong but as far i know Leftover of Programs become significant with years of computer usage and countless programs installed/uninstalled. It will accumulate unused and junk registry entries which can affect the performance of the system. Best is to export the registry file before running or installing program, and afterwards import back the Registry file without the junk stuff of Portable Program in it.
@@arshia1961I've done testing on it in the past and there's very little performance difference between a perfectly clean registry and an extremely bloated registry. The performance difference is so small that it's within margin of error.
Pretty much all the portable scanners shown on that desktop are fairly ineffective. I have strong opinions on this so I'll just leave it at that. I work in cybersecurity these days, but I used to fix peep's computers once upon a time. I used to tell people to turn the computer off and bring it to me. I'd yank the hard drive and slap it in an external bay connected to a known clean computer. I'd update the scanner (usually something professional like Gravity Zone or the like) then disconnect from the LAN. This maintains quarantine. Power up the drive and scan it as such, then back up the customer's files that aren't cloud-backed up (if any). Wipe, reinstall, put the clean files back on. Simple.
CyberCPU has stated in the past he is not in favour of doing factory resets of Windows, preferring to "fix them" rather than take the lazy way of just wiping them out. Which to be honest I see both his side and your side of this, when my mother got involved in a crypto scam in 2022 she insisted she wanted her laptop fully wiped and reinstalled just to be on the safe side after the bank cautioned her, so obviously I did pretty much what you described above - do a full scan, backup clean files and restore them after a fresh install of Windows was performed. But in general I'm the same and strongly hate doing fresh installs of Windows and do the best I can to avoid that route if possible, especially as most of the time that is possible, but sometimes I do accept reinstalling Windows is the best course of action.
@@greenonline5469 True! Just wiping it and erasing it because someone doesn't understand how to fix it is one thing, and to fix something up without a wipe in this day & age, it would be more of a flex than anything else since it takes so little time to get up and running right after a wipe. I fully trust CyberCPU dude knows his way around a Windows OS enough to do just that. But, from my POV, time is money. Nowawdays I work in B2B only. If someone has managed to infect a workstation, we have immutable backups, sometimes an image, but at the end of the day it's much faster and more secure to do a once-over with an enterprise-grade AV, wipe, reinstall, and then push their files back down to them from the cloud.
Yeah, I typically don't like wiping systems. It's a matter of customer service to a certain extent. It makes the technician's job way easier but then when you bring the computer back to the customer and it's completely different than it was when they gave it to you, it makes their life harder. From a business standpoint, it's way easier just to wipe systems to get them back in service and most of the time the programs and data on those systems are limited so wiping them doesn't have much down time. However, an 80 year old grandma that's been using the same system for 10 years has tons of programs and data on them and everything is in the perfect spot for them to find it. In those situations it's much better to try to fix it then wipe it. I actually have customers today that came to me because the last guy wiped their system and they use me now because they know I won't unless I have no other choice.
The thing that's always really given me the ick with most technicians is not even the fact they prefer to just simply wipe systems, it's that they do it without a single care in the world about the customers data on that PC when most of the time it wouldn't take too much effort to save them before wiping them. When my uncle came to me to fix his laptop that was so bad Windows couldn't even start up I made it utmost priority to recover everything from that laptop before even contemplating whether or not to wipe it and he didn't even need to ask me to do that. In fact he probably wouldn't have cared either way, but I just can't fathom destroying a bunch of data knowing it could have easily been saved and how sentimental it can often be - especially people's personal photos from 20+ years ago when everybody had digital cameras and cloud backups were not even a concept back then.
If my computer got infected. I'd go around and write down all of my settings. And then wipe the drive and reload the OS and reinstall everything. Though I plan to use backup software to take snapshots every once in a while. So instead of wiping and starting over, I'd just load an early snapshot and run updates.
What are you supposed to do if you cannot uninstall programs that are clearly not meant to be there?? They are greyed out. How do you stop tasks that are greyed out or it says access/permission denied??? Can you maybe include ways to force removal or give back admin rights, remove malware admin rights and fix the registry after works to stop it immediately coming back
Two things. - One trick I've used for self-healing apps that kept reappearing after I tried deleting them was to set the security to Deny of the file itself for all accounts. Then reboot and delete. - For our parents and other non-techies, I suggest going into their web browser(s) (Chrome, Edge) and turning off all website notifications. One bad web page can send an extremely scary notification to the Windows notification pane with a fake animation of a live scanner reporting 350+ viruses and that it's Microsoft and they need to call a particular number with a credit card.
You missed a step. Install Firefox. Set Duck Duck go as your Search engine and delete Google. Then Delete or block Chrome and Edge.Block any update programs for them and for Google. And yes, Edge CAN BE BLOCKED or REMOVED ENTIRELY. Takes a little doing, but it can be done. Install ZoneAlarm and stop all the Microsoft stuff. You're Welcome.
