Saturday, March 19, 2011
This tool can removes threats standard antivirus may miss. Cleans up systems where
malware prevents antivirus installation. Can roll back changes. Took top
scores in all categories when used with Norton 360.Extra-aggressive scan could conceivably damage non-malicious programs.
Didn't remove all found threats when used as standalone antivirus.
Norton Power Eraser can also be used for an initial cleanup if malware on an infested system prevents normal installation of your security software. It's a free download, and you can even use it with non-Norton products.
Because the scan performed by Norton Power Eraser is more aggressive than that of other Norton products, it could conceivably damage non-malicious files. It's unlikely that this would cause system problems, though, because Norton Power Eraser won't touch known good programs identified as such in the vast Norton Insight database. Just in case, however, it features the ability to fully roll back any changes it has made.
On launch, Norton Power Eraser gets right to the point. Once you've agreed to the license you choose to launch a scan or to review (and possibly reverse) previous scans. You can choose to scan for rootkits, in which case an initial reboot will be required. For testing, I always chose this option. After that, it's all automatic.
Norton Power Eraser needs access to the online Norton Insight database, so it won't work if it can't connect with the Internet. Its minimalist configuration page includes the option to specify proxy settings if needed for the Internet connection. The only other settings let you clear the log or change where it's stored.
When the scan finishes it presents the bad and suspicious malware traces that were found. Bad traces are marked for removal by default; those that are merely suspicious are not. If you do choose to remove suspicious items the program warns that these may not actually represent malware. For testing, I always removed suspicious items.
At this point the product requires another reboot to finish cleaning up. When Norton Power Eraser has completed the process, the app reports on the disposition of the found items.
Norton Power Eraser isn't really meant as a standalone malware cleanup program, but it did so well in combination with Norton 360 that I also tested it on its own. It scored pretty well considering it wasn't intended for this purpose.
On completion of the scans it did report in quite a few cases that it failed to remove threats that it found. Symantec technicians couldn't explain this, because under Windows XP the logs don't provide sufficient information. It's possible that Norton Power Eraser would have been even more effective under Windows Vista or Windows 7.
Download Norton Power Eraser
