Norton Power Eraser is a last-resort, extreme tool that may help you cleanup special types of security risks. If a program has hijacked your computer and you have tried your Norton product and the Norton Bootable Recovery Tool without success, try Norton Power Eraser. This tool focuses on security risks that impersonate legitimate applications and are known as "scareware" or "rogueware" or "scamware". Norton Power Eraser uses more aggressive technologies than your Norton product, hence there is a risk that it will flag good programs for removal. You should carefully review the scan results page before removing files.
You can run this tool to scan for threats even if you have a Symantec product, or any other security product. Norton Power Eraser uses aggressive methods to detect threats, and there is a risk that it can select some legitimate programs for removal. You should carefully review the scan results page before removing files. Norton Power Eraser is a lightweight tool that quickly scans your computer for the most aggressive threats. Takes on difficult-to-detect crimeware that cybercriminals use to trick you into downloading threats onto your computer. Eliminates deeply embedded and difficult-to-detect crimeware that traditional virus scanning doesn’t always detect. It can also help detect and remove Potentially Unwanted Programs.
In the Norton Power Eraser window, click the Scan for Risks icon. By default, Norton Power Eraser performs a Rootkit scan and requires a system restart. When you see a prompt to restart the computer, click Restart. If you do not want to include the Rootkit scan, go to Settings, and uncheck the option Include Rootkit Scan (requires a computer restart). When Norton Power Eraser completes the scan, it displays the scan results. The items that Norton Power Eraser considers as risks, display the status as Bad and recommended action as Remove or Repair. The items that require further review display the status as Unknown. If you see No Risks Found, Norton Power Eraser did not detect any risks on your computer, click OK to exit. If you see any files that are listed as Bad, the Remove check box under Action is checked automatically. It is recommended to remove these files. If the Repair check box under Action is checked, then these files will be repaired after the restart. If you see any files that are listed as Unknown, for each of these files, click the cloud icon next to it. It sends the file to a Symantec server and scans it using the traditional signature-based detection engines. If the Cloud Scan result shows Bad for any file, click the Remove check box. If the Cloud Scan result shows Unknown, do not click the Remove check box. The file may not be a threat, and needs further analysis. Make sure that Create System Restore Point before proceeding with fix (Recommended) check box is selected. Click Fix Now.
