Click on Scan options, select “Microsoft Defender Offline scan”, and finally click Scan now. Click on Virus & threat protection when it appears. In previous versions of Windows, this involved downloading and running Windows Defender Offline 1, but it’s built in to Windows Security in Windows 10.Ĭlick the Start button and search for “offline scan”. I recommend that you begin by running an offline malware scan. We’d love to download and run up-to-date anti-malware tools, but we can’t. When it sees you doing anything that could lead to its removal, it steps in to either redirect you to sites of its choosing, or simply causes the operation to fail. It’s even monitoring what programs you run. It’s watching for downloads that “look like” anti-malware tools, and web (or other) access that might be going to anti-malware sites. What you’re seeing is the malware on your machine actively watching for you to try to remove it and thwarting your attempts. When all else fails, the nuclear option of a reformat and reinstall is the most pragmatic, last-ditch effort.
If still unsuccessful, restore to the most recent image backup taken prior to the infection. If that fails, try other anti-malware tools. If needed, move on to RKill, which kills much of the malware that may be stopping you, and allow you to run the anti-malware tools you have. Malware can interfere with your attempts to remove it.
