Best Free Trojan Scanner/Trojan Remover

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Last Update: Fri, 06/26/2009 - 04:51 — Jojoyee

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Introduction

Malware, trojans and threats

Most PCs are now connected to the Internet and networks, making easier the spread of malicious software (malware), which includes trojans (also known as trojan horses), viruses, worms, spyware, adware, rootkits and other malicious or unwanted programs.

Like spyware and adware, trojans can get onto your computer in a number of ways, including from a web browser, via e-mail, or in a bundle with other software downloaded from the Internet.

Unlike viruses or worms, trojans do not replicate themselves but they can be just as destructive. On the surface, trojans appear benign and harmless, but once the infected code is run, trojans kick in and perform malicious functions to harm the computer system without the user's knowledge.

For example, waterfalls.scr is a waterfall screen saver as originally claimed by the author, but it can be associated with malware and become a trojan to unload hidden programs and allow unauthorized access to the user's PC.

Some typical examples of threats by trojans are as follows:

Erase, overwrite or corrupt data on a computer
Help to spread other malware such as viruses (by a dropper trojan)
Deactivate or interfere with anti-virus and firewall programs
Allow remote access to your computer (by a remote access trojan)
Upload and download files without your knowledge
Gather e-mail addresses and use them for spam
Log keystrokes to steal information such as passwords and credit card numbers
Copy fake links to false websites, display porno sites, play sounds/videos, display images
Slow down, restart or shut down your computer
Re-install themselves after being disabled

To minimise the threats, most PC users will need an effective anti-malware program to remove trojans along with other malware.

Anti-malware and anti-trojan programs

As more computer security developers are extending their product capabilities to address more than one type of malware, the boundary between different types of anti-malware programs is no more a clear cut and has become blurred.

For example, an anti-virus program such as AVG Anti-Virus covers not only viruses, but offers protection against spyware, adware and others. An anti-spyware program such as SuperAntiSpyware not only detects spyware, but removes trojans, rootkits and other threats. Likewise an anti-trojan program can offer to remove viruses, spyware and other types of malware.

More appropriately, these security products are to be classified as anti-malware programs rather than to be grouped by the name of the products.

In this respect, anti-malware products which are designed to detect and remove trojans more effectively than the others will be reviewed in this category.

How many anti-malware programs need to install?

Do you still need an anti-virus program plus an anti-spyware program and an anti-trojan scanner?

"For the majority of average users the answer is no. A single competent broad spectrum anti-malware product is enough."

"Of course, not everyone is an average user. Users who engage in high risk activities, like sourcing their software from P2P services, should load up their PC with all the protection they can get. Similarly, there are users for whom the best possible protection is paramount, regardless of cost or performance implications. Finally, users of freeware scanners who cannot afford [or unwilling to pay for] a premium product may be well advised to use more than one signature-based scanner."

-- excerpted from Gizmo Richards' Support Alert Newsletter Issue 156 April 2008.

Disclaimer

Despite their ratings in this review, some anti-malware programs in certain cases are able to detect more malware than the others depending on their designs, online databases and the infections on computers.

Discussion

a-squared Free is a good choice to scan and remove malware, especially trojans, from your PC. It removes reliably the trojans containing backdoors, keyloggers, dialers and other destructive pests which make it dangerous to surf the web.

Other than trojans, it also can be used to recognize and remove spyware, adware, tracking cookies, worms, viruses and other malware from your PC.

Designed for ease of use, this program combines a-squared Anti-Spyware and the Ikarus Anti-Virus engine in the latest version to cut down on unnecessary double detection routines for one and the same malware.

Features such as quarantine, online updates and heuristic scan for unknown malware are included. As disclosed by a-squared Free, its malware database consists of more than 500,000 malware signatures.

However, this free program does not provide other features such as background guard, automatic updates and scheduled scans.

If you prefer background guard, PC Tools ThreatFire is a good choice. It provides proactive defense against both known and unknown threats by trojans as well as viruses, worms, spyware, rootkits and other malware.

ThreatFire provides real-time behavior-based malware protection against new or unknown threats without scanning, but running constantly in the background, light on system resources.

ThreatFire automatically quarantines known and unknown threats detected for your protection. After quarantining, you can choose to permanently delete the threats from your system.

The program interface shows you a world map of prevalent threats, either trojans, worms, viruses, or other malware. Further, ThreatFire provides ThreatExpert Reports on the latest 200 findings of threats, more often with more than 30% of them related to trojans.

ThreatFire comes with a feature which allows you to help identify new threats and provide feedback to its Secure Community while you receive automatic updates from them. If you opt out of the Community, automatic updates will not be supported.

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware is another alternative which can be used to scan and remove trojans, along with other malware such as viruses, worms, rootkits, dialers and spyware.