You can do this from a boot USB as well. Also a lot of times the way malware is able to kind of self heal is because there's another service running and they're both taking care of each other. If you use process explorer to just suspend the original service then the other service will think it's Buddy is still running so won't try to relaunch it. Then you can kill the other service and finally kill the original one and delete them both.
so i ran through the steps that you recommended in the video. after uninstalling Malwarebytes autoruns and process explorer return with errors saying access denied, for the virus checks. any idea why it would do this, even after removing auto runs and process explorer as there is no uninstall the programs run like they already been installed, looks like they are hooked in.
Thanks for the forecast! I need some advice: My OKX wallet holds some USDT, and I have the seed phrase. (air carpet target dish off jeans toilet sweet piano spoil fruit essay). How can I transfer them to Binance?
If you're going to upload tutorial videos, you should record them using Full HD (1920x1080) as the resolution at most. It's impossible to follow them using tablets or mobile phones, you can't read anything. It's even difficult if you watch from a laptop that doesn't have a huge screen.
@@CyberCPU I see. Have you changed the scale value to 100% on the Display Settings app? I understand that the default value is 125% (Recommended) when using 1080p and you seem to be using 100%, which makes text very difficult to read on 14" screens or smaller. Thanks for taking my suggestion seriously and replying back!
🤣🤣 RIPOFFS! Back when i was running XP X64 i had no back up disc and thier program DELETED my DLL files so id stay away and good luck on getting a refund.
I have a video coming out next Monday all about third party antiviruses. Personally, I don't like bitdefender. I have a few issues with it specifically, like requiring me to enter a password to uninstall it is kind of shifty behavior, but overall I have issues with most third-party antiviruses. Check out my video next week where I explained my position in more detail.
@@CyberCPU Been using Bitdefender for years and like it although it does let some ADWare and Pups through - For some reason they do not they are unnoticeable even if they are replicated 48 times🤣. Rock on👍
Can you make a video about tron script? Ask Your Computer Guy made a video about it he used the script to clean malware and viruses off of his clients computers and he said that it should be a last resort if your PC is really infected i used it before using it i had a bunch of errors and blue screens after i used it script detected trojan and some other malware on my pc after i run it issues wity my pc stopped and after another scan it sait that it was clean wihou any malware it's probably the most effective way but as always to keep safe make a restore point before you use it best is to make one right after a fresh windows install
don't turn this video into a drinking game, taking a shot every time he says "it is what it is" would give you alcohol poisoning in under three minuets.
PLEASE address the possibility of a computer being infected by some kind of Chinese infection. I visit webo and other site sometimes for some Chinese band and dance groups and I notice that sometimes my browser links will bring up a Chinese page instead of the page of the topic I wanted. I have windows 11 pro and windows 7 pro also.
Why? Doesn't matter where the bug is from, its how you get rid of it thats important. China, Russia, North Korea, US, UK, Outer Mongolia ... the process is the same.
It might be Google recognizing you go to Chinese sites so it thinks those types of sites interest you. It's one of the downsides to our computer spying on us constantly.
Every program that you use used to be a program that you weren't very aware of when you first started using it. It takes time to use a program to get to know it. 🤷🏻♂️
@ no not my point. My point being if you scroll through your installed programs on (and this is a important factor) YOUR pc. And you don’t recognize a piece software that THE OWNER OF THE PC did not install, maybe its jus me but in that case my step will be try and scan the program. Whether it comes back safe or malicious eitherway ima still delete the program I never installed? Only reason for scan is if there was malware detected atleast it gives you a start point. Not arguing thats just my opinion
@@xRageeZA aww, yes. That's true. However, I'm often doing jobs like this in my shop without the customer. So it's hard to say what they have installed and what they haven't. I have to use my best judgement based on experience.
@ yeah fair enough I didn’t consider the context. I just help people out like 1 or 2 times a month as a side job on weekends and even I can vouch that some people just install everything they see without thinking 😂. I get you now, or they delete the shortcut and think the app is deleted along with it. Fair enough my comment is invalid apologies
Yes, there is. However, I don't know how well they would be able to make an antivirus portable when that antivirus has its fingers into different parts of the system. Maybe I'll try it and see how it works but it might be more trouble than it's worth.
😕Your saying Hitman doesn't work without a internet connection!? If my computer isn't connected to the internet, Stands to reason, Hitman isn't necessary at all and won't need access to my computer! ✋🏻😉just sayin
@@fredbear3915 Yes, and If I didn't have that computer and couldn't find my car keys or shoes, I wouldn't be able to going buy another one to install Hitman on it either,☝🏻🙄What's your point genius!?
It's definitely more rare than it use to be but I see it occasionally. Most of the time it's free programs that are actually adware I also deal with lots of fake tech support scams that you have to treat like possible infections.
