If you suspect your PC has been invaded by malware, FreeFixer can help you find it. It shows you a wealth of information about what’s running on your PC, but the data is meant primarily for security gurus.
When you kick off a FreeFixer scan, the program digs into those areas of your PC where malware commonly hides, and then displays what it found in categories such as drivers, registry startups and running processes. Many of the discovered items display a “more info” link that will check FreeFixer’s database for information such as whether the file or application uses a digital signature, whether other FreeFixer users have reported finding the same file, and what they’ve chosen to do with it.
The useful app will avoid showing files and programs that are known to be safe, such as Windows components and known good software, to help you focus on potential baddies. But unless you know just what you’re doing, you should be very careful about deleting any discovered files yourself.
Instead, you can post your FreeFixer log at a Freefixer Group or online forum, where white-hat volunteers can sift through the data and help you figure out what’s what. The FreeFixer user’s manual contains instructions for posting your logs, along with plenty of other helpful info for using the app.
FreeFixer can also reverse some malicious system changes put in place by some malware, such as blocking access to the Windows Task Manager or Registry editor. In knowledgeable hands it can help get rid of a malware infection, but non-gurus should get advice from an online volunteer before taking action based on a FreeFixer scan.
–Erik Larkin