Avast Free Virus Cleaner

Viruses and worms
1

I was called to a colleagues computer that was not able to connect to the Internet.

I went armed with a download of the Avast Free Virus Cleaner and McAfee 'Stinger".

After doing some checks I surmised that a Virus was responsible, switched off System Restore, and re-booted in Safe Mode after putting both programs on the desktop for running later.

Avast didn’t get anything, Stinger turned up W32.IRCBOT and 2 more W32 derivatives.

Why did Avast miss these?

2

The Virus Cleaner is only a very simple remover for a very limited set of malware (they’re all listed on the Cleaner web page). Irc Bots are certainly not supported - you’d need the full avast! (Home/Pro) package for that.