Good for him. I just paid $700 to make a video that's going to come out in a couple weeks out of my own pocket. My camera and sound equipment including lighting cost me several thousand as well as the room I remodeled to film in. I also take 2 days off every week to produce weekly videos. But even if none of that was true I still don't have to justify making a profit off of my labor. I have more companies than I can respond to contact me to sponsor my channel. I will only take on sponsorships for products and services that I can stand behind. So any advertisement that I run on my channel would be something that I would recommend for free but thankfully the company's willing to pay me for it. My goal on this channel is to continue to make better and better videos and to do that I have to make money doing it. Otherwise I can't justify it.
Been a mac head about 10 years now, but back in my XP/Win 7 days, Sysinternals (Pre-MS purchase) was a Must for my PC. Loved the extra details the apps showed about my system. (BTW, I use mac Malwarebytes currently. And it doesn't slow down the system, far as I can tell).
when you suspect an infection, you should not even waste your time on a single scan. you can wipe and reinstall windows in less time than running one scan. cuz if you had an infection there is no way to know if you are actually clean unless you wipe it all away.
Thats fine for those of you that don't have much installed on your PC. When I do a reinstall, it takes me a weekend almost to reinstall all 70 of the programs I have on my system and get everything set up back exactly the way it was before the wipe. On the other hand, that single scan might turn up clear which then saves a great deal of wasted time.
@@fredbear3915 if you do things right, you would have a snapshot of our system once fully setup with something like "true image backup" so after the wipe and reinstall you would restore your system to that image and voila right back to your best setup all programs already installed. and 70 programs is a ton of stuff for any system.
We call that nuke pave techs. It's typically what big box store technicians do that don't have a lot of experience. Once you have a few years under your belt you can absolutely clean an infection and know for a fact that it's clean. Wiping a system is way easier for the technician but it's much harder for the user. When you're being paid to work on someone else's computer it's important to make their life easier. Sometimes that means you have to do a little more work. But like I said, once you do it for a few years it gets a lot easier.
@@CyberCPU it's funny that you insult my skills because i do the smart thing. First, if you do "tech support" for people that walk into a pc help store, I would recover data and wipe that damn machine. you NEVER know if you got it all. Viruses and infections or Trojans that lay and wait because they are undetected for years. I'm sorry bro i get paid way to much to waste time cleaning a machine in 2025 . back in the olden days i used to do all the things you do. maybe once you have some more years of experience under your belt you will see the correct and smarter way. Your way is massive risk to everything. You are using "free" tools and use the hope and pray method lol . sorry but you should tell your customers i can retrieve the data but the only safe way is to wipe and re-install. there is a reason why big box stores and massive corporations wipe. because of liability. What happens when your customer comes back again comprimised ? repeat business i guess
@@KShedTech the reason why big box stores nuke and pave it's because you can't get a good technician for $12 an hour. I'm not trying to insult your experience but the way you do it is the way that people with no experience do it. That's just a fact. I've been a tech for 25 years and people with experience do it the same way I do it. I don't just rely on free programs. As I said in the video there are lots of steps in between the steps I showed. They just require experience and can't be taught. Either way, I apologize if my comment was offensive. It wasn't intended to be.
I agree. However, I never have to remove malware from my own computers. I'm typically removing it from customers' computers. But I have been bit a few times, but it's been a while. 🤷🏻♂️ Whenever I'm really unsure of something I'll typically launch it in a VM.
Ah yes - that's why as a Linux fanboi you are lurking here as soon as the video drops on a Windows-related site ? I bet you know almost nothing about Linux.
Great videos man. I have used a lot of your videos for work.
I'm glad you're finding the videos helpful!
I have 2 of the old lifetime licenses for Malwarebytes its a great program. I also prefer to pull the target PC's HDD and scan it on another PC as a slave drive. That way any malware/viruses cannot go active to protect themselves. Done this for years without issues.
Agree, Malwarebytes is a very reliable antivirus. There's also a free Malwarebytes program called Anti-Exploit which works alongside Windows Defender for zero day exploits and browser protection for extra security.
The company Microsoft bought was GeCAD Software in June 2003, which was based in Bucharest, Romania. Their AV software was called RAV Antivirus.
Microsoft also bought Sybari Software Inc. in June 2005, which is/was based in East Northport, New York, USA. and they function as Microsoft Enterprise based AV solution.
I gave my IP address out to hackers and told them to do their worst. This video couldn’t have come out at a better time
🤣🤣🤣
@@TOTKHub lmao. This is a video on how to remove malware. Not how to remove hackers hunting for you. Goodluck😂
Even better! I keep all of the tools I use in a folder on the desktop. Less cloture on a clients computer. And the client will know not to use them, unless you tell them to do so!
I don't leave anything on the customers system. However, I have seen those folders on systems I've worked on before from the previous technician.
I predict this will be one of your most popular videos. Not because there are so many infections these days on Windows 10 and 11 but because you've never covered this topic in the past. As an IT Security Professional, i see SOOOOO many people calling me because their systems appear to be infected when in actuality it is not. The media has done a great job as they always do of scaring the SH*T out of the general public so they spend more and more money on security products that they don't need or will help them in anyway.
