How to Delete Harmful Files

**Gruss** · 02-04-2009

My computer is infected with the harmful files in it but cant find it that i can remove it...!

Can Anyone HELP ME???

**ThoMas321** · 02-04-2009

You can delete a harmful registry file two ways: manually or with a software program. Either way will work. Manually works only if you know what you are looking for. Most people do not, so using the software is by far the easiest and quickest method you can delete a harmful registry file.

The first way is manually. Here you will need to know what you are looking for. If you suspect you do, then you can do the following:

Go to the “start” button in the lower left hand corner of your computer, click it.
Go to the “run” button on the right side of the menu that pops up, click it.
Type in the box “regedit”, and click the “OK” button.
In the left window pane, you will see 5 folders.

At this point, you are on your own. I do not mess with my registry files, nor do I recommend for you to. If you are going to, ensure you have a backup of the registry somewhere. I personally do not know exactly what to look for, and spyware is hidden carefully, so it makes it hard to find the harmful registry files. I use a registry repair software.

This type of software will scan your computer, and look for messed up registry files. Once it finds them, it will them fix them for you. This will bring your computer back to its designed speed, and have all of your programs functioning correctly again. This is by far the easiest, fastest, and the best method to delete a harmful registry file.

Michael Baker is a Computer Optimization Technician, and recommends getting a Free Computer Scan to fix any problems such as computers freezing, locking up, restarting for no reason, and getting the blue death screen

**Raine** · 02-04-2009

Every program is made of individual files, whether or not it’s a regular application or a parasite. Spyware programs use harmful files to install themselves and secretly collect personal information about you. Many spyware programs use your Internet connection to access your PC and hijack your browser, monitor your Web surfing habits, change your settings, and annoy you with pop-up ads.

You can delete spyware files two ways: manually, or with an anti-spyware program. To remove harmful files manually you must be familiar with computer technology. When you manually remove any computer file, there’s a risk that the smallest mistake may destroy your PC, so choosing to use an anti-spyware program is by far the safest and quickest way you can delete harmful files. An anti-spyware program scans your computer, displays the suspected files, and allows you to decide what should be removed.

Learn how to remove unwanted harmful files and folders from your computer, even when they’re hidden.

Delete Harmful Files Manually

Warning: Manually deleting malicious files is a difficult and risky. If you delete the wrong file, your computer may crash and important data may be lost. As a precautionary measure, please back up important files and set a System Restore point (click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore, and follow the on-screen instructions) or run a spyware check with a trusted anti-spyware program to automatically detect spyware.

Locate the harmful file

If you know the name of the parasite you want to remove or at least part of it, you should use Windows search tool to the exact file path of the parasite. To launch the Windows search tool, click the “Start” > “Search” > “All Files or Folders”. Type the file name or its part to the field and locate where you want to search for it. Click on the drive, folder, or disk you wish to perform a search. It is recommended that you select “Look in: Local Hard Drives” or “Look in: My Computer” to get better results. Click on the “Search” button to start the search.

Make hidden files visible

If you don’t know the exact spelling of a filename, but you have an idea where it can be located, you should try to find the file manually. Parasites tend to hide themselves so you will need to enable the functions that lets to display hidden and system protected files.

First, you should start Windows Explorer. If the version of OS that you use is Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Server 2003, click on the “Tools” menu and select “Internet Options”. In the “Advanced Settings” list find the title “Show hidden files and folders” and select it. It is recommended to remove a checkmark next to the line “Hide protected operating system files”, in order not to affect the files from your OS.
There are cases that some files may still remain invisible. To see them, load the “Command Prompt”, press the “Start” button on your taskbar and select “Run”. In the emerged dialog, type in “cmd” and press enter or click “OK” button.
In the emerged window type “dir /A name_of_the_folder” in order to display all the files, including those that are hidden.

Delete the harmful file

You can delete the harmful file by using Windows Explorer or any other similar program that locates files and folders in your machine. You should also note that the Recycle Bin should be emptied before starting the removal procedure. The message may appear that the file is in use and is impossible to be removed. In this case, you should terminate the process which is associated with the file and then delete it.

In order to delete it, you should open the Windows Task Manager by pressing “CTRL + ALT + DEL” or “CTRL + SHIFT + ESCAPE”. Look at the Processes tab and select the process that corresponds with the file and click on the “End Process” button.

It is possible that some processes will start just after you terminate them. To avoid that, you will need to reboot your machine into the Windows Safe Mode. When this mode is launched, the programs do not start automatically on startup, so it means that many system services can be easily terminated and harmful files can be removed.

The harmful file can also be located and removed by using the “Command Prompt”. To find the location of the harmful file, type “cd name_of_the_folder” and invoke the command by typing “del name_of_the_file”.

If you want to delete entire folder, use the command “rmdir /S name_of_the_folder”.

If you feel that the listed removal procedures are too complicated and you still want to remove the harmful file, we recommend to download SpyHunter’s spyware scanner.

**chroma** · 02-04-2009

Removing a parasite or spyware from your computer means deleting all its files.

To find and remove harmful files and folders follow the steps below:

From Start –> Search
Click on “All files and folders”
Type the filenames on the search box, and choose the “Local Hard Drives”
Click on “Search“.

That’s it !

Is the file still present?

Is the above guide too difficult for you?

I Recommended Automatic Spyware Remover.

**Macarenas** · 02-04-2009

First of all, we want to use the tools features in the web browser you use to clear out bad sites that have been visited and images that they have left on your computer. If you have seen the image, it is on your hard drive.
READ IF YOU USE INTERNET EXPLORER:
Steps 2-5 are for Internet Explore users. Click on the "Tools" menu and click internet options for Internet explorer web browsers. There are three delete options that you can click on to clear out all of the cached items, and we will walk through these.
Click on "Delete Files" to get rid of all of the cached images on your computer that are automatically saved to your hard drive when you browse a website.
Click on "Clear History" to get rid of the listing of all of the visited web addresses you have viewed on your computer.
Additionally, you will want to click on "Clear Cookies" to remove any marking or data files that the site placed on your machine to identify you as a viewer and log your information.
READ IF YOU USE FIREFOX:
If you are using Firefox, then you will click on "Clear Private Data" and select the check boxes of the items you want to delete. If the items you want to remove are not listed, then you can really get into the details by clicking on "Tools", then "options", then the "Privacy" item to find what you want to clear. You should also clear your cookies.
READ IF YOU USE NETSCAPE:
If you use Netscape, click on the "edit" menu and then click on the "preferences" item. You will want to select the arrow next to "Navigator" to select the subtopics under this selection. You are going to want to click on the "History" button and clear out the history. Next click on the "Clear Location bar" button as well. To clear out the cached images, select the "advanced" tab and click on the "Cache" item. Click both "Clear Memory Cache" and Clear Disk Cache" to get rid of images you do not want. I also recommend clearing your cookies.
Now we want to clear our search engine histories as well. To do this, you need to clear the forms on your internet browser. It is also a good idea to turn off the Auto Complete as well so that your computer will not guess the items you want to search and return a nasty result or page that has bad files and images. You can take care of both of these in your Tools Menu for your web browser. Sometimes you have to actually clear your index.dat file. To find this file, do a search in the start menu icon and type in the file name as "index.dat"
Even after you follow all of these steps, there may still be some harmful files and images on your computer that you can not erase. If you want to get rid of everything, I recommend the use of these programs that will take care of everything listed and then some. They costs some money, but they are great programs: