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January 2010 Featured Software |
| January 2010 Submitted by Dan Delong |
Although Norman (a Norwegian company) sells a full line of security and protections applications, this offering is free. Users praise the ability of Norman Malware Cleaner to find processes and files that have been compromised, followed by deletion, stoppage and / or repair. This program will not prevent infections, but will find and cure problems after the fact. Specifically, this application will:
Running from the DOS prompt offers a list of optional switches for skipping some of the full-scan features. Running it in Windows offers many of the same options via a graphic user interface. One first-run, the program may appear to begin an install process, but worry not. No registry changes are made; it runs without making changes to the operating system, other than the removal of malware. Of course, this standalone feature makes it a portable app candidate.  Note: A restart is sometimes required – Norman will notify. Also, the default settings allow Norman to delete files without prompting. In fact, there is no “prompt-me-first” option – only a /noclean switch that allows scanning without cleaning. Norman would be wise to fix this problem. Until then, users would be wise to back up first. Also, out-of-date copies of the program may refuse to run, because Norman wants users to employ the most complete malware database. Norman Malware Cleaner, despite needing almost three hours to scan a 25 GB drive on a low powered computer, was very thorough. It scanned about 5,000 processes and almost 338,000 files. If the scanning of compressed / archive files had been excluded (unselected), the whole operation would have been faster. Users who feel that their computer may be infected with a specific, named problem, may click on the Support Tools links for other targeted removal tools – those taking even less time to scan. System requirements: Platform: Windows 98 / Me / NT / 2000 / XP / 2003 / Vista Version: almost daily updates – get the latest Price: Free Language: English, and other European Languages Download Size: 53.9 MB Installed Size: does not install, self-running executable Rating: Download Site: here |