This is the only stat you need to know as a novice - 94% of all infections happen because your OS is not up to date. Just click the update button daily within the windows security tab and you'll limited your exposure greatly. For those other 6%???? Don't click on links that you aren't supposed to click on and you won't download malicous software in the background; hence needing my service. 😋
The way you show how to use malwarebites doesn't include scan for rootkit. You have to click on the 3 dot at right of the button scan to activate the scan for that.
I still use Spybot - Search and Destroy 1.6.2. It still gets updates and is very useful for securing the hosts file.
ABSOLUTELY! And oldie and a goodie, like me. Works fine, lasts long time, simple to clen, drains to the bilge.
but it not working along with bitdefender
@@TheSagittarius16 Use the Free version of Malwarebytes. there may be a guide in this channel to use it free properly
@@TheSagittarius16 Why doe it not work with Bitdefender?
@ethimself5064 he requires to uninstall it before being installed
Infected systems should never go online, before the complete malware and virus removal. In fact after the cleaning process, I would recommend a backup of your important files and then a ssd/hdd format and new installation of Windows, along with a better antivirus/security (because your old one failed and it is inadequate).
That makes no sense... Why bother with the cleanup process if you are going to wipe and reinstall windows anyway?
And no AV software is 100% effective. So just because your current one failed this time, does not mean it is therefore inadequate, or that any other AV suite would have done any better.
Besides, sometimes malware gets in because when the AV software flags it up, the user overrides the warning and installs anyway. In these cases it wasn't even a failure of the software.
@ You mean that you will backup your files, even though some of them may be infected? The cleaning process is to make sure that your files are intact and no malware process will interfere with them during the backup process.
Yes window 10 does do a web search from task manger I have windows 10 pro
You can search a process from Task Manager in Windows 10.
Yep, in Windows 10 Task Manager you can search online for process task information.
Thanks, good to know.
Also ad blockers seem to block a lot of malware.
I would have done a complete clean install of windows, clearing partitions off the boot drive (doing a diskpart clean), if i saw a scammer remoting in and can't even find the remote software app that allowed it.
I found it and removed it. 😉
@@CyberCPU There are some remote desktop software that scammers get installed on victims PCs that can't be uninstalled by normal means. I forget what it's called but i hear about it all the time watching scambaiters.
In a surprising turn of events, Microsoft has announced that it will no longer enforce the mandatory requirement for a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 chip for installing Windows 11.
some great tips there
Thanks.
"Hi, I'm Rich." I wish I was rich!
Yeah, me too.
There's only been two times that I know something got through. This was like 15 years ago. But both times, my files all disappeared. And the first time, I thought they got deleted, but took me a while of searching around to find that Windows probably went into safe mode and hid all of my files to protect them from whatever got through. But I did full virus and malware scans and found how to un hide my files.
15:58 portable malware remove programs.
For any machine that I suspect of actually being infected, and any machine of a customer that has fallen for the "1800 virus's you need to give us $500 " scam, I pull the hard drive out and scan them from my system. One other tool I use, but it is very not portable , is the online ESET scanner.
Think about what you are saying when you say since windows 10 malware is less common on windows. It is known that most users use windows defender so that means while not perfect windows defender is a much better AV than users are giving it credit for. I remember how Defender was back when it was just more of a scanner than an AV an i can honestly say today's version is a 100% improvement over the original. Those were the days when AVG took longer to do a scan than windows defender did. I remember somebody gave me a computer with AVG on it back in the day and it was so bad i uninstalled it from the computer. Any way my point is i think most advice about defender leaves people not understanding if they should/shouldn't use it based on their usage scenario. There is no reason for any home user to go getting nervous because they heard some one say something bad about windows defender and start installing other AV products.
Windows Defender blocked and removed several programs I have used for years and are perfectly safe and genuine. I refuse to use any app under which have no control. So I use ZoneAlarm, and block all the Windows "security" stuff, Edge, Cortana, and all the rest. And eschew Google completely, I use DUck Duck Go.
That's correct. Windows defender is definitely why we don't see much malware today.
I originally had that included in this video but the video got way too long so I cut it out and made an entire video on that topic alone that will come out on Monday.
@@CyberCPU Cool thanks. I will be watching for it.
Any opinions on MediCat USB?
Sorry I'm late to the party. Looks like you have a lot of experts in the comments, but that's not me. What do you think about norton power eraser, and what's your opinion of Kaspersky?
I did an entire video on my opinion on third party antiviruses. It'll be out on Monday.
@@CyberCPU Thanks for the reply. I’m eagerly waiting for it.
Process Explorer ver. 17.06, has VIrusTotal turned ON by default. Same for Autoruns ver. 14.11 has VirusTotal turned ON by default.
That's weird, both programs that I used in the video were the latest versions and it was turned off by default.
@@CyberCPU - What can I say. ;-)
adw cleaner is kinda redundant since the functions have been integrated in malwarebytes...
I love prosses explorer.
I like the dark mode, I am colorblind though....
Several times I’ve run the situations where after I deleted Malware it reinstalled itself. Any additional information to searching the registry would be appreciated..
