Remove Great Discover Virus

Great Discover is a computer virus that attackers are using to exploit the computer and transform it into a crypto-mining machine. For this reason, system resource usage may spike, which eventually degrades the overall performance of the computer. Great Discover virus is indeed a harmful application that computer users need to get rid of as soon as possible to avoid further infection.

How does the Great Discover virus infect the computer?

The major sources of the Great Discover virus infection are malicious applications that were downloaded from unsecured sources. One example is pirated applications from torrent sites and file-download portals. Aside from the main program itself, the Great Discover virus may be packed inside the serial key generator or cracking tool. Another cause of the infection is the installation of malicious freeware or shareware. This type of program is being used by hackers as the carrier of the Great Discover app to deploy it widely over the internet.

Web users are also susceptible to the Great Discover virus infection. Pop-up advertisements masquerading as software updates are another avenue for attackers to distribute the malicious code. Thus, it is important to download the software update only from official and legitimate sites. Ignore web pop-ups that offer the download and installation of Adobe, Google Chrome, or similar applications.

Screenshot of Great Discover

Installation of Great Discover virus

Once the unwanted program is installed on the computer, it is going to drop several malicious files, especially in the System folder of Windows. The Great Discover virus attempts to manipulate the computer by disabling security apps like anti-virus and firewall.

Great Discover can conceal its presence by embedding its code in legitimate system processes and running instantaneously during Windows boot-up. As such, it will make it difficult for average computer users to eliminate the threat. To effectively remove the Great Discover virus, it is best to perform the procedures while Windows is running in Safe Mode. For a complete guide and removal tools, please see the next segment.

Great Discover Removal Procedures

This section contains comprehensive guide to help you remove threats from the affected computer.

Procedures on this page are written in a manner that can be easily understand and execute by computer users.

Quick Fix - Scan the PC with Combo Cleaner for Windows

Combo Cleaner is a trusted PC security and optimization tool equipped with powerful virus and malware detection engine. This program can get rid of fake optimization tool like Great Discover through this procedure.

1. Download the application from the following page:

2. Save the file to your preferred location.

3. Double-click the downloaded file CCSetup.exe and install with the default settings.

CC for Windows Installation

4. At the end of the setup process, click Finish to run Combo Cleaner.

5. The tool will update the signature file, please wait for this process to complete.

6. To begin checking for threats like Great Discover, click on the Start Scan button. Wait for this scan to finish.

CC for Windows Start Scan

7. At the end of the scan process, click on Remove all threats to delete Great Discover rogue tool including all malicious objects from the computer.

Free features of Combo Cleaner for Windows include Disk Cleaner, Big Files finder, Duplicate files finder, and Uninstaller. To use antivirus, privacy scanner, and to delete identified threats, users have to upgrade to a premium version.

Please continue with the succeeding removal procedures if your are comfortable to manually get rid of the threat and malicious items linked with it.

Step 1 : End the running process of Great Discover

1. Open Task Manager by pressing CTRL+Alt+Del on your keyboard and select Task Manager. Alternatively, you can right-click on the Windows Taskbar and click on Task Manager from the list.

2. When Task Manager opens, be sure that you are viewing the Processes tab.

End Task of Malicious Software

3. Look for Great Discover and then, click End Task. If that name is not present, look for any suspicious program. Take note of the malware name as we have to uninstall it later.

4. You may now close Task Manager and proceed with the next step.

Step 2 : Uninstall Great Discover from Windows

1. Go to Start menu and type appwiz.cpl under Run or Search box.

Appwiz

2. Add/Remove Program window will open. Select Great Discover from the list. If not present, look for any malicious software. You may click on Installed on to see the most recent entry.

3. Click on Uninstall button to remove Great Discover unwanted program.

Step 3 : Scan the Computer with ESET Rogue Application Remover (ERAR)

1. Download the free scanner called ESET Rogue Application Remover.

2. Choose appropriate version for your Windows System. Save the file to a convenient location, preferably on Desktop.

3. After downloading the file, Windows will prompt that download has completed. Click Run to start the program. Another option is to browse the location folder and double click on the file ERARemover_.exe.

Erraremover Icon

4. On ESET Rogue Application Remover SOFTWARE LICENSE TERMS, click Accept to continue.

5. The tool will start scanning the computer. It will prompt when it finds Great Discover and other malicious entities. Follow the prompt to proceed with the removal.

