Malicious software is sometimes referred to as malware. This software has very harmful impacts on the computer it resides in. There are many sources that your computer could get malware infection from. It could be your floppy drive, CD drive, pen drive, internet, or some other external source. Internet is by far the most common and talked about source of malware. In a most commonly set up trap, you would get a warning popup asking you to check your computer for virus. You would be offered a free scan for the same. Once you accept the offer, there will be more pop ups coming up asking you to install a free anti virus software. Sometimes you may be asked to pay for the so called anti virus as well. You would therefore end up infecting your computer and also paying for the same.

The term scareware also refers to the same malicious software. Microsoft has come up with a study that reveals about 4.4 million computers infected by scareware. Some of the scareware you should keep away from are: Personal antivirus, XP antivirus, DriveCleaner, RapidAntiVirus, Antivirus?09, and WiPC antivirus.

So how do you get rid of malware? It could be a painful task to get rid of malware from your computer. If you have been unfortunate to install malware on your PC, you may want to read on. There are several options to choose from, and we have discussed all such options below.

Never forget to take a backup of your precious data, before you start your regime to fight the malware. Losing your valuable data in the battle may not be a good idea. You may use your flash USB drive, Floppy drive (if sufficient), or a CD drive to take back up. Once you have completed taking the back up, you can get on to tackle the malware.

If you thought installing an anti malware software would do the trick, you are most likely to be wrong here. Only weak malware may fall a prey to your anti malware. However, most malware programs are smart enough to defend themselves. Installing an anti malware software was a good idea when your computer was clean and healthy.

An alternative is to install and run an anti malware software in safe mode. Once in safe mode, the computer would not allow the malware or any other programs to perform any independent operations. This will allow you to use your anti malware program to scan and clean up the computer. The sad part is that sometimes your OS may also be infected with malware. In such cases, the safe mode will not help the cause either.

A very effective option is to disconnect your malware infected hard disk and connect it to another malware protected and healthy PC. The infected hard disk must be connected as a secondary hard disk (slave). This will allow the anti malware to successfully fight and remove the malware from your hard disk. Repeating the process with multiple computers and with different anti malware installed is a great idea. No anti malware program is perfect and guaranteed to clean up completely. Therefore scanning with multiple anti malware programs could do the trick.

In case it suits you, you could simply format your current copy of OS, and install a fresh one. The process is simpler and does not need you to bother about any remedies.