Hello everyone...
I have been experiencing this issue for several months since i upgraded to Windows 11 24H2...
I have the issue that still hasn't been fixed where my microphone continues to unmute itself whether i am in a game or open certain softwares like OBS etc, also anytime i open Google Chrome, Nvidia Broadcast opens even if i force close it it will continue to open again and again...
Is there a fix that the community is aware of?
Sadly i can't roll back to 22H2 as i must of cleared my files 😞
I am so upset Microsoft/Nvidia havent done anything yet to fix this.
The Tron Script works great.
I don't like script-based debloats. They have a tendency to go overboard and then cause problems later on down the line.
Your Malware removal process should be as simple as re-imaging your PC with the last working full image backup you have been taking every few days (you have haven't you ?). If you are not imaging regularly then sorry but you almost deserve the pain of any malware you get. Not only that but you are also protected from rogue Windows updates or any other disaster that can strike any time for no obvious reason. I have been saved so many times over the years by my last image. This is what you really need to be educating people about. There is simply no excuse for people not having an image backup in 2025. If you haven't done a video on this then you should. Hasleo is a free program that I suggest you include. Teaching uneducated people about Malware removal is like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. The hackers have probably already got their bank account details or other important logons. Also tell your viewers to keep off disreputable porn sites because that is how many get infected.
I actually don't recommend imaging computers most of the time. If a system is so bad that it needs to be reloaded then I'll just do a fresh copy of windows. Because it's likely been going on for some time and their image probably isn't much cleaner.
I recommend data backups.
Also, it's very rare these days to get infected from a porn site. Those sites typically have such a huge IT budget that they are pretty clean. Believe it or not I see more malware come from small religious institutions that don't have huge IT budgets.
I always install a new drive and do a fresh install. Old habits die hard. I do have a number of old drives. Sometime I clean them and use them for storage.
I had an infection a while back maybe a year ago, and I just put the old usb in a new laptop, I totally forgot that was the usb, I thought I through them all out and mistaken that usb for something eles, I was formatting the usb and 3 white boxes flashed on my screen really quick Any ideas, is that a virus trying to execute, it's possible the boxes flashed as I pulled the usb out halfway through the format, as I I remembered halfway through
Do you need to pay for the programs you showed or thay can be used for free and do the same thing
All the programs I showed are free. Many of them have premium licenses that you can buy if you want but I use the free license for all of them.
Dark theme matters ROFL
Just to be said Portable Programs also make entries in the registry, as most of the Folk out there, thinks that is not the case
I'm not as concerned with that as I am with having to install and then uninstall programs that I'm using to repair a computer.
The registry is just a database and any entries of portable programs make would be innocuous and irrelevant after the fact. I know for a fact Hitman pro leaves registry entries related to its trial period. However, it doesn't affect the function of the system.
@@CyberCPU It was also not specially for you, who knows how to delete the database leftovers from Programms in the Reg.. it was for normal public to tell or educate that portable programms does leaves their traces as well, similar like installed programms.. not much but some .. anyways thanks for the Reply..
@@arshia1961 to be honest with you, I don't even bother deleting their entries. It doesn't hurt anything to leave them there. Useless doesn't have an effect on the system's performance. Any application that needs to look something up in the registry isn't going to be slowed down because of useless entries. They will mostly be ignored.
@@CyberCPU I might be wrong but as far i know Leftover of Programs become significant with years of computer usage and countless programs installed/uninstalled. It will accumulate unused and junk registry entries which can affect the performance of the system. Best is to export the registry file before running or installing program, and afterwards import back the Registry file without the junk stuff of Portable Program in it.
@@arshia1961I've done testing on it in the past and there's very little performance difference between a perfectly clean registry and an extremely bloated registry. The performance difference is so small that it's within margin of error.
i make a bitdefender scan and it found 15000 password protected data , and it says your system are clean ?????
Pretty much all the portable scanners shown on that desktop are fairly ineffective. I have strong opinions on this so I'll just leave it at that.
I work in cybersecurity these days, but I used to fix peep's computers once upon a time.
I used to tell people to turn the computer off and bring it to me. I'd yank the hard drive and slap it in an external bay connected to a known clean computer.
I'd update the scanner (usually something professional like Gravity Zone or the like) then disconnect from the LAN. This maintains quarantine.
Power up the drive and scan it as such, then back up the customer's files that aren't cloud-backed up (if any).
Wipe, reinstall, put the clean files back on. Simple.
CyberCPU has stated in the past he is not in favour of doing factory resets of Windows, preferring to "fix them" rather than take the lazy way of just wiping them out. Which to be honest I see both his side and your side of this, when my mother got involved in a crypto scam in 2022 she insisted she wanted her laptop fully wiped and reinstalled just to be on the safe side after the bank cautioned her, so obviously I did pretty much what you described above - do a full scan, backup clean files and restore them after a fresh install of Windows was performed. But in general I'm the same and strongly hate doing fresh installs of Windows and do the best I can to avoid that route if possible, especially as most of the time that is possible, but sometimes I do accept reinstalling Windows is the best course of action.
