Free Macafee Stinger

The MacAfee AVERT Stinger is a stand-alone utility which can be used to find and then remove specific worms and viruses. Please bear in mind that it should not be used instead of a full blown anti-virus application. It is designed to catch certain nasties, but you are strongly advised to have running on your computer full protection software.

At the time of writing, the Stinger will hunt for literally hundreds of viruses, including Aardvark, Devil, Michelangelo, Franny and W32/Autorun.worm.

It can be downloaded from here: http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/polipstinger.asp

When the box appears and you are prompted for an action, go for the one that says Save and download the file into a suitable place on your hard drive.

Once the download is complete and saved, find the file and run it. You should then see the Stinger interface. It will scan the C: drive first by default, but you can choose it to scan other drives by using the Add, or Browse button. Stinger will automatically repair any infected files which it finds.

Now, that's all pretty straightforward, but there are some common questions that get asked when using the Stinger.

If you're sure you have a virus, but the Stinger didn't seek it out and kill it, then bear in mind that the virus you have, might not be the one that is on the hit list. Also, remember that the Stinger is not a replacement for a full anti-virus software application. You do need full protection for your computer whenever possible.

Other people ask if Stinger is a supported application and is there any support. It is not and is designed to track down certain worms and viruses. It is stand-alone with no support, and indeed, there are no guarantees when using it.

If you're wondering what the List Viruses button is used for, then this handy little tool does as it says. Press it and it will list the viruses that it has been taught to seek and destroy.

And if you find that Stinger finds a virus and can't repair it, and you happen to be running Windows ME, or Windows XP, then it might be because the Windows System Restore functionality has a lock on the infected file in question. You should therefore disable the system restore before you start scanning.

And finally, if you want to save the scan results to a log file, then click File and choose the Save Report to File.

Right, so there you have it. If you think you are infected, you can always give the Stinger its head and see what it can seek out and destroy, but always remember, do not rely on the Stinger for your sole protection. Use a full protection application, otherwise you will regret it.

This article was written by eCommerce Associates Limited for eCommerce Associates for Mcafee Downloads Internet Security

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