MalwareNET, which is Malwarebytes' online database, revealed that nearly 20% of the total objects detected by Anti-Malware were related to trojans.

Other features of this program include multiple-drive scanning, quick scanning, ignore list, quarantine to hold threats and restore them, context menu integration to scan files on demand, extra utilities to help remove malware manually, and settings to enhance performance of the program. It works together with other anti-malware utilities as well.

However, real-time protection and scheduler are only available to the pay version.

SUPERAntiSpyware is worth a try as well. In addition to its focus on detecting and removing spyware infections, this program deals with trojans and other types of threats such as dialers, keyloggers, worms, rootkits, etc.

It supports a quick scan, complete system scan or custom scan with trust items and exclude folders. It also provides an option to check for latest defination updates before scanning to protect you from the threats. On its Threat Research, some typical threats by about 100 trojans are listed here, while the same by about 150 spyware items and other malware items are listed as well.

Among other features, it includes Hi-Jack Protection to prevent other application, except for Task Manager, from terminating the program.

On the down side, the free version of this program does not support real-time blocking, scheduled scanning and some other features.

Other Related Products

These are a number of other free trojan scanners and removers which were brought up in comments here or noted from other sources. As they are not rated in this review, I am listing them here with brief descriptions and links to their sites for ease of reference.

Rising PC Doctor comes with a scanner for trojans and spyware, and an option to enable automatic protection such as Trojan Interceptor, Trojan Download Blocker along with some other protections. Other tools such as start up control, process manager, service manager, file shredder, etc., are also included.

SDFix is a free trojan removal program written by AndyManchesta to remove trojans along with other malware such as worms, rootkits and others. It requires rebooting the system into safe mode to run the program.

Trojan Killer is a malware removal application to remove various types of malicious or unwanted programs such as hidden dialers, adware, spyware, etc. Dangerous items are highlighted in red after scanning and can be removed with a right click. Current database has relatively fewer signatures as compared to a-squared Free.

Comodo BOClean Anti-Malware features automatic detection of trojans and other malware in the background with daily database updates. It covers approximately 70,000 trojans in the current database as shown in the list produced by the program with a click on the "Covered Trojans" button.

Have Your Say

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anti-malware, anti-trojan, anti-virus, anti-spyware, adware, remover, scanner, freeware, free trojan scanner, free trojan remover

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#1Submitted by Sillyperson on Fri, 06/19/2009 - 09:48.

How does SAS Professional fare as a trojan scanner and remover?

#2Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 06/13/2009 - 04:57.

I am having a major problem with my computer. Was on facebook last night and all of a sudden it came up with this "Personal Antivirus" thing saying I had trojans and worms infecting my computer. It wants me to download it for $39.95. I already have a antivirus program AVG and did a scan to find no infections. Been looking for a site to help me remove infections and they all say free, yeah free to download and not to remove. I am not in any way computer savy and I also do not have the money to call the repair guy. Could someone out there please help me fix this problem I am desperate!!!!! Thankyou Kylie

#3Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 06/24/2009 - 14:55.

I have been in your possition recently I got warning messages from a security provider claiming my "marriage and job " were at risk all because they claimed my computer was infected with Trojans /Malware / and Porno images . But after about a hour of panic ( I got my computer from someone else who had upgraded thiers so I didn't know exactly what was stored on it)I got a message from Norton ( who were still protecting my computer at the time ) telling me to ignore the warnings . my computer was running slow and crashing now and again and I'm low on cash so I searched for cleaning programs who claimed to scan and clean my computer for free ' but everytime I tried them each one would tell me I had lots of corrupt files which need to be deleted but I would have to pay for the full service which I could not afford ' anyway I have recently found "COMODO" ( Which is 100% Free to use!) it has totally cleaned my entire computer of hundreds of junk/incomplete files/ infections and trojans files others failed to do .My computor now it runs like new and it's the best protection I'v ever seen.

#4Submitted by JonathanT on Sat, 06/13/2009 - 07:01.

You could follow this:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/spyware-removal-guide.htm

#5Submitted by peter on Sat, 06/13/2009 - 08:30.

Great post, JT

#6Submitted by Jojoyee on Sat, 06/13/2009 - 06:25.

As you say, AVG did a scan to find no infections and that it came up with a message (popped up from a browser?) to claim that your computer is infected with trojans and worms.

If not mistaken, this behaviour could be due to adware or spyware and the claim on the infections might not be true. You might want to scan your computer using recommended software in Best Free Adware/Spyware/Scumware Remover.

You might also want to give a-squared or PC Tools ThreatFire a try to confirm if it's infected with trojans and worms as claimed.

#7Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 06/14/2009 - 03:47.