@@greenonline5469 True! Just wiping it and erasing it because someone doesn't understand how to fix it is one thing, and to fix something up without a wipe in this day & age, it would be more of a flex than anything else since it takes so little time to get up and running right after a wipe. I fully trust CyberCPU dude knows his way around a Windows OS enough to do just that.
But, from my POV, time is money. Nowawdays I work in B2B only. If someone has managed to infect a workstation, we have immutable backups, sometimes an image, but at the end of the day it's much faster and more secure to do a once-over with an enterprise-grade AV, wipe, reinstall, and then push their files back down to them from the cloud.
@@greenonline5469 Hmmm... I had written a response to this (nothing rude of course) and it seems to have disappeared.
Yeah, I typically don't like wiping systems. It's a matter of customer service to a certain extent. It makes the technician's job way easier but then when you bring the computer back to the customer and it's completely different than it was when they gave it to you, it makes their life harder.
From a business standpoint, it's way easier just to wipe systems to get them back in service and most of the time the programs and data on those systems are limited so wiping them doesn't have much down time. However, an 80 year old grandma that's been using the same system for 10 years has tons of programs and data on them and everything is in the perfect spot for them to find it. In those situations it's much better to try to fix it then wipe it.
I actually have customers today that came to me because the last guy wiped their system and they use me now because they know I won't unless I have no other choice.
The thing that's always really given me the ick with most technicians is not even the fact they prefer to just simply wipe systems, it's that they do it without a single care in the world about the customers data on that PC when most of the time it wouldn't take too much effort to save them before wiping them. When my uncle came to me to fix his laptop that was so bad Windows couldn't even start up I made it utmost priority to recover everything from that laptop before even contemplating whether or not to wipe it and he didn't even need to ask me to do that. In fact he probably wouldn't have cared either way, but I just can't fathom destroying a bunch of data knowing it could have easily been saved and how sentimental it can often be - especially people's personal photos from 20+ years ago when everybody had digital cameras and cloud backups were not even a concept back then.
How do you guys get malware anyway?
How long have you got?
If my computer got infected. I'd go around and write down all of my settings. And then wipe the drive and reload the OS and reinstall everything. Though I plan to use backup software to take snapshots every once in a while. So instead of wiping and starting over, I'd just load an early snapshot and run updates.
What are you supposed to do if you cannot uninstall programs that are clearly not meant to be there??
They are greyed out.
How do you stop tasks that are greyed out or it says access/permission denied???
Can you maybe include ways to force removal or give back admin rights, remove malware admin rights and fix the registry after works to stop it immediately coming back
Two things.
- One trick I've used for self-healing apps that kept reappearing after I tried deleting them was to set the security to Deny of the file itself for all accounts. Then reboot and delete.
- For our parents and other non-techies, I suggest going into their web browser(s) (Chrome, Edge) and turning off all website notifications. One bad web page can send an extremely scary notification to the Windows notification pane with a fake animation of a live scanner reporting 350+ viruses and that it's Microsoft and they need to call a particular number with a credit card.
You missed a step. Install Firefox. Set Duck Duck go as your Search engine and delete Google. Then Delete or block Chrome and Edge.Block any update programs for them and for Google. And yes, Edge CAN BE BLOCKED or REMOVED ENTIRELY. Takes a little doing, but it can be done. Install ZoneAlarm and stop all the Microsoft stuff. You're Welcome.
You can do this from a boot USB as well. Also a lot of times the way malware is able to kind of self heal is because there's another service running and they're both taking care of each other. If you use process explorer to just suspend the original service then the other service will think it's Buddy is still running so won't try to relaunch it. Then you can kill the other service and finally kill the original one and delete them both.
so i ran through the steps that you recommended in the video. after uninstalling Malwarebytes autoruns and process explorer return with errors saying access denied, for the virus checks. any idea why it would do this, even after removing auto runs and process explorer as there is no uninstall the programs run like they already been installed, looks like they are hooked in.
Thanks for the forecast! I need some advice: My OKX wallet holds some USDT, and I have the seed phrase. (air carpet target dish off jeans toilet sweet piano spoil fruit essay). How can I transfer them to Binance?
If you're going to upload tutorial videos, you should record them using Full HD (1920x1080) as the resolution at most. It's impossible to follow them using tablets or mobile phones, you can't read anything. It's even difficult if you watch from a laptop that doesn't have a huge screen.
They are filmed at 1080p. They are only upscaled to 1440 to get the better RUclips encoder.
@@CyberCPU I see. Have you changed the scale value to 100% on the Display Settings app? I understand that the default value is 125% (Recommended) when using 1080p and you seem to be using 100%, which makes text very difficult to read on 14" screens or smaller. Thanks for taking my suggestion seriously and replying back!
What are thoughts on Glary Utilities?
