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Run Trend Micro’s Anti-Threat Toolkit as a second opinion scanner

I like to run second opinion scanners from time to time on computer systems to make sure that no malware or other unwanted software has slipped by the primary defenses running on those PCs.

While that is the case, I don't have have a preference for a tool that I run in this case but use different programs.

There are programs that I value a lot, like Malwarebytes Anti-Malware or Hitman Pro, but it never hurts to run other programs as well on the system.

Trend Micro Anti-Threat Toolkit is a free portable program for recent versions of the Windows operating system.

Once it has been downloaded to the local system it can be started right away. The program opens a command prompt on start and runs a couple of commands there before the graphical user interface is started.

The program, like many on-demand scanners, is rather basic when it comes to the options it offers. While you find a settings button, it displays only two options that you can modify.

The first allows you to select folders that you want scanned, the scanned to disable sending information to Trend Micro's Protection Network, a cloud based service offering up to date protections against threats which the program may not support yet without it.

trend micro anti-threat toolkit

A scan is started once you hit the scan button. Scans can take quite some time to complete. A test scan using defaults on a fast Windows 7 Pro system with a Solid State Drive as its primary hard drive took more than 30 minutes to complete.

Results are displayed in the interface afterwards with options to display additional details, scan again or to fix issues that were found.

Some threats may require a reboot of the system. This is outlined after you select the fix now button in the program interface. This restarts the computer and displays the Windows Boot Manager afterwards with an option to run the Trend Micro Clean Boot program.

Anti-Threat Toolkit can detect various kinds of malware, from viruses and trojans to rootkits, rogue programs and spyware. A fix may include the restoration of system policies and Registry settings that were changed by malware.

To download the program, click on any of the solutions posted on the page posted in the summary section below. There you find direct download links for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the program that you can run on computer's with or without Internet connection.

This article was first seen on ComTek's "TekBits" Technology News

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