Rescue a Virus-Infected PC with Microsoft Safety Scanner
Problem: You think your PC has the flu. It's suddenly sluggish, and unknown toolbars and pop-ups have started appearing everywhere.
Microsoft Safety Scanner to the rescue! This portable anti-malware utility requires no installation, meaning it can run from a flash drive -- a mighty handy option for troubleshooting a PC that's so bug-ridden, it can't even get online.
So let's say one of your employees comes to you with a virus-infected laptop. Jack-of-all-trades boss that you are, you download Safety Scanner on your own PC, copy it to your flash drive, then pop the drive into your guy's laptop.
When you run Safety Scanner, it gives you the option of Quick, Full, and Custom scans. Start with Quick; it should find and remove any major infections. If not, you can always try Full, keeping in mind that can take hours to complete.
Safety Scanner is available in 32- and 64-bit versions, and it's free. However, it falls short in one key area: It can't download updated virus definitions on the fly. The program itself gets updated regularly by Microsoft, but you'll have to download the latest version before running it on the problem PC. That's a rather irksome hassle.
In fact, Safety Scanner "expires" 10 days after you download it, so, you can't just leave this on your flash drive in case of emergencies.
Consequently, much as I tip my hat to Microsoft for offering users a free, portable anti-malware solution, I think most folks are better off with something like SUPERAntiSpyware Portable or Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free, both of which can update their definitions on the fly.
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