Thanks again Jojoyee, prior to your advice I downloaded Stopzilla which turned up trojans though yet again would only scan and not remove till I paid. I took your advice and downloaded Superantispyware which found 99 Adware Tracking Cookies and 1 Trojan.Agent/Gen-WinExp and the progam allowed me to get rid of them. I also downloaded A-squared which after many hours of scanning found 21 infections, 3 medium risk traces, 13 low risk cookies and 5 high risk trojans. I was able to quarentine them and later fully deleted them from my computer. Cross fingers but so far so good, none of the Personal Antivirus messages of threats, trojans,worms and your computer is at risk have come up thus far. As I mentioned I am in no way computer literate and I found your advice easy and helpful. I am still wondering why my AVG program failed to pick it up & the others did, either way I will keep all 3 programs to be on the safe side. In the end I hope they are all gone and appreciate your advice so much!!!!!! Thanks Again Kylie
PS: Great website, will be definetly be using it often and will be sure to tell my friends to do the same.

#8Submitted by JonathanT on Sun, 06/14/2009 - 04:03.

If your computer is so infected it won't hurt to scan with several more programs, such as BitDefender and F-Secure Online Scan and Malwarebytes Antimalware.
http://www.bitdefender.com/scan8/ie.html
http://support.f-secure.com/enu/home/ols.shtml
http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572....

#9Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 06/13/2009 - 06:54.

thanks so much for replying, will give those things a try and see how I go. Will let you know if I am successful. Thanks again Kylie

#10Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 06/12/2009 - 14:13.

The main reason why TDS-3 (Trojan Defense Suite) was discontinued 4 years ago because its makers recognized the success of the inclusion of the antitrojan module into the antivirus program of other security software companies. Avira is an example of this. The Avira free scanner is simply superb in eliminating trojans hooking onto the system. I have never used any standalone antitrojan to complement my present security setup and I have no problem whatsoever with trojans and the like disturbing me or my productivity.

#11Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 06/09/2009 - 16:59.

Just use Avira free. It's an excellent antitrojan.

#12Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 06/08/2009 - 09:47.

have just used trojan remover and it has done a great job.

#13Submitted by JonathanT on Tue, 06/02/2009 - 13:06.

Malwarebytes Antimalware 1.37 and Superantispyware 4.26.1004 is out too.

#14Submitted by Jojoyee on Tue, 06/02/2009 - 15:04.

Thanks JT for the updates.

#15Submitted by JonathanT on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 01:59.

That's fine. I have this sad addiction of checking download sites for new updates every few hours. :(

#16Submitted by peter on Sat, 06/13/2009 - 08:31.

Tell me about it.

#17Submitted by JonathanT on Tue, 06/02/2009 - 06:59.

ThreatFire 4.5 is out!

#18Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 06/01/2009 - 11:02.

Does anyone know how to get rid of the trojan Bancos IXQ for with freeware. I've tried a few so-called freebies like Malawares, but in the end they are not free and don't work either, so you just end up downloading them and then uninstalling them again. So many sites say they have the best anti trojan software, but you can't really tell until you have bought, and then it's too late.

John T

#19Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 05/23/2009 - 03:51.

Why are programs not supporting win 98 anymore? Many people still use these early versions of windows. Like myself I have tried xp vista and the like and have gone back to 98 because it's the best and safest.

#20Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 06/11/2009 - 19:57.

microsoft doesn't even support win98 any more. it is not safe and you are being used as a gateway because your computer is no longer protected. dump 98 and come to the world of xp.

#21Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 05/19/2009 - 02:10.

Free is not free. Just another trick to get you to purchase a spyware by poeple who either create a virus and infect you (which they should go to jail for) or telling you something is free and it's not and then tricking purchasing their product by deception.

#22Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 05/12/2009 - 10:54.

Correction: The Cleaner 2010?

#23Submitted by Jojoyee on Wed, 05/13/2009 - 15:18.

Thanks. Will check it out.

#24Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 05/12/2009 - 10:49.

Trojan Cleaner 2010?

#25Submitted by JonathanT on Tue, 05/12/2009 - 07:21.

a-squared Free 4.5 it out!
http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/

#26Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 05/07/2009 - 22:40.

a2 sqrd has a portable version for your usb drive

#27Submitted by JonathanT on Fri, 05/08/2009 - 06:55.

It's mentioned here:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-portable-programs.htm

#28Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 20:41.

your advice is highly axepted thans so much

#29Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 09:07.

What about Spy Emergency review? Nowhere I cannot find some good test, it suppose to be a good option for trojan removal (http://www.spy-emergency.com).
It looks like it has free version without pro-active defense too.

#30Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 10:13.

Free download, but not freeware!

#31Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 05:10.

Mate l find that too,, lm getting anoyed at all these so called free programs that wont do there job until you pay for it...

there not free at all and just a wasit of time.