🤣🤣 RIPOFFS! Back when i was running XP X64 i had no back up disc and thier program DELETED my DLL files so id stay away and good luck on getting a refund.
That's one of the programs I typically remove at the first stage of malware removal when I'm going through add and remove programs.
Any thoughts on Bitdefender?
Dumped Kaspersky about 7 years ago and back to Bitdefender. But it locally when on sale at Best Buy
Bitdefender is pretty good
@ Pretty good +
I have a video coming out next Monday all about third party antiviruses. Personally, I don't like bitdefender. I have a few issues with it specifically, like requiring me to enter a password to uninstall it is kind of shifty behavior, but overall I have issues with most third-party antiviruses. Check out my video next week where I explained my position in more detail.
@@CyberCPU Been using Bitdefender for years and like it although it does let some ADWare and Pups through - For some reason they do not they are unnoticeable even if they are replicated 48 times🤣. Rock on👍
I have a pretty decent issue that im curious of if dism is not working and it wont let you install windows again what is the next thing i can do?
I usually use ESET
Can you make a video about tron script? Ask Your Computer Guy made a video about it he used the script to clean malware and viruses off of his clients computers and he said that it should be a last resort if your PC is really infected i used it before using it i had a bunch of errors and blue screens after i used it script detected trojan and some other malware on my pc after i run it issues wity my pc stopped and after another scan it sait that it was clean wihou any malware it's probably the most effective way but as always to keep safe make a restore point before you use it best is to make one right after a fresh windows install
don't turn this video into a drinking game, taking a shot every time he says "it is what it is" would give you alcohol poisoning in under three minuets.
PLEASE address the possibility of a computer being infected by some kind of Chinese infection. I visit webo and other site sometimes for some Chinese band and dance groups and I notice that sometimes my browser links will bring up a Chinese page instead of the page of the topic I wanted. I have windows 11 pro and windows 7 pro also.
Why? Doesn't matter where the bug is from, its how you get rid of it thats important. China, Russia, North Korea, US, UK, Outer Mongolia ... the process is the same.
It might be Google recognizing you go to Chinese sites so it thinks those types of sites interest you. It's one of the downsides to our computer spying on us constantly.
All the ones I use to use funny enough
rescue disk??
Rkill and Tronscript
Curious, what is your stance on A/V. Do you use it?
I have a video coming out next week on that very topic. It should be released on Monday.
@ will be waiting and will watch. 👍
Surely you should never have a program you arent aware of ? Can’t just be me ? Feels like a stretch
Every program that you use used to be a program that you weren't very aware of when you first started using it. It takes time to use a program to get to know it. 🤷🏻♂️
@ no not my point. My point being if you scroll through your installed programs on (and this is a important factor) YOUR pc. And you don’t recognize a piece software that THE OWNER OF THE PC did not install, maybe its jus me but in that case my step will be try and scan the program. Whether it comes back safe or malicious eitherway ima still delete the program I never installed? Only reason for scan is if there was malware detected atleast it gives you a start point. Not arguing thats just my opinion
@@xRageeZA aww, yes. That's true. However, I'm often doing jobs like this in my shop without the customer. So it's hard to say what they have installed and what they haven't. I have to use my best judgement based on experience.
@ yeah fair enough I didn’t consider the context. I just help people out like 1 or 2 times a month as a side job on weekends and even I can vouch that some people just install everything they see without thinking 😂. I get you now, or they delete the shortcut and think the app is deleted along with it. Fair enough my comment is invalid apologies
Two words...."Tron Script".
There are programs out there to convert (most) any app into a portable app.
Just sayin'
Yes, there is. However, I don't know how well they would be able to make an antivirus portable when that antivirus has its fingers into different parts of the system. Maybe I'll try it and see how it works but it might be more trouble than it's worth.
Virus Total works on Windows 10.
I installed Linux.
More people are on phone's.
Step one do not use Recall OS from Poopsoft
I wouldn't use any product from a company that calls itself poopsoft.... its like its calling itself "shitware" !
I wonder if he prefers portable programs 😅
I do. 😉
YO!!! I'm the first commenter And dont use Windows Defender
First commenter...and nothing to add. 🤨
Malware aka Norton /macafee
What I do: reinstall windows. Takes 20 minutes. All malware removed. Easy.
You clearly have nothing of real use on your PC. Some people want to do more than play the built in Windows games with their PC.
@@regwatson2017 lol, love these folks that think reinstalling from scratch is no big deal . Power users !
@ Gives us a laugh ! Those and the Linux fanbois who spend their lives lurking in Windows comments 🤣
Glad that works for you. However, I'm removing malware from customers computers and I typically only reload Windows as a last resort.
😕Your saying Hitman doesn't work without a internet connection!? If my computer isn't connected to the internet, Stands to reason, Hitman isn't necessary at all and won't need access to my computer! ✋🏻😉just sayin
Yes and if you don't have a computer at all, you also won't need Hitman. Just sayin...
