Is your anti-malware tool actually doing its job? There’s no need to guess; here’s how to find out whether it’s working for you.
Plus: How to recover data from a cloned drive, and what to do when your word processor refuses to print anything.
“Should I keep using this anti-malware tool?”
Malware infections aren’t always obvious. Clever viruses might slip through cracks in your AV defenses and silently undermine your security and privacy.
Fortunately, there’s a free and easy way to find out for certain whether your anti-malware setup is properly protecting you — or you’d be better off using a different tool!
In his note, reader Trevor Cibich asks about a specific anti-malware product. But my answer applies to any similar tool.
“Hi! I’ve just purchased a new computer that includes a trial version of Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security. The trial period is about to expire, and I’d like your advice on securing my PC. Hope you can help inform a confused PC user.”
Trevor, the decision to use any given anti-malware tool depends on various factors. Some of those factors are subjective. For example, is the software easy to manage? Do you like its interface? Is the price right for you?
But the most important factor is objective: Is the tool keeping you safe?
So whenever evaluating any AV tool, start by verifying that it’s keeping your PC malware-free.
Verification is easy. As part of a regular PC-maintenance routine, periodically scan your system with free, standalone anti-malware tools from different AV-software vendors. (I’ll mention some good anti-malware scanners in a moment.)
Why use different scanners from different sources? AV vendors typically have their own particular flavors of malware-detection algorithms and techniques. By running AV tools from various vendors, you ensure that weaknesses in any one tool haven’t allowed malware to remain hidden on your system.
If repeated tests with multiple standalone scanners show that your PC is staying malware-free, your current, primary, full-time, anti-malware tool is most likely doing its job. (Malware changes quickly and comes in many forms, so there’s no 100 percent guarantee that a particular AV product will catch all viruses all the time.) You can now go back to price, ease of use, and so on for deciding whether to continue using the tool.
On the other hand, if the standalone scans reveal malware on your PC, your full-time AV application has failed. Free or paid, easy to use or not, it’s time to consider another product. Obviously it’s your call, but I’d replace the current AV app. With so many good alternatives, why take a chance?
Among the plethora of free, standalone, anti-malware scanners to choose from, I’m happy to recommend several. See, for example, the April 11 Top Story, “A dozen tools for removing almost any malware.” All the listed products are good; the best, most powerful tools are covered in that article’s subsection, “Heavy-duty, self-booting, malware-cleaning tools.”
Using Trevor’s case as an example, here’s how this kind of test-scanning should work in real life.
Because Trevor is currently using a Trend Micro product, he should use standalone scanners from any vendor but Trend Micro. He could, for example, run ESET’s free Online Scanner (site), the free Microsoft Safety Scanner (site), and McAfee’s free Stinger (site).
On the other hand, if he had Microsoft Security Essentials or Windows Defender installed, he’d skip the Microsoft Safety Scanner and use another non-Microsoft tool such as Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware Free (site) or Trend Micro’s free HouseCall (site).
Again, the best practice is to run multiple standalone scanners from various vendors. That’s the only way to ensure that your current full-time anti-malware tool — and any single standalone scanner — doesn’t have blind spots that might let malware into your system.
Periodically putting your full-time, anti-malware tool to the test is a key part of keeping your PC malware-free. And that’s what really matters — everything else is secondary.
If you want to try a different tool, great! Just test it periodically to make sure it’s really working. If you want to stick with the tool you have, that’s fine, too — as long as you know it’s keeping you safe!
Transferring data from external, clone drives
Jo Sorrill wonders how to recover data that’s currently stranded on an external drive.
“My computer guru took ill before we had a chance to move data from my clone external drive to my new computer. I want to move things item by item, but I don’t have the vaguest idea how. I also believe there might be a “bug” on the clone drive that, of course, I don’t want transferred to my new system. Help, please!”
This shouldn’t be hard to accomplish, Jo, but the exact steps depend on what you mean by a clone drive.
