There are many security suites to choose from that will keep your Windows PC free of viruses and other malware. However, even the best might let something slip through. It is useful to have other tools ready to combat infections, such as Emsisoft Emergency Kit.
This program is free for personal use and it is intended to thoroughly check a PC for all types of malware and to clean it up if it is infected. It does not provide real-time protection and it will not block infections. It is therefore not to be used on its own. However, because it does not include real-time protection, it does not clash with other security software and can be used alongside it.
It is an extra tool you can keep on your PC and it has several uses:
- Confirm that your PC is clean and that real-time protection from other security software like Windows Defender is working
- Clean up a PC if malware gets through your real-time protection software
- Provide a second opinion if your regular antivirus software finds something suspicious
Install and run Emsisoft Emergency Kit
Download the EEK software from the Emsisoft website for free and then run the executable program in the Downloads folder. It looks like it is installing, but really it is just copying the files to the C:\EEK folder. It is a portable app and you can use Explorer to copy the C:\EEK folder to a USB flash drive (pen drive or thumb drive). This enables it to be carried in your pocket and used on other computers to check for malware and to clean them.
Open the C:\EEK folder and double click Start Emergency Kit Scanner.
If the malware database is out of date, EEK will probably automatically update by downloading the latest malware database. There is also a link in the main window to manually check for updates. Afterwards, it is ready to go.
Scan for malware with EEK
The main screen is displayed and the software has acquired a dark mode and different tiles since I last looked at it.
The Scan & Clean tile has three options, Quick Scan, Malware Scan and Custom Scan. Don’t all scans check for malware? Yes, they do, so the naming of these options could be better, but you get used to it.
A quick scan just looks in the most obvious locations for malware and is fast enough to perform every day if you have an SSD. It is not so quick with a hard disk drive, but that’s HDDs for you. The Malware Scan option is a more thorough scan of the system that looks in more places on the disk and so it takes longer to complete. You can include scanning memory for active malware, scanning for active rootkits, and scanning for malware traces.
You are asked if you want to detect PUPs, which are potentially unwanted programs. A common complaint people have is that ‘I have XXX security software on my computer, but it still got infected by YYY.’ PUPs are not viruses, so antivirus software does not prevent them from installing on the computer. They are irritating programs that change your browser’s home page, add toolbars, pop up adverts and so on. It is a good idea to include PUPs.
There is a Performance Impact option and this enables you to choose how much demand is placed on the PC’s resources while scanning. You can choose to run the scan as fast as possible or you can reduce the workload so that you can continue to use the computer while the scan runs in the background.
Deal with malware
A full scan is recommended for the first run because it checks all areas of the disk drive. If malware is detected during a scan, it appears in a list and you can select it, quarantine it, delete it or investigate it. Right clicking an item provides an option to open Explorer to show the malware.
It is well worth keeping EEK on your computer and scanning it once a week even if you have other security software because it is always useful to have a second opinion.
Related: How to scan for malware with Chrome and clean up your Windows PC
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