#32Submitted by dalimit on Tue, 04/21/2009 - 15:03.

Can you do a review on AVZ antiviral toolkit.Thanks!!

#33Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 04/12/2009 - 15:02.

A2 is much larger than the 12 MB you say above (54-58 MB), so have they changed something major since you reviewed or is this a typo? Thanks.

#34Submitted by Jojoyee on Mon, 04/13/2009 - 01:50.

Thanks for the feedback, the smaller size applied to the earlier version.

#35Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 04/07/2009 - 17:50.

No other security program I have ever had requires regular updates as large as A-squared, why is this so ?

I'm going to have to stop using the product because it takes to freakin long to simply download an update. Complete nonsense.

#36Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 12:33.

ditto - have almost given up with A2 due to large downloads, and FP's

#37Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 10:42.

I also agree with this.
It just takes infinite time to update. Consumes so much of time and bandwidth.
But still a useful piece of software.
Silki
(http://webtoolsandtips.com)

#38Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 04/05/2009 - 16:20.

I just noticed that Malwarebytes is now "shareware". It has a 30 day free trial with ver. 1.35.

#39Submitted by JonathanT on Mon, 04/06/2009 - 00:56.

It still has a freeware version available. I haven't heard of this 30 day free trial though.

#40Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 03/28/2009 - 06:39.

Does anyone know what is going on with the large 30 to 40 MB updates for A-Squared ? It appears the makers of this product do not care about their customers using dial up 56K modems. Requiring Regular updates this large is ridiculous.

No other security program I have ever had requires regular updates as large as A-squared, why is this so ?

I'm going to have to stop using the product because it takes to freakin long to simply download an update. Complete nonsense.

John

#41Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 03/28/2009 - 16:19.

The new A-squared uses the Ikarus Anti-virus database along with their normal database so that may be one of reasons the updates are so big.

I feel sorry for those that have dial-up internet, hopefully you can get faster internet in your area one day; A-squared seems to be pretty good, but it does find more false positives than other programs that I have used but if the updates are too big maybe you can try another program on the list and/or use the new free version of Antivir which now has anti-spyware finally.

Good luck,
- John

#42Submitted by Jojoyee on Sat, 03/28/2009 - 23:38.

Alternatively use any of BF Download Manager to download larger files overnight provided the cost of internet connection is fixed :)

#43Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 03/28/2009 - 18:50.

Thanks for the tip on the free version of Antivir now providing anti-spyware protection. I've been using version 8.2.0.347 but I did not know the new version provided anti-spyware protection.

As long as it does not use too many resources or conflict with Windows Defender, it will be nice to have the extra protection from Antivir.

John

#44Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 03/29/2009 - 02:59.

You are welcome, Antivir 9.0 is still low on resources even with the anti-spyware in my opinion compared to some other programs, you can download the new version at the Cnet website if you want to.

Good luck,
- John

#45Submitted by vihar on Sun, 03/08/2009 - 13:39.

What if I am using Windows XP Professionsl x64 edition in a corporate environment and want realtime protection?

Most of the software listed have a restriction that they cannot be used in commercial environments. Others do not have realtime scanning in their free versions? Some do not support 64-bit Windows!

Consequently, only Comodo BOClean remains... no choice!

Is this truly a fair comparison?

#46Submitted by ma_t on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 12:41.

"Real-time blocking and scheduled scanning not supported."

Jojoyee, wouldn't it be better if you clarified that they are supported in the shareware version of SuperAntispyware

#47Submitted by Jojoyee on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 16:07.

Thanks. Clarified as "... not supported in free version." in the Quick Selection Guide.

#48Submitted by JonathanT on Wed, 02/18/2009 - 11:37.

ThreatFire 4.1 is out, which does not include their antivirus anymore, though the antirootkit component has not been removed.
"ThreatFire 4.1 focuses on delivering best-of-breed behavioral protection and no longer provides a signature-based virus scanner."
http://www.threatfire.com/updates/

#49Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 03/11/2009 - 05:20.

Threatfire slows down machines and should be avoided at all costs... just like all PC Tools products. They're good at what they do, I admit... but they don't play well with others.... to the point that suffering through the slowing of the machine makes Threatfires benefit not worth it.

#50Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 03/23/2009 - 14:08.

I have used Threatfire for years now and have never had an issue with it noticeably slowing down my PC. I believe this view of threatfire took hold because apparently it DID create problems with users of XP HOME. This is a known issue.

I use it without problems on my 4 yr old XP PRO PC in conjunction with Avira and run SAS and MB as on demand anti-spyware. My machine RARELY gets an infection.

If you want to see how slow your PC can get using poorly executed bloatware just install mcafee or norton suites and watch your machine crawl.

-J

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