I don't believe there is a true definition that covers malware. The spectrum in a classic sense is too broad to define as one thing or another. Malware takes on many forms and affects ones computer in various ways. If you have a suspected malware infection, which tool do you use to clean your system and how do you tell that malware may be present on your computer.

Let me give a couple of examples. If your browser suddenly starts to act up by offering up 404 'Page Not Found' errors when you attempt to browse to certain sites. The sites may be grouped into a specific category such as sites which offer virus detection tools or online scans. Your internet connection (DSL) slows down, or your resident email starts to act up strangely and the list goes on but is generalized as something about your computer that has changed and you can't figure out why.

A deep rooted malware may not be discovered by the best anti-virus detection software out there. Even when you run your rootkit detection software it may not find anything out of the ordinary. Or when you suspect that your browser has been hijacked but detection software rules it out or can't find an infection, even when using powerful software such as Spybot Search & Destroy, or AdAware.

So how can it be best discovered and destroyed? I discovered a small tool which does it's work in DOS and is as complicated and potentially dangerous to use as it is useful in problem solving.



ComboFix.exe is a complicated tool which is designed to root out malware on your system. It is so effective that there are forums which offer help to users that encounter problems. For some reason or other I tend to gravitate to http://www.bleepingcomputer.com which is where I ran into this excellent program.

I do recommend that you do not run ComboFix unless you are having problems with your computer that you can't easily correct using your resident anti-virus software or adware.

For an in-depth guide on how to use ComboFix go here: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix be sure to read this guide throughly before running ComboFix and only download it from one of the trusted sources linked to from the above page link.