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McAfee Labs Stinger
Stinger is a standalone utility used to detect and remove specific viruses. It is not a substitute for full anti-virus protection, but rather a tool to assist administrators and users when dealing with an infected system. Stinger utilizes next-generation scan engine technology, including process scanning, digitally signed .DAT files, and scan performance optimizations. It detects and removes threats identified under the "List Viruses" icon in the Stinger application.
How do you use Stinger?
- Download the latest version of Stinger
- When prompted, choose to save the file to a convenient location on your hard disk, such as your Desktop folder.
- When the download is complete, navigate to the folder that contains the downloaded Stinger file, and run it. WindowsME/XP/Vista/7 users read this first.
- The Stinger interface will be displayed.
- By default, Stinger scans rootkits, running processes, loaded modules, registry and directory locations known to be used by malware on the machine to keep scan times minimal. If necessary, click the Add or Browse button to add additional drives/directories to scan.
- Click the Scan Now button to begin scanning the specified drives/directories.
- By default, Stinger will repair all infected files found.
- Stinger leverages Artemis Technology and runs network heuristics at Medium level by default. If you select "High" or "Very High," McAfee Labs recommends that you set the "On virus detection" action to "Report only" for the first scan.
To learn more about Artemis see the following KB articles
KB53735 - How does McAfee Artemis technology improve malware detection
KB60224 - Artemis and your information
KB65525 - Artemis Detections and submitting samples
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the List Viruses button used for?
A: A list of the viruses that Stinger is configured to detect is displayed when pressing the List Viruses button. This virus list does not contain the results from running a scan.
Q: How do I save the scan results to a log file?
A: Click the File menu and select Save report to file
Q: I know I have a virus, but Stinger did not detect one. Why is this?
A: Stinger is not a substitute for a full anti-virus scanner. It is only designed to detect and remove specific threats.
Q: How can I get support for Stinger?
A: Stinger is not a supported application. McAfee Labs makes no guarantees about this product.
Q:Stinger found a virus that it couldn't repair. Why is this?
A: This is most likely due to Windows System Restore functionality having a lock on the infected file. WindowsME/XP users should disable system restore prior to scanning.
Q: Are there any command-line parameters available when running Stinger?
A: Yes, the command-line parameters are displayed by going to the help menu within Stinger.
Q: I ran Stinger and now have a Stinger.opt file, what is that?
A: When Stinger runs it creates the Stinger.opt file that saves the current Stinger configuration. When you run Stinger the next time, your previous configuration is used as long as the Stinger.opt file is in the same directory as Stinger.
Q: Stinger updated components of VirusScan. Is this expected behavior?
A: When the Rootkit scanning option is selected within Stinger preferences – VSCore files (mfehidk.sys & mferkdet.sys) on a McAfee endpoint will be updated to 15.x. These files are installed only if newer than what's on the system and is needed to scan for today’s generation of newer rootkits. If the rootkit scanning option is disabled within Stinger– the VSCore update will not occur.
Q: Stinger Rootkit scan results in “Not Scanned” on 64-bit Windows operating system.
A: Rootkit scan is currently supported for 32-Bit Windows operating systems only
Q: Where can I send feedback to regarding Stinger?
A: Provide your feedback on the McAfee Community Forum page.