FreeFixer is a general purpose removal tool which will help you to delete potentially unwanted software, such as adware, spyware, trojans, viruses and worms. FreeFixer works by scanning a large number of locations where unwanted software has a known record of appearing or leaving traces. The scan locations include the programs that run on your computer, the programs that starts when you reboot your computer, your browser's plug-ins, your home page setting, etc.

FreeFixer does not know what is unwanted, so it presents the scan result and it's up to you decide if some file should be removed and if some settings should restored to their default value. Please be careful! If you delete a legitimate file you may damage your computer. To assist you when determining if anything should be removed you can find more information at FreeFixer's web site for each item in the scan result. You can for example see what other users chose to do in the same situation.

Blog

This site also has an excellent blog on malware threats and removal.

File Library

There is also a library of files, what they do and their threat status if any. Currently there are 211531 files in the database.

HOSTS file

The HOSTS file is used to translate a host name to an IP (Internet Protocol) address without querying the DNS (Domain Name System) server. The HOSTS file is often modified by malware to redirect users from legitimate sites to a server controlled by the malware author. Malware can also modify the HOSTS file to block users from visiting legitimate anti-spyware and anti-virus sites. An example is trendmicro.com, which is blocked by some malware. You can find the complete list of HOSTS file redirects in FreeFixer online library.

FreeFixer knows about many anti-malware sites which have been blocked with the HOSTS file and use this information to determine which redirects should appear in the scan log. These are the legitimate sites FreeFixer knows about: