Last night, apparently while on Yahoo sports, my corporate version of Norton anti-virus failed and allowed several browser hijackers and other malware onto my computer. I went and bought the personal edition and it found some but I am still getting hit with full page adware popups! I have scanned several times now but to no avail. I've also ran Ad-Aware which found and removed some malicious items but something is still lurking.

Is there anything else to try before reformatting and reinstalling Windows XP?

 

I've never been a fan of Norton - takes too much overhead.

I use AVG anti-virus (free), Ad-Aware (free), Spybot Search & Destroy (free), Spyware Blaster (free), and Windows Defender (free). Update and run each weekly, with AVG and Defender running daily.

So far, so good. That combination has caught some pretty nasty stuff.

Would be interested to hear what others are doing.

 

1st- download "Firefox"

2nd- burn "Firefox" to disk

3rd- format drive C:

4th- install windoze

5th- load "firefox"

6th- set "Firefox" as default browser

7th_ download AVG free addition

8th- Forget about Intenut Exploder and the second biggest resource hog known to man as Norton.

9th- Never look back

 

I wouldn't have Norton if it was free. It takes up too much CPU and getting rid of it is even more fun. I would suggest getting a firewall first. COMODO is the best ranking firewall out there. It's also free but like most firewalls, it's a pain to set up giving each program access to the internet. I also like AVG for the anti-virus. You might also consider a couple of other free downloads: Eusing Registry Cleaner and Crap Cleaner. Both have saved me bunches of time and headaches.

http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/
http://www.eusing.com/free_registry_...ry_cleaner.htm
http://filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/

Here is a rating on a lot of the firewall software available:
http://www.matousec.com/projects/win...ewalls-ratings


Hope these are helpful.

 

WTF!? PC-CILLIN, ccleaner, regseeker ... comodo firewall... hijackthis.. also.

 

I wouldn't use Norton if they paid me to. I'm a big fan of Nod32. Been using it for years and is what I always recommend. It has very little overhead, updates daily and you never know it's there unless it blocks something.
If someone insists on a free AV I recommend AVG.

 

I am going to try some of the suggested free ware and look into the firefox browser as well.

 

For a smooth running machine you need to eliminate anything that says microsoft on it. If you can live without it get rid of it.

There is even an alternate OS out there but the name escapes me at the moment, but it works just like windoze. I have been thinking about trying it myself. My brother-in-law uses it. He is the IT manager for some big joint. My only reason for holding out is support for my software is for WIN.

 

Dr. Franko, to get it cleaned up first also try Trend's Housecall for an online scan and then go get Super Anti-Spyware and run that. The first is free and the second is free for 30 days and then it removes a few of the advanced options unless you buy it.
If you have some bugs that are being tough just open your Task Manager and look at the processes. Google the name of anything that looks suspicous and if it's a bug you'll probably find a way or a tool to get rid of it.

 

Usually getting rid of anything that says Norton or Symantec gives you a smooth running machine. You are right though. XP and Vista has way more services running by default than any normal user needs. Just need to do some investigating and tweaking.

 

I wouldn't ditch IE completely. There are a handful of sites out there that don't support browsers like Firefox or Opera.

For now, try this:
Click Start, right click My Computer, and select Properties. Go to the System Restore tab and disable system restore. Close the windows and restart your PC in safe mode (keep tapping F8 while it's booting up). Once in safe mode, go ahead and run whatever anti virus software you've got and see if it picks up anything.

 

It amazes me how people dog IE. I use firefox, Opera, and IE. I've never had a problem with any of the browsers....and all of them have security holes. Believing that IE is the only browser with security problems is just naive.

Lets actually fix your problem.

Truly getting rid of the problem will take many scans and reboots.

I would try Q's suggestion first...I doubt it will work but try it. (Nice job Q...and here I thought you were just a grease monkey )

I too like Adaware and Spybot they are great places to start. I would also look at a virus scanner. Larry's suggestion of Trend's Housecall is a good product too. Finally get Hijack this from here

Turn off system restore.

Install them and update them. Reboot into safe mode and run them from there. Run them all. If it needs to reboot and scan again do that.

When you are done run Hijack this. There will be an option to upload the log. You will have people who do this all the time review your logs and let you know what else needs to be fixed.

A reformat is not necessary in all but the most extreme cases and usually only then when you just get tired of fighting with an annoying malware program.

Good luck...

 

I happened upon hijack this on PC world tonight and downloaded it. Once it scans, and I try to analyze, it comes up with the error that it must close.

I also downloaded firefox and am using it now.

 

There are different versions...did you try the link I posted?

 

Another free utility I use that will help protect from such things happening in the first place is regprotect. Just unzip and run RPADMIN.EXE and tell it to run at startup. It won't let anything get into the run keys of your registry without your approval and that's the best way to protect yourself from ad/spyware/trojans. It also has a tiny footprint (30kb download/172kb process in task manager).