ERAR Scanner

Step 4 : Double-check for leftover of Great Discover using Anti-malware Program

To remove Great Discover automatically, scanning the computer with this powerful anti-malware tool is recommended. This scanner does not just uncover known threats like viruses or malware, it is also effective in discovering rogue application like Great Discover that slows down the system performance.

1. Download the free anti-malware scanner called MalwareBytes Anti-Malware.

2. After downloading, install the program. It may run automatically or you have to double-click on the downloaded file MB3-Setup.exe.

3. Proceed with the installation using only the default setup. If you need the complete setup procedure, it is available on the download page.

4. At the last stage of installation process, click Finish to run the program.

5. On Malwarebytes Anti-Malware console, select Scan to start checking the computer for malicious files. This is the most comprehensive scan method that will surely find any hidden items linked to Great Discover.

MBAM Scan

6. When scanning is done, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware will display the list of identified threats. Remove all identified threats and restart the computer to finalized the scan process.


Option : Use Bootable USB Virus Scanner to remove Great Discover

Another one effective way to remove notorious computer virus like Great Discover is to scan the system via the bootable USB drive. These steps will guide you to create a USB bootable virus scanner.

You will be needing a clean USB drive. Make sure there are no important files in it. Create the bootable USB drive on a separate clean/uninfected computer.

Creating Bootable USB Drive

1. Download Kaspersky Rescue Disk ISO file from this location. Please take note on the destination folder of your krd.iso file.

2. Download Rufus tool to create a bootable USB drive.

3. Attached the USB drive to a clean computer.

4. Double-click on the downloaded Rufus application to run the program.

5. On Rufus tool, select your USB drive under the Device section.

Screenshot of Rufus Tool

6. Then, click SELECT and navigate to the folder where you placed the Kaspersky Rescue Disk ISO file. Click on the krd.iso file.

7. Under Partition Scheme, select MBR. Target system must be BIOS or UEFI.

8. Next, under File System, please select FAT32.

9. Click START to begin.

10. Lastly, it will prompt for the write mode. Please select Write in ISO Image Mode and click OK.

Screenshot of Rufus ISO Image

Boot up the infected computer on USB Drive

1. Attached the bootable USB drive on the infected computer.

2. Turn On the computer and enter the BIOS setup by pressing F1, F2, F8, F10, or Esc, please refer you’re your device’s manual.

3. While in BIOS setup, use Mouse or arrow Up/Down on your keyboard and go to the Boot Sequence section.

4. Select the appropriate option to boot the computer in USB Drive. You can either disable other drives or assign the USB Drive as the first boot device.

5. Click Apply and then, Exit the BIOS. The computer should boot on the USB drive.

Scanning with Kaspersky Rescue Disk to remove Great Discover

1. Use the arrow Up/Down on your keyboard to select desired Language during start-up.

2. Select Kaspersky Rescue Disk Graphic Mode on the next window.

3. During initialization, KRD will prompt for License Agreement and Privacy Policy, please confirm and click Accept to proceed.

4. If it shows the message "Cloud detection and bases update will be unavailable" you need to connect the computer to the internet.

5.  Click on the network icon on the taskbar (bottom right corner) to connect to the internet.

6. Finally, Kaspersky Rescue Disk is ready. Click on Start Scan to begin checking the computer and remove Great Discover.

Screenshot of KRD virus scan

7. After scanning, delete/remove all identified viruses, including Great Discover items.

8. After scanning and removal of Great Discover, click on Logo icon on the lower left bottom of the screen and select Leave.

9. Then, click on Shutdown to turn off the computer.

10. Detached the USB device from the computer.

11. Turn On the computer and go back to BIOS settings. Restore your previous configuration to start the computer normally.

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2 thoughts on “Remove Great Discover Virus”

  1. Nefzer Dolfgang

    The Kaspersky bootable USB thing is effective in removing Great Discover virus from my laptop. At first I was hesitant because it seems complicated, but got no choice because no other instructions worked for me. I have tried various methods and was so lucky to find this procedure. Thanks a lot.

  2. Thanks so much! I saw a program named “Great Discover” which took up a quarter of my RAM memory, I did a search and finding out what it was I worried. Thanks so much again for the tutorial it was a real help!

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