What do PC Technicians use for virus removal?

Question

I'm wondering if they simply install everyday antivirus software, scan, then remove them, or if they have specific software designed for this (ie software targeted at technicians).

If so, I'd like to know the name of the software if possible! :)

I already know that bestbuy/geeksquad has their own software that runs a bunch of free antivirus/spyware apps, I'm wondering about some of the other retailers, or the average computer shops.

Answer 1

I'm a technician for a fortune 100 company.  If a virus or a trojan is detected, a notification is sent to the techs to wipe the machine and reformat.  

A good tech will reformat.  It's much faster reloading an image then spending a whole day trying to troubleshoot someone's computer and erradicate a virus not knowing 100% if it's gone.  There are root kits that morph and stay hidden from these anti-spyware and virus programs.  That's why often times when you think you remove spyware, after rebooting they come back.

Answer 2

Well, its my beleif that the old school guys try like h**l to rid your pc of a virus before doing the "wipe" as described by another answerer.  Its all in preference.  Most of the techs I know use what they can get for free, lol.. (hacks)  I know one used Stinger to help.. but really, you should put some good virus protection on to start with.

Answer 3

I'm a computer security professional.

Simply put, the average computer shops do not have the faintest idea on how to deal with malware (viruses, spyware, trojans and the likes). They are better at dealing with general hardware/software issues. Most of them install everyday antivirus software like what you said and run them, either in normal mode or safe mode. Others simply pretend to tinker about and will suggest a reformat to their clients.

I have seen few that bothered to keep up with the ever-changing security industry. The online anti-malware community actually is a very specialized and skilled one, or most of them for the matter. Some of the programmers there put out programs that target a specific malware very well. SmitfraudFix, SDFix, and VundoFix come into mind. They also release free diagnostic tools such as HijackThis and ComboScan.

There are also services on the internet that will clean your computers for a fee. An up-and-coming disinfection service is ParasiteDB (http://parasitedb.com/removal.html). I tend to find that most of these services know what they are doing. If you are hard-pressed for time or simply looking for quality, then this will be your best bet.

Just my 0.2 cents, I hope it helped.

Answer 4

From experiences, we tried different anti-virus programs until we find one that could remove the viruses.

Reformat and reinstall the OS is the last option because we need to recover users data files. These files may contain valuable customers informations and we need to recover them at all cost.

Usually, we take out the hard disk and install on another PC as external hard disk. then we recover the data files. Then we tried different anti-virus programs to scan the infected hard disk and remove the viruses.

Once we are sure the hard disk are clean, we reinstall the hard disk back to the original PC. If the anti-viruses program cannot detect the virus. We will reformat the hard disk and reinstall the OS.

Anti-viruses programs :

Karpersky

Avira

Avast

Clamwin

Threat Fire

McAfee

NOD32

Bitdefender

McAfee

Spybot

F-prot

Answer 5

Off the shelf.

Answer 6

Well, I've been a computer tech for the past 23 years and I've bench tested a few brands. My top pick is Norton Anti-virus, Spybot - Search and Destroy and Adaware (for spyware removal)

Answer 7

As a technician student, I simply use a ready-to-use antivirus application that remove viruses, trojans, malwares, etc. I use Windows Live OneCare and BitDefender always up to date. If the virus is unrecoverable, I simply make a backup of "My Documents" folder to save my files and identify them onto another PC to remove viruses. Aftrer making a backup of My Documents, I reformat the computer and automatically install an anti-virus software.

Answer 8

seems every body here is a major tech MASTER ....wow!!

never have i used a so called tech SUPER STAR removed any and all virus /spyware etc from my comp my self first set your self up with good anti/and good firewall ... just surf sites for reviews and also solutions!!!!

Answer 9

the real techs ergo old school guys just wipe out the hard drive and start over that is the only real way to eradicate a virus and for gods sakes chief don't reload any of the old info from your pre wipe set up (no pun intended on that last line)

Answer 10

Been a Tech for a while, and we just use the tools that are out there on the net Freeware versions, like the geeksquad.

However it's not just that some companies own Corporate or business versions of the software and are entitled to use them for Tech work like we did.  Also sometimes the freeware versions or trial versions of software dont do the job.  One piece of software may only catch a Percentage of what is actually ailing your machine.  It's not as easy as installing one piece of software.  The companies that manufacture the AV and AS software (Anti Virus & Spyware respectively) are busy suing each other over their code for finding certain infections, that what one piece of software might find, the others may not and vice versa.

Some good software to look at:

Superantispyware, Kaspersky, AVG, Avast, Trend Micro, Spybot Search And Destroy, Lavasoft Adaware, etc.

Most of those companies have freeware/trial versions...

You may also need tools like Smitfraudfix, combofix, and sdfix.  Which are more geared towards the professionals/techs.  Because some of these tools can cause your windows not to work properly due to the infection that it needs to remove and how infected your system is etc.  So use those with caution.

Edit: A good Tech will use a wipe/reinstall method as a last resort.  Backing up data is not a bad idea, and usually Infections (and again I say USUALLY), do not infect documents, music, pictures, etc.  So if it did come to that, then saving those and backing those up is an option prior to wiping etc.

Also not just having ANTIVIRUS software is going to protect you.  These days it is the SPYWARE that is causing the major damage.  Again it boils down to what software will take out the infection or detect the infection to begin with.  So yes you can run a virus software or spyware software or both, but will it catch everything?  Not necessarily, but it will help.

PS.  Also some tools worth mentioning: Hijackthis, ATF Cleaner, and CCleaner.