How to Remove Virus from Laptop Without Antivirus Software

Do you want to learn how to remove a virus from your computer without an antivirus software? When it comes to cybersecurity, one needs to believe that we’re always at risk. The bad guys can expose your entire private life in a snap and we don’t want that. Viruses and malware can easily sabotage our data and privacy. To make sure that we’re protected, we need to follow a strong approach and perspective to keep the hackers at bay.

As we tend to spend a majority of time using our laptop, it becomes a must to use antivirus software as a shield. But if you don’t want to install an additional piece of security tool on your device, you can still keep your system safeguarded against threats. Wondering how to remove virus from laptop without antivirus? Yes, there are a bunch of workarounds that you can try for protecting your device and data.

In this post, we have covered a few ways that will allow you to remove viruses from Windows 10 without antivirus software.

How to Remove Virus from Laptop Without Antivirus Software

Solution 1: End the Suspicious Processes in Task Manager

This is one of the most simple workarounds to remove virus from laptop without antivirus and to stop the infection from spreading further into the device. So, you simply need to open the Task Manager, hunt for the suspicious processes which you potentially think can be a virus or malware, and then terminate it. Here’s a detailed set of instructions that you can follow:

• Hit the Control Alt + Del key combination. Wait for a few seconds until Windows prepares the security options. Tap on the “Task Manager” option.
• In the Task Manager window, switch to the “Processes” tab.
• If you spot any suspicious or bizarre process, tap on it.

Make a quick Google search to know what this process is all about and why is it running on your machine. If you find anything unfamiliar or potentially dangerous about the process, head back to the Task Manager window, right-click on it and select the “End Task” button to terminate the process.

After terminating the process, reboot your device and open Task Manager again to check if the process is still running in the background.

Also read: Windows Host Process Rundll32 on High CPU Usage

Solution 2: Disable the Process at Startup

Another effective way to remove virus from laptop without antivirus software is by disabling the troublesome processes at the time of startup itself. Here’s what you need to do.

Press the Control + Alt + Del keys to open Windows Task Manager.

In the Task Manager window, switch to the “Startup” tab.

Now here you need to do a thorough analysis. You will see a list of apps and processes in the Startup tab, right? Next to the process name, you’ll see a column titled “Publisher”. Examine this column and look for any unknown manufacturers. If you find anything suspicious, tap on it and hit the “Disable” button placed at the bottom.

Solution 3: Activate Windows Defender

Windows Defender is a built-in security Firewall that comes packed with the Windows 10 OS. It offers you top-notch protection against network-based threats, viruses, and malware. Once you configure the Windows Defender Firewall settings on your device, you can easily control and manage what all access is granted to applications.

Also read: How To Enable Ransomware Protection In Windows Defender?

If you’re not using antivirus software on your Windows 10 PC, enabling Windows Defender Firewall is a smart call. To remove virus from laptop without antivirus, you surely need a strong Firewall that blocks malicious content from penetrating your device. Let’s quickly learn how to activate Windows Defender Firewall to keep your device safeguarded.

Launch the Start menu search box, type “Control Panel” and hit Enter.

In the Control Panel window, tap on “System and Security”. Select “Windows Defender Firewall” from the list.

On the left menu pane, select the “Turn ON Windows Defender Firewall” option to activate it in case it was disabled by default.

Solution 4: Enable Virus and Threat Protection

So, you have activated the Windows Defender Firewall on your Windows device? What next? Do you think Windows Defender Firewall is good enough to protect your device against viruses and malware? Well, to some extent, yes! But you can only achieve this by making a quick change in Windows Defender settings. To remove viruses from laptop without antivirus, you’ll need to make sure that the virus and threat protection settings are enabled in Windows Defender. Follow these quick steps:

Press the Windows icon placed at the bottom-left corner of the taskbar. Select the gear-shaped icon to open Settings.

Tap on “Update and Security”.

Switch to the “Security” tab and then tap on the “Open Windows Defender Security Center” button.

Select “Virus and threat protection settings”.

On the next window where virus and threat protection settings are listed, enable all the below-mentioned options:

• Real-time protection.
• Cloud-delivered protection.
• Automatic Sample Submission.

Once you enable these settings, you need to run a quick scan to make sure your device is virus and malware-free.

Head back to the Virus and Threat Protection settings window.

Go to the “Threat History” section and then tap the “Scan Now” button so that your device can scan viruses and other potential threats.

Once the scanning process is completed, reboot your machine to start afresh.

Lost Data Due to Virus or Malware Infection? Download Advanced Disk Recovery!

Advanced Disk Recovery is one of the best data recovery tools for Windows that allows you to instantly recover photos, videos, audio files, documents, or any of your lost data within no time. It is a nifty data recovery tool that restores lost data from hard disk, portable drives, USB sticks, memory cards, and other storage media.

Simply download and install the Advanced Disk Recovery tool on your Windows device. Launch the tool.

Download Advanced Disk Recovery

Pick a storage media on which you need to perform a scan like a hard drive, USB, CD/DVD, etc.

Now select a scan mode: Quick Scan or Deep Scan.

Hit the “Scan now” button. Sit back and relax until a thorough scan is performed on your system to recover lost or deleted data.

Also read: 10 Best Data Recovery Software For Windows In 2021

FAQS

How do I manually remove a virus?

To manually remove a virus from a laptop without antivirus software, you’ll first need to find and detect the culprit. Once you find the suspicious process, either terminate it or disable it at Startup. To know more about this, follow Solution #1 and Solution #2 listed above in this post.

Can you just delete a virus?

Yes! But you should seek the help of any antivirus software to detect and delete the infected file. You can download the Systweak Antivirus security tool on your Windows PC that offers real-time protection against viruses, malware, trojans, spyware, adware, and ransomware attacks. It can add an extra layer of security to your account by removing zero-day exploits and vulnerabilities as soon as they are detected.

Download Systweak Antivirus

Also read: 15+ Best Antivirus Software of 2021

Which virus is most difficult to remove?

Boot sector viruses and Remote Access Trojans (RAT) are known to be most critical to be dealt with.

Conclusion

This wraps up our guide on “How to remove virus from laptop without antivirus software”. You can use any of the above-mentioned solutions to safeguard your device, in case you’re not willing to rely on an antivirus tool yet.

For any other assistance or queries, feel free to write to us! You can use the comments space to share your thoughts.