It is crucial to protect our PC from malware and viruses. Here is a list of the 20 best free malware removal programs. These programs are effective and do not require any payment, although some offer paid options with additional features. Keep your computer safe and your data protected with these tools!
Malware is any malicious code that threatens the integrity of our computer and our privacy. There are different types of malware, such as viruses, spyware, trojans, and rootkits. Each one causes different damage. It is important to know them to be able to eliminate them and protect our devices.
The most common are the following:
- Viruses: They are fragments of software whose sole mission is to change and modify the way healthy files on our PC work, without us realizing it. They can add harmful code or replace them completely.
- Spyware: It is a type of malware whose objective is to collect all possible data about you and the behavior you have in front of a computer. The most common ones keep your bank passwords, steal webcam images or record the websites you visit on the Internet.
- Trojans: These are portions of code that pretend to be other, more well-known and reliable programs, but are actually designed to reduce your PC’s defenses as soon as they are executed. They are usually used to take control of the webcam, record data from your keyboard, etc.
- Rootkits: These are programs that allow the attacker to have access to our PC without us knowing. This way, hackers could do whatever they wanted without us being able to stop it.
- Ransomware: It is an advanced type of malware that prevents access to certain files that are yours and that you can only get back in exchange for money. It can also prevent you from accessing your Windows session or photos and videos.
- Adaware: These are all types of programs that show us very intrusive advertising on our device. It is usually very annoying, it appears automatically without us having any control over it and most of the time as popups. In addition, they are usually a simple way to access other more important threats.
- Worms: Worms are very simple programs that infect a PC (by running software or opening an email) and through it they manage to reach and infect other computers that are connected to it.
We must know what the most common methods of malware propagation are:
The first thing that usually happens is that we click on links that redirect us to websites that are infected and that by the mere fact of reaching them they transmit the threat to us.
On other occasions it is because we download a program whose installation options include adding advertising bars, third-party applications or establishing default Windows settings.
When we insert a hard drive or pendrive that has a virus into the USB port of our PC and we do not do a prior scan of the external memory unit.
If we read emails from recipients we do not recognize or from people who are impersonating an identity and we click on suspicious links or download attachments that are corrupt.
When downloading modified programs from the Internet, such as the typical paid software that hackers post “for free” on download websites. Cheap is expensive.
When we download “cracks” from web pages to pirate paid applications.
How to protect yourself from malware and avoid it in the future?
When you pay the price for Windows 10, they don’t warn you that this operating system has many threats and that its defense systems are not infallible. That is why many people who buy it are surprised how after a short time they begin to suffer the effects of malware.
The first step you should take is to install an ad blocker in your browser, so that you can browse without distractions and without the possibility of clicking on fraudulent ads that direct you to dangerous pages or malware downloads. The one I like the most for Chrome is Adblock Plus that you can download for free from its official website.
Secondly, you should install a free antivirus from this very moment. You don’t have to pay anything and it will protect you in real time and without you having to do anything from adaware, viruses, rootkits and spyware.
As for email, you should open emails that come from people you know or from companies that have a good reputation and are very popular. Avoid reading emails that are written in a language other than Spanish and never download attachments that are suspicious or that you have any doubts about.
Another very important point is the files you download from the Internet. Many of them are placed there with the intention of carrying malware inside that will later infect your PC, compromising your personal data. You should always be sure of what you download and it is best to do so from trusted sites.
List of the best programs to remove malware and Trojans
It is undoubtedly one of the best free anti malware for many years. We are talking about a very complete program that has anti-malware protection (which includes viruses, spyware, adware, Trojans, etc.) in real time. If there is something that has impressed us, it is how efficient it is, since it is capable of searching for all types of malware on our PC in just a few seconds. If what we want is for it to protect us in the background, it will not consume a large number of resources either, allowing us to do all the actions we need in a very fluid way.
It offers real-time protection, that is, it is not necessary to run scans proactively but rather it runs in the background of the operating system without bothering you as long as it does not find anything suspicious. In addition, you have the possibility of making exclusions so that certain programs can be run without antivirus restrictions, quarantine certain files and show reports on the threats detected and how the application is performing in terms of successes and resources consumed.
Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition
What would we highlight most about this application? Its innovative intelligent learning system when detecting malware. It is a technique that some programs have been implementing for years and with which it is capable of recognizing which files are malware type even when they are not in the database. This makes it possible to remove very modern malware that antiviruses are not yet able to detect.
Spybot is a great free anti malware program. This tool is mainly focused on spyware-type threats, those that install on your PC and spy on what you do. They are responsible for identity theft and access to our confidential information that should be anonymous.
ESET is a well-known paid antivirus that has an interesting free tool to safely remove malware. We are talking about ESET Online Scanner, a program that protects your PC in search of any portion of code that could be a potential danger.
