If your computer is infected with malware and your current antivirus solution is not able to detect or remove it, then you can scan your system with the BitDefender online scanner. The BitDefender online scanner is a free on-demand malware scanner which incorporates the award winning BitDefender scanning engines. Accessible from your browser, it will scan and automatically clean the system memory, in addition to all files and hard drive boot sectors. One major advantage of this online scanner is that it can be utilized without having to uninstall your existing data security product.
Following are some of the important features of the BitDefender online scanner :
- Superior proactive detection. BitDefender is well known for its ability to detect new and unknown viruses for which signatures have not been released yet.
- Virus and spyware cleaning. Powerful scan engines detect and remove all viruses and spyware.
- Always up-to-date. The virus signatures are updated automatically each time the product is launched.
- Effective right away. The scanner is configured to automatically clean all infected files.
- Convenient. Double-checks the security status of your PC even if you already have an Antivirus program installed.
You can follow the following steps to scan and remove malware from your computer using the BitDefender online scanner :
- The BitDefender online scanner runs only inside the Microsoft Internet Explorer web browser. Right-click on the Internet Explorer shortcut and choose Run as administrator. This way you can run Internet Explorer with the administrator privileges so that the BitDefender scanner is able to scan the system memory for viruses.
If you are running Windows XP, then you must login as an administrator so that the Internet Explorer opens with administrator privileges and you can proceed scanning with this online scanner.
- In the Internet Explorer window that opens, visit http://bit.ly/BmlCr. Place a checkmark in the agreement checkbox to accept the terms and conditions and click on the Start Here button.
- When Internet Explorer asks you if you want to allow installing of BitDefender online scanner add-on, choose Install. If you are using older versions of Internet Explorer, then you may have to choose Install ActiveX Control.
- You will be shown the BitDefender online scanner in your browser. By default, it is set to scan all the hard disks of your computer. Similarly, it is set to automatically disinfect the detected malware. You can start scanning by just clicking on the Start Scan.
- If you want to scan only some selected area of your hard disks (like some special folders), then you can click on Folders to Scan and then choose the folders you want to scan for malware. Similarly, if you want to change the cleaning options (what to do when a virus is detected), then you can click on Cleaning Options and choose cleaning options. However, it is recommended that you leave all the options set to default.
- It will start downloading virus engines and virus definitions from their online server. This process of downloading may take from many minutes to more than an hour depending on the speed of your internet connection. If you have a slower connection, you can go and enjoy a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice while the downloading finishes.
- Once the virus definitions are downloaded and updated, the BitDefender online scanner would start scanning your system for viruses. By default, it would scan all of your local hard disks. The scanning process may take a very long time if you have a large hard disk. It will try to disinfect any malware found and delete it if it is incurable. After the scanning and cleaning process is over you would be shown a report of how many viruses were found, disinfected and deleted.
- Now that you have finished scanning using the BitDefender online scanner, you can remove the BitDefender online scanner add-on from your Internet Explorer browser if you want to, but it is not necessary.
For more information, you can visit the BitDefender online scanner web site at http://www.bitdefender.com/scanner/online/free.html.