Need...Help... Now! :(

Yan · 03-11-2005, 10:05 PM

Heya all, this is probably the first time I've posted in this part of the forum but I am in serious need of help here.

My computer has been acting up lately. I have been using IE all these while (finally switched to ForeFox today, thanks to Happydude's persistance) and I think that has caused a significant amount of damage to my computer. I get gazillions of pop ups in a day (sometimes up to 3 per new page I open) and I am sure I have plenty of spywares and viruses going on as well.

Being the computer retard, I need someone to tell me what to do now:

-how to get rid of the adwares (which adware/spyware software to download)

-where to get a proper anti-virus software (mine expired... a year ago *runs and hides*)

Generally, how to clean up this thing. Everytime I shut down my computer a lot of warnings will pop up, saying that there are processes that I haven't finished and if I want to end the program now.

I have thought about reformatting my computer but I have way too many files that I need and I am not sure how to back everything up.

Sorry for the long post... and thanks for reading this far

dropCGCF · 03-11-2005, 10:12 PM

Go to http://download.com .

Download Ad-Aware SE, Spyware Doctor, Spyware Blaster, And Spybot Search & Destroy.

Do this first.

Null · 03-11-2005, 10:14 PM

anti spy/adware
Adaware http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/
Spybot http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

great free virus program
Grisoft AVG http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/

dropCGCF · 03-11-2005, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Null

anti spy/adware
Adaware http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/
Spybot http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

great free virus program
Grisoft AVG http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/

I tried AVG, and a month later, my computer needed to be reformatted. I found with the combination of what I said, along with Registry Mechanic, Hijack This, and Scotty kepp my machine primed and oiled.

Yan · 03-11-2005, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dropCGCF

Go to http://download.com .

Download Ad-Aware SE, Spyware Doctor, Spyware Blaster, And Spybot Search & Destroy.

Do this first.

I have Spyware Doctor and I did do some scans. I couldn't delete a lot of the things that came up though...

KillerGremlin · 03-11-2005, 10:19 PM

Run Spybot, then run Ad-Aware. That should take care of most of the pop-ups and viruses. However, I recommend disconnecting your computer from the internet when you do so, if you have a broadband connection. Many of the spyware files reinstal themselves when you restart your computer or when they aren't running when you're online.

Once you have all that done, go to Start - Run... and type Msconfig.

Go to "startup" and make sure that nothing weird is in there like "AutoLoaderAprposClient" or any crap like that.

And, if you really want to get fancy, you can go to "Run..." and then type "regedit" and you can just get rid of that system startup information via your registry files.

Anyway, I recommend running spybot, adaware, and then shutting down. Disconnect your Internet, load windows again, run spybot and adaware again to make sure nothing reinstalled on startup, and then run a virus scan overnight.

Of course........that's worse case scenario. Like.....if you just get random popups for penis inhancement when you have nothing running on your desktop.

Edit: Just because your virus scan's definitions are a year old doesn't mean it won't pick up on viruses. I guarantee you it will pick up on 99.999% of the viruses, if you have any. Viruses are so damn similar, there's really not that much risk in running a program that's one or two years outdated. (unless you're on like a huge work network and you're transferring super secret files, i mean, if i worked at microsoft or something and i was running a network, hell yeah i'd have that crap updated, but you should be fine =/ )

Null · 03-11-2005, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dropCGCF

I tried AVG, and a month later, my computer needed to be reformatted. I found with the combination of what I said, along with Registry Mechanic, Hijack This, and Scotty kepp my machine primed and oiled.

well thats too bad for you

but he wanted to know of a anti virus program, and thats pretty much the best one around. perhaps even better then most the ones that cost money.

i set my friends pc up with that and i absolutly love it. when my mcafee runs out. im switching to that one.

Yan · 03-11-2005, 10:23 PM

I get plenty of the penis enhancement ones, I tell you... (too bad I don't have one to test it on >.< )

I'll probably do the whole process. Plus, where can I get a decent anti-virus? I am too poor to buy the whole program so I need some suggestion. I still have Norton on my computer but the virus list hasn't been updated since last year.

Yan · 03-11-2005, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Null

well thats too bad for you

but he wanted to know of a anti virus program, and thats pretty much the best one around. perhaps even better then most the ones that cost money.

i set my friends pc up with that and i absolutly love it. when my mcafee runs out. im switching to that one.

she

KillerGremlin · 03-11-2005, 10:24 PM

Eh.....I personally think Norton sucks....

Like Null said, AVG is good. I have McAfee right now, and it's scanned over 9 million files within the last like.....8 or 9 months.

Yan · 03-11-2005, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KillerGremlin

Eh.....I personally think Norton sucks....

Like Null said, AVG is good. I have McAfee right now, and it's scanned over 9 million files within the last like.....8 or 9 months.

Norton and McAfee are probably the two antivirus software that I know of... Sooooo unenlighted

Most of the popups I get usually are regarding adware removers... Talk about ironic... heh.

I also get a lot of pop ups when I do searches. Lets say I type in "shirt" on Google and I get heaps of popups trying to sell me, well, shirts!

GameMaster · 03-11-2005, 10:54 PM

Download Microsoft's AntiSpyware beta program also:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

And thanks for the AVG referall, Null. I hadn't heard of that yet but after hearing your good review of it, I'm going to put it on my computer also.

Null · 03-11-2005, 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yan

she

sorry, +rep for your forgivness

MasterMind · 03-12-2005, 01:53 AM

Start up in safe mode, then do the scans. That may help as well.

Yan · 03-12-2005, 09:15 AM

Okay, so I downloaded Spybot S&D, Ad-Aware and AVG...

I tried running all of them but I can never seem to finish a scan. It takes me forever to do a scan and most of the time the program just freezes (not responding blah blah blah). My Spybot program apparently has a couple of things missing so the scan can't be continued

I also received a Norton virus warning at startup... something with "bloodhound" in the file name. Don't know how to get rid of it...

While doing the scans, a whole bunch of virus warnings popped up too and some of them I couldn't move to the quarantine vault nor delete it... What's going on?

Maybe I should just reformat this darn thing...