It is one of the applications with the greatest number of features:
- Secure online purchases
- Detect vulnerabilities in your router and home automation devices
- Block external access to your webcam and microphone
- Blocking advertising popups
With AdwCleaner you can get rid of the ad bars that remain fixed at the top of the browser, as well as automatic add-ons and popups that usually appear in Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer. If your PC is slow, intrusive messages appear in Windows or the Start page has been changed, then it is the right software to clean your PC of viruses.
It offers real-time protection to keep you safe while you browse or use your computer. In addition, it incorporates a feature that gamers will love, and that is that it has a game mode in which it will not bother you with notices when you are in full screen. And if this were not enough, Panda Free can activate a free VPN with up to 150MB of traffic per day to surf the Internet anonymously. In its paid version you have other premium tools such as firewalls and parental controls.
Like its competitors, it offers a free suite called “Avast Free Antivirus” from which we can highlight many things. First of all, its interface is very clear and easy to use, all through buttons that activate its protection shields or privacy tools. In addition, it has real-time threat detection and uses innovative machine learning, which are artificial intelligence algorithms with which it is possible to detect new types of malware even before they are incorporated into antivirus databases. It also analyzes your Wi-Fi network for weak points to correct them. Finally, it sends the suspicious files to the Avast cloud to analyze them there and share the new threats with other users.
Some of its strengths are that it includes real-time protection, an advanced firewall to block external threats and the possibility of establishing parental controls so that you can protect your children. The negative point is that it has advertising within the application that can be annoying in some cases. Its developers guarantee that it does not slow down the PC when it runs in the background, at which time it is capable of preventing us from entering suspicious links in the browser, downloads and attachments that we receive in our email. Knowing how to remove malware has never been so simple.
It stands out for its great performance, so it does not slow down your PC at any time while protecting you with its real-time antivirus. In addition, you can make backup copies of your most important documents and offers uninterrupted customer service in Spanish 24 hours a day.
With one of the best interfaces of all the antimalware on the list, AVG Free also stands out for its powerful engine and a large database to be able to discover any type of malicious file that you may have on your PC (virus, ransomware, spyware, etc. .). It also has an innovative email protection shield that is capable of blocking unsafe links and potentially dangerous attachments.
It is portable and does not need to be installed. It is compatible with Windows, but it is not possible to install it on Android, iOS or Mac OS. It is a software that places special emphasis on the advertising bars that are installed in the browser and those annoying popups that appear when we browse the Internet.
The Chinese company Tencent has one of the simplest and easiest-to-use malware detection software. Its interface is very simple, since by clicking on the “Quick Scan” button it will detect all the malware present on your computer and offer you the possibility of eliminating it or quarantining it. In addition, it protects you when browsing the Internet since it analyzes all the links on the websites you visit and in your email, monitors online payments so you can carry out risk-free transactions and scans the searches we do in the main search engines.
If your computer is not working correctly, but is slow and applications take a long time to load, then you most likely suffer from an infection. Vipre Rescue is a free tool that helps you eliminate threats that are even capable of disabling certain antiviruses. All you have to do is start the PC in “safe mode”, download the program that takes up about 400 MB and install it on a USB. Run the software and delete all suspicious files automatically to keep your PC virus-free with Vipre Rescue.
Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT)
Malicious Software Removal Tool is a free software from the Microsoft company that aims to prevent malware from installing on your PC. It is very easy to use, since you only have to download it and run the installer that takes up less than 35 MB.
Dr.Web CureIt! It is one of the best antimalware solutions that you can download and run without installing. It is responsible for analyzing the boot system, memory and various programs that start when Windows loads, detecting threats that can be installed without you realizing it. It is a very fast application since it is capable of taking advantage of computers with multicore processors. Its operation is as simple as checking the hard drive, selecting the threats you want to eliminate and clicking the “Run” button.
This is an effective solution against Malware that detects all types of infections such as spyware, ransomware or worms. A tool developed by Microsoft that guarantees great performance, updated databases and is completely free. Microsoft Safety Scanner is a portable program and therefore very useful to use on computers that do not have an Internet connection. It is an ideal solution for repairing other people’s equipment.
Zemana Antimalware is a program that only performs one task, scan your PC and eliminate all the malware it has detected. In addition, it is capable of quarantining files, creating whitelists to exclude files and showing detailed reports on the tasks performed. It has no other options and it is not a program with great pretensions. It’s fast and direct.
eScan Anti-Virus Toolkit is a free and portable application that cleans your PC, pendrive or external hard drive and acts as a malware detector (worms, ransomware, viruses, etc.). Although it has an interface in English and is quite outdated, it does its job very well. The database of this malware cleaner is updated daily, but one of its disadvantages is that it does not offer real-time protection. Works on Windows 10, 8, Vista and 7.
Virus Total is the last solution that we are going to talk to you about and it is the first option on this list that is not a program to download, but a website that you have to visit directly from the PC browser and that is free. The goal is to combat malware from the files you upload to their website.
