Detect and Terminate Malware Using McAfee Stinger
If your computer is infected with malware, then you can use the free McAfee Stinger to detect and remove the most prevalent malware from your computer. Stinger is a standalone utility that can be used to detect and remove specific viruses. It is not a substitute for a full antivirus product, but it can be used to remove in-the-wild malware from an infected system.
You can download the McAfee Stinger utility from the McAfee free tools website. The download is a standalone portable tool available in form of a EXE file. The downloads are available for both the 32-bit and 64-bit Windows operating systems separately. The file name is in the form stinger32.exe for the 32-bit version and stinger64.exe for the 64-bit version. McAfee Stinger is updated every few days to include the virus definitions for the latest malware so you should always download the latest version from the internet.
To run the McAfee Stinger, simply double-click on the downloaded file (in our case stinger32.exe) to execute it. If you are running the computer in the standard user mode, you would get the UAC prompt to give administrator privileges to this program. Choose Yes to continue. The main window of the McAfee Stinger would be shown. There are three modes of scaning - quick scan, full scan and the custom scan. The quick scan searches the key areas of your system for malware using fast scaning technology and does not scan the entire hard drive. The full scan is more thorough and searches through all the files, folders, drives and registry for malware. The custom scan looks up for malware in the folders that you add under the Locations tab.
You can add which folders you want to scan under the Locations tab. These added folders are scanned only if you select the Custom Scan mode. Under the Settings tab, you can set the scanning preferences. In the settings, you can choose scan targets like registry, boot sectors of partitions, rootkits etc. You can choose if scanning should be done inside sub-folders and inside packed archives. You can also select what to do when malware is found (delete, repair, rename etc.). You can change settings for the GTI (Global Threat Intelligence) which is a cloud-based threat intelligence service that requires the Internet and can tell the reputation of a file over the McAfee GTI cloud network.
Most of the users would not require any modifications in the default settings. After changing the settings, you can go back to the Scan tab, select a scan mode and click on the Scan button to start the scanning process. The scanning process will take some time to complete. During the scanning if Stinger finds a malware, it would automatically repair it (or delete it). At the end of the scanning, it will show you a summary of how many items (files, registry keys, processes etc.) were scanned, how many infected objects were found and how many were cleaned.
McAfee Stinger incorporates the next generation GTI (global threat intelligence) technology which detects more malware than Stinger would detect by using the virus definitions alone. It can scan various areas of your Windows system like the processes, registry, files and boot-sectors. It is an indispensible tool to help you recover from malware infection. You have to note that the Stinger is not a replacement for a full blown antivirus software and can remove only a select few of latest malware. You should install a complete antivirus software after you have used Stinger to clean your system.
You can download McAfee Stinger from http://www.mcafee.com/us/downloads/.