For example, the clone drive might be mirrored — simply a file-by-file duplicate of the original drive. In this case, you can use ordinary copying and pasting. Just connect the external drive to your new PC, let Windows recognize the drive and make it accessible, and then navigate to the clone drive the normal way in File/Windows Explorer. Drag (or select/copy) any data folders and files you want from the clone drive and put them wherever you wish on the new drive. (For help with copy/paste issues, see the July 18 LangaList Plus, “Solving file/folder copy problems in Windows.”)
If the clone drive has some form of backup file or drive image created by specialized software, you’ll have to take a different approach. But it still shouldn’t be difficult.
If the clone drive was created by a native, Windows-based backup tool, try the techniques detailed in the June 13 Best Practices, “Total access to all your Windows backups.”
If a third-party backup app created the files on the clone drive, you’ll probably need to install that same backup app on the new PC — then use it to open the contents of the clone drive. Most backup/imaging software offers some way to directly access the files it has archived; you can then select, copy, and paste the files you want. (Sorry I can’t be more specific on this step; it’s highly software-dependent and varies according to the tool involved.)
Your second problem was keeping a possible “bug” on the clone drive out of your new system.
There are two ways to minimize this risk. First, make sure you have a good anti-malware tool running on your new PC. (See the previous item.)
Next, copy only user files (word processing documents, spreadsheets, music, photos, etc.). Don’t copy executable files such as those needed to run applications, scripts, macros, etc. — anything with extensions such as .bat, .com, .dll, .exe, .pif, .vbe, .vbs, .wsf, etc.). Malware infections are most commonly spread via executables.
If you need any programs installed on the clone drive, your best bet is to reinstall the software on the new PC from scratch, using your original installation media.
With just a skosh of luck, a simple, plain-vanilla copy/paste operation of your user files will get everything you need off the clone drive and into your new system!
Word processor suddenly won’t print anything
Patricia McKee Bauer’s printer works fine — except with her word processor!
“I’ve used Word Perfect for eons — since I bought my first computer, long ago.
“I’m now using Word Perfect 11, which does everything and anything I want. It’s a great program, especially with the view codes, which I’d have a hard time doing without!
“About a week or so ago, I suddenly couldn’t print anything from Word Perfect. I use a network-attached HP OfficeJet Pro 8500A printer-scanner. If I try printing anything, Word Perfect’s [print dialog box] gets stuck at “1%.” To get Word Perfect moving, I have to kill it with Task Manager and restart it.”
“I can print from WordPad — and used it in an emergency yesterday. But that’s not a good long-term solution.”
There are three likely causes for this problem — all relatively easy to fix.
The most direct and complete solution is to completely uninstall Word Perfect (via Control Panel), reboot your system, and then reinstall Word Perfect with the original installation medium (a setup CD or whatever). This will almost surely restore Word Perfect’s normal operation — in one step.
If that doesn’t work, the problem could be with a printer driver that’s specifically required by Word Perfect (but not by simpler tools such as WordPad). You might try using System Restore to roll your PC back to its state when the printer was working properly with Word Perfect. System Restore doesn’t affect user files — such as your word-processing documents — so it’s usually a safe way to try to correct system-level trouble.
It’s possible that some newly installed driver is causing the problem. Using System Restore removes all drivers added after a restore point’s date. (In your case, however, this might end up being a temporary fix; you might not be correcting the root problem.)
System Restore is enabled by default in all current Windows versions, so you should have saved restore points. If you need a refresher on getting it to work, see the Microsoft Support page, “System Restore”; it provides information — and even a video — that shows how to roll back your system files to an earlier point in time.
If the first two options don’t work, visit your printer’s vendor site (in your case, the HP Drivers & Downloads page) and make sure you have the correct printer driver for your printer model and Windows version. For more options on driver updates, see the Oct. 24 LangaList Plus column, “Different approaches to solving driver problems,” and the Feb. 21 column, “How and when to update your system’s drivers.”
But I’ll bet the first option — uninstalling and then reinstalling Word Perfect — will get you going in a matter of minutes!