Best virus/malware removal software for starting tech

There are several tools that I use for malware removal depending upon the nature of the infection.

First, as you know, MalwareBytes. (Don't forget to check their Tools section for stuff to play with. https://www.malwarebytes.org/downloads/#...)

Hitman Pro

TDSSKiller from Kaspersky

HiJackThis (although very old, it can still reveal quite a bit).

avast! aswMBR (A bit of an odd-ball, but can reveal a rootkit that's put a filter on a low-level storage driver).

You'll also want to become intimately familiar with Bleepingcomputer.com. The folks there work very diligently to write clean-up walkthroughs. When it comes to fake-AV products (the ones that claim your system is "infected" by over 9000 rootkits and bad registry entries), many of them are exactly the same underneath, simply dressed up in new clothes.

As for AV products.... Well, I have to say that I don't think there are any bullet-proof products. Some seem to work okay but none are perfect. The ones that seem to work okay are ESET, FSecure, Kaspersky, in my opinion. (There is one company that's trialing a product that does a really good job of preventing infections by whitelisting applications and using crowd-sourced Good application lists, but they're for business environments and, hence, expensive.)

What I've seen a lot of lately is initial infections getting through the first-line defense and then the AV product waking up upon secondary infections and not being able to really do anything but block the secondary infection and alert you to the presence of the first.

Honestly, nothing beats computer hygiene. You have to teach your customers about when it's appropriate to install. (Heck, you have to help them understand when they're installing things. Some don't even realize that!) They should know whether they really need Java and uninstall it if they don't. They should _check_ and _update_ Flash very, very often. They should run Adblockers, or at least run browsers that are friendly to them.

You should help them become savvy and help them develop a "ask, first" mentality to using their computer. Otherwise, they're going to be like most people and assume that everything is probably safe until it isn't. And, really, most people who don't work on your side of the bench can't fathom why infections happen. To them, it's something personal and their imagination begins and ends with "Why would anyone target me?" You know that's not good enough.

Hope this helps.