Virus and spyware problems

[Kariudo]

Kaspersky, Avira and Eset are all good subscription-based antivirus
Avast! professional is pretty darn good too. Personally, out of all the free antivirus programs, I think that Avast! free antivirus is the best.

For anti-spyware... Spybot Search and Destroy, Malwarebytes, Ad-Aware are the big (free) ones.

Personally, I use Avast! free, Zone Alarm free and Spybot S&D
If you do decide to get the professional editions of Avast and Zone Alarm you should know that they have conflicted with each other in the past (only happens when you install the paid versions of both AFAIK.) They may have resolved this issue since last I checked, but it's just something to be aware of.

[Qyot27]

For anti-spyware... Spybot Search and Destroy, Malwarebytes, Ad-Aware are the big (free) ones.

I'd not bother with Ad-Aware, personally...I used it for years alongside Spybot, and eventually it got to the point that Ad-Aware couldn't find anything that Spybot couldn't also. And considering Ad-Aware does run in the background at all times and when you launch the GUI interface it eats up resources like nobody's business, I just ditched it and went with Spybot only. A few years ago it was different - the two of them together could find and handle different problems (and Ad-Aware was actually the first anti-adware program I ever used, didn't find Spybot until later), but the need for it has kind of shrunk drastically, at least for me.




ZoneAlarm Free (firewall) - the more in-depth advice on that was already given
SpyBot S&D (anti-spyware, perhaps some general anti-malware capabilities - I seem to remember it detecting Trojans before) - remember to update definitions and Immunize!
Firefox (currently 3.6, but whatever the current version happens to be at the time), with AdBlock Plus extension. Do not use IE.
CCleaner (for later Temp, Registry, and Startup maintenance)
Defraggler (for optional defragging)

...and keep Windows itself updated with the relevant Service Packs and updates from Windows Update/Microsoft Update. If you don't want to worry about doing this, set Windows to use Automatic Updates (which I believe is the default anyway; just let it do its job).

After all that, then it's entirely up to you to pick an antivirus. You'll find suggestions for Avast!, AVG, Kaspersky, or so on. Or you could use HijackThis and get more specific instructions for your problems. I don't use an antivirus, haven't in years - but I know what I have to do to avoid them, and remove them manually if I have to (although I used the free version of Avast! to help with troubleshooting my sisters' computer back in October). Avast! seems pretty solid, at least to me.




A wholly-different route, but less error-prone, is to install Linux. Since Linux, like Mac OS X, is pretty much immune to this crap, you don't have to worry about junk getting in. Unlike the Mac, Linux can be installed on a regular PC and is typically completely free of charge (typically, because there are some business oriented distributions that are actually sold, but this price tag is mainly for the tech support and/or certain pieces of patent licensing if you get a distro loaded down with DVD software and so on - this latter point only applies is you get such software packaged with the distro, however). The downside, like the Mac, is that the software selection is different than on Windows. You can use Wine to run Windows programs, but how well they work is up in the air (Wine is also available for the Mac, either in a vanilla form, which I've honestly never gotten to work right on Tiger, or as Crossover; the Linux version is the original, though). But if all you need the computer for is internet, email, word processing, and watching videos/listening to music, then these software availability issues aren't something you need to worry about.

Internet (Firefox)
Email (Evolution - or Thunderbird, but you have to install it separately)
Word Processing, spreadsheets, and other 'office' stuff (OpenOffice.org)
Watching videos (SMPlayer or VLC)
Listening to music (Rhythmbox, Banshee, Amarok, Audacious, Songbird...there's tons of these apps, most of which bear a passing resemblance to iTunes - except Audacious; it looks/acts like Winamp).

[Mysterious Pharaoh]

I did all you told me about, but i still have problems besides youtube is still not opening =( i think i'll go to HijackThis to get more information.
But just one more question, what's Ad-Block used for? why is it useful?

But if all you need the computer for is internet, email, word processing, and watching videos/listening to music, then these software availability issues aren't something you need to worry about.

I don't think using Linux or Mac is good in my case, because i don't use computer for things you mentioned only, i always edit amvs using video softwares such as: Sony Vegas, After Effects and also photo softwares: Photoshope, illustrator and such programs. Besides i used to Windows and it's not easy to change the whole system.

[Qyot27]

AdBlock does exactly what it says - block ads. Which makes A) the page load faster, and B) plausibly prevent malware transmitted through insidious forms of advertising from getting into the computer (although Firefox itself has other preventative measures for this as it is anyway).


As for the problem with YouTube not loading and what all, this is seriously starting to sound like an issue with a proxy, whereby it is actively blocking you, rather than your computer blocking it. Or maybe it's a bit of both.

[Elcalavero]

Well I didnt read the above posts, I just read the title "Virus and Spyware problems". Best Solution is below. If it helps in any way good, if it doesn't oh well.

For spyware/malware

Get Malwarebytes Anti Malware. It is simply the best free spyware remover in my opinion.

http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-A ... ?tag=mncol

Once the download is complete, it should update automatically. First run a "Quick Scan", Once the scan is over delete ALL threats, After that, run "Full Scan", Once the scan is over delete ALL threats again.

If you cant install the program Anti Malware due to viruses,etc... Boot in SAFE MODE, Install the program and do a "Quick Scan" .....After that restart the computer and boot normally and run "Full Scan".

PS. You can enter SAFE MODE (with F2 or F6 or F8? I dont remember, depends on the brand/computer your using, press one of these buttons immediately when you turn on the computer or when the computer is booting)


For antivirus

Get Avira AntVir.

http://download.cnet.com/Avira-AntiVir- ... ?tag=mncol

You should use this software after using AntiMalware.

Download, install, update, and run a COMPLETE SCAN. That is all.

[Ileia]

BOT! BOT! SPAMBOT!

[Mysterious Pharaoh]

As for the problem with YouTube not loading and what all, this is seriously starting to sound like an issue with a proxy, whereby it is actively blocking you, rather than your computer blocking it. Or maybe it's a bit of both.

Proxy? is there a solution for this? And thank you for telling me about the benefit of Ad-block.

Thank you elcalavero, i installed Malwarebytes Anti Malware and scanned with it, but i've already tried Avira AntVir before and it wasn't very good so now i'm using Avast! and i hope it can be better.

[Qyot27]

Proxy? is there a solution for this?

Proxy = a server/address sitting between you and the website or communications protocol in order to filter it (whether 'filtering' means blocking access, routing access for anonymity, or other uses). The solution is mainly turning off the proxy. But since I'm not behind a proxy, I've never had to do that, and I don't know where to start looking. Searching for the 'Internet Explorer cannot render webpage' warning did throw up hits about proxy problems, though.

[Mysterious Pharaoh]

Okay, thanks Qyot27, Kariudo, and elcalavero. Thank you very much for your help.

[tonny32]

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