New Free Virus Removal Tool from Sophos

More information on this tool:   http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/04/11/free-virus-removal-tool-for-download-from-sophos/

SpywareHammer has been testing it.

The download is huge, over 81 Meg.   Installation was simple; it placed a program icon on my desktop.   It also added a startup SERVICE (which was set to Manual, so it doesn't automatically start  with Windows).   The program indicates that if it finds anything, it will advise me, so I can decide how to proceed.   There was no "percentage" progress window, so while scanning, I had no way of knowing how much longer the program might be expected to run.   Their video suggested I step out for "a cup of tea"... I think dinner would have been more appropriate... it took over an hour  (but that may just be a reflection of a slow machine??)   As I expected, no threats were found on this machine.

My experience mirrors ky331's.

After 1.5 hours I bailed on this "second opinion" scanner, which was less than half completed on my XP system, without finding anything.

I will keep it installed, however, against the rainy day when it might prove useful. I don't see any down-side to doing  this.

My scan took about an hour and it found nothing. I'll run it once a week or so. :emotion-1:

Dale,

Given all the security I believe you already have on your system... and that you're doing your best to keep all your systems clean... I don't know that there's really a point to running another weekly hour-long scan "just because" it's available... of course, that's entirely up to you.   Just keep in mind that, on a clean system, the more scans you run, the more chance there is of "creating" a false-positive situation.

"My husband has tried everything he knows of..."

Without specific details --- WHAT you've already tried, the "partial" successes (if any), the symptoms you're experiencing, the name/type of virus/trojan found, and the name(s) of the infected file(s) --- there's very little help we can offer.

Having said that, be advised that one-on-one Malware Analysis/Removal is no longer done at the Dell Forums.  

I suggest you follow the directions at http://spywarehammer.com/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=12262.0 to register and post the requested logs at spywarehammer.com ; there are expert helpers there who can "walk you through" procedures to analyze your system, and clean-up the infection.   All help provided there is FREE.   If you decide to go for help there, please wait for a response, and do NOT attempt to run any other scans/removers on your own --- haphazzard removals can do more harm than good --- just do exactly what they instruct you to do, no more, no less.

Good luck!

We are past 24hrs of running the program. Our Daughters Toshiba laptop  has a virus/Trojan. My husband has tried everything he knows of, so we are trying this program. It says it has found 3 threats so far. Just wondering how much longer. Wish it had a progress window..