@@fredbear3915 Yes, and If I didn't have that computer and couldn't find my car keys or shoes, I wouldn't be able to going buy another one to install Hitman on it either,☝🏻🙄What's your point genius!?
Who gets viruses & malware these days, not me.
It's definitely more rare than it use to be but I see it occasionally. Most of the time it's free programs that are actually adware I also deal with lots of fake tech support scams that you have to treat like possible infections.
@@CyberCPU Yes, good point.
I don't like sponsored channels and will never subscribe to them!
It's really expensive to create content. It has to be paid for somehow. Don't you think people deserve to be paid for their work?
@@CyberCPU People like Scotty Kilmer do it off their own back, he gets paid by RUclips.
Good for him. I just paid $700 to make a video that's going to come out in a couple weeks out of my own pocket. My camera and sound equipment including lighting cost me several thousand as well as the room I remodeled to film in. I also take 2 days off every week to produce weekly videos. But even if none of that was true I still don't have to justify making a profit off of my labor.
I have more companies than I can respond to contact me to sponsor my channel. I will only take on sponsorships for products and services that I can stand behind. So any advertisement that I run on my channel would be something that I would recommend for free but thankfully the company's willing to pay me for it.
My goal on this channel is to continue to make better and better videos and to do that I have to make money doing it. Otherwise I can't justify it.
@ If you are sponsored, then you are told what to say! Anyway, you are getting paid from RUclips!
@@Nick41622 that's not true.
can you give us premium membership of Malwarebytes for free to everyone
Nope, sorry.
Been a mac head about 10 years now, but back in my XP/Win 7 days, Sysinternals (Pre-MS purchase) was a Must for my PC. Loved the extra details the apps showed about my system. (BTW, I use mac Malwarebytes currently. And it doesn't slow down the system, far as I can tell).
Instead of Malware Bytes use Norton Power Eraser. Don't have to install and very good and easy scan.
I've heard a few people mention that. However, Norton leaves a bad taste in my mouth. 😂😅🤣
when you suspect an infection, you should not even waste your time on a single scan. you can wipe and reinstall windows in less time than running one scan.
cuz if you had an infection there is no way to know if you are actually clean unless you wipe it all away.
Thats fine for those of you that don't have much installed on your PC. When I do a reinstall, it takes me a weekend almost to reinstall all 70 of the programs I have on my system and get everything set up back exactly the way it was before the wipe. On the other hand, that single scan might turn up clear which then saves a great deal of wasted time.
@@fredbear3915 if you do things right, you would have a snapshot of our system once fully setup with something like "true image backup" so after the wipe and reinstall you would restore your system to that image and voila right back to your best setup all programs already installed. and 70 programs is a ton of stuff for any system.
We call that nuke pave techs. It's typically what big box store technicians do that don't have a lot of experience. Once you have a few years under your belt you can absolutely clean an infection and know for a fact that it's clean.
Wiping a system is way easier for the technician but it's much harder for the user. When you're being paid to work on someone else's computer it's important to make their life easier. Sometimes that means you have to do a little more work. But like I said, once you do it for a few years it gets a lot easier.
@@CyberCPU it's funny that you insult my skills because i do the smart thing. First, if you do "tech support" for people that walk into a pc help store, I would recover data and wipe that damn machine. you NEVER know if you got it all. Viruses and infections or Trojans that lay and wait because they are undetected for years. I'm sorry bro i get paid way to much to waste time cleaning a machine in 2025 . back in the olden days i used to do all the things you do. maybe once you have some more years of experience under your belt you will see the correct and smarter way. Your way is massive risk to everything. You are using "free" tools and use the hope and pray method lol . sorry but you should tell your customers i can retrieve the data but the only safe way is to wipe and re-install. there is a reason why big box stores and massive corporations wipe. because of liability. What happens when your customer comes back again comprimised ? repeat business i guess
@@KShedTech the reason why big box stores nuke and pave it's because you can't get a good technician for $12 an hour. I'm not trying to insult your experience but the way you do it is the way that people with no experience do it. That's just a fact. I've been a tech for 25 years and people with experience do it the same way I do it.
I don't just rely on free programs. As I said in the video there are lots of steps in between the steps I showed. They just require experience and can't be taught.
Either way, I apologize if my comment was offensive. It wasn't intended to be.
More adware 😊😊😊 for no Website Access
Just dont download anything sketchy and windows defender is all you ever need. Anything else is malware/bloatware itself.
I agree. However, I never have to remove malware from my own computers. I'm typically removing it from customers' computers. But I have been bit a few times, but it's been a while. 🤷🏻♂️
Whenever I'm really unsure of something I'll typically launch it in a VM.
Best way to remove malware is to use Linux. :)
You're right as I did one and we couldn't terminate it without using a Linux boot envoirement
You’re the IT version of a crossfitter or vegan
Ah yes - that's why as a Linux fanboi you are lurking here as soon as the video drops on a Windows-related site ? I bet you know almost nothing about Linux.
😂😂😂
@@dimitris1351 It had to be said! We thank you. 😂