Recommended Virus Scanner (Online)?

[cruiseroutfit]

My desktop got nailed with something nasty. Its opening popups in Firefox and Explorer every 30 seconds, I'm getting Security Center messages about keystroke loggers, etc. Crap like "RON Tool globaladsolution", "GetModule30.exe" and a couple others, it even rebooted my computer???

I've tried to follow some of the online tutorials I've googled to remove them. It seems to work unless I reboot and then it reinstalls them. Guess its time to pony up for a virus software? I'm running McAfee on my laptop and it seems to do its job??

Any suggestions for a online virus scanner that I can at least narrow my issues down?

 

[Tacoma]

McAfee... pffft

AVG to start. I havent' gotten any viruses since I started using it, and Firefox....

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Running McAfee as I type. Whatever it is it has really bogged down my computer, it takes 20-30 seconds to open folders, etc. Pretty bummed :-\

 

[Caleb]

I hate AVG.

I don't have a ton of experience with the different antivirus softwares out there but I've heard Avira or Kaspersky or Nod32 all suggested a bunch. I've seen too many times that AVG misses stuff or it'll tell you yep you have this virus but I can't do anything about it type of message. I also have had decent luck with Clamwin.

Goodluck...worse case, backup and reinstall.

One more thought, as much as I hate the System Recovery thing that's built in to windows, I have seen it recover a system from this type of thing more than once, that may be worth a try if you haven't disabled it.

 

[Caleb]

Oh, and in addition to antivirus, you need a good spyware tool as well. Adware has always proven itself to be a reliable tool.

 

[Meat_]

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/uk/

 

[benjy]

My desktop got nailed with something nasty.

x2... Tuesday night... Ours was pretty nasty, spread quick. Good timing, too! All of my end of the semester projects due this week :-\ Luckily I was able to load them on a flash drive before it completely crashed. I can't even log on to profiles anymore

 

[solidfrontaxle]

x2 on houscall

 

[Tacoma]

x3

Trend Micro is pretty dang good.

 

[Herzog]

Hate to say it but a reformat is the best and only "for sure" way to get everything. You can spend a lot of time digging around and downloading other utilities to remove virii & adware but you will likely spend more time doing this.

Another thing you can try (if your copy of windows is legit) you can hit ms updates & get all security updates including "malicious software removal" which will seek out common malware and get rid of it. Some of the biggest virus problems I've seen come from not having your operating system up to date. Always stay up to date with security fixes, this goes for ALL operating systems.

Or if you can, backup your important docs and rebuild the os...

 

[Herzog]

In other news, Apple now suggests using an anti-virus program on their computers too.

 

[waynehartwig]

I've had AVG for a while. I think it was 6 that worked well. 7 then started giving answers like above - you have this virus and we can't remove it. Now I have AVG 8.0 and like it quite a bit. The only thing you have to be carefull about is when you install it, install just the program and not the extra crap that comes with it. I've heard a lot of people complaining about the extra crap really slowing their computer down. THe new version of AVG also protects against malware/cookies.

A friends laptop got nailed with a virus. He had Norton IIRC? Anyway, I loaded up AVG 8.0 (free edition) and it found and killed several trojans. I was able to solve all of his issues with AVG and not a complete wipe of his OS.

Sometimes you will need to disconnect your ethernet cable and disable wireless so your computer cannot connect to the internet. Then reboot in safe mode to remove viruses.

Also, make sure you disable system restore when you start killing viruses. System restore can/will restore old deleted viruses. For this and other reasons, I keep system restore on my PC's disabled...

Anyway, AVG is free.. I'd give it a try. You have nothing to loose at this point....

 

[Meat_]

Hate to say it but a reformat is the best and only "for sure" way to get everything......

Yup.

The best route is to use the utilities to get it running good enough to recover anything you need, then /format /install

And for god's sake, but a firewall on that thing next time. Zone Alarm is free and awesome.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Its running OK, so I can get as much stuff off as I need (and I already have)

The issue now seems to be its running a bit slow and I know if I restart its going to boot up the virus in the task manager.

If I format I'll have to reinstall all the programs right?

I'm getting so sick of having crappy computers and computer issues :-\

 

[Brett]

Its running OK, so I can get as much stuff off as I need (and I already have)

The issue now seems to be its running a bit slow and I know if I restart its going to boot up the virus in the task manager.

If I format I'll have to reinstall all the programs right?

I'm getting so sick \of having crappy computers and computer issues :-

Yes, you'll need to reinstall everything after the format. Might be worth looking into picking up a newer Dell or something similiar.....?

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Yes, you'll need to reinstall everything after the format. Might be worth looking into picking up a newer Dell or something similiar.....?

This isn't on my old laptop, this is on my newer (used) desktop. Its worth fixing as it has all the goodies I need (I've still got 150gb of free disk left on it). I just hate the thought of having to reload everything

What are the chances a subscription to say McAfee could quarantine the virus and delete it?

 

[cruiseroutfit]

The good thing about having 4 crappy computers running at any give time... at least one of them usually works LOL. I'm using my PC Laptops notebook right now... its been pretty trouble free thankfully.

 

[waynehartwig]

What are the chances a subscription to say McAfee could quarantine the virus and delete it?

I wouldn't even bother with McAfee... Try the free version of AVG and try the Windows malicious software removal tool for free. Why buy when there are free versions that are great out there?

Obviously if you like'em, buy'em and support them. Just to be clear, on my business laptop, shop laptop and server, I have a paid version of AVG. My wife's personal laptop has the free version on it as does my dad's PC.

 

[Rusted]

Check with your ISP, but some will give you free anti virus programs. Comcast is one that offers it free

http://security.comcast.net/

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Nice Rusted! I am a Comcast customer so I'll give that a try!