My computer is full of viruses,What can I do?Plz Help?
By scapula
@scapula (760)
Jordan
April 17, 2007 3:49pm CST
I restarted my computer yesterday and I found it is little bit too slow, I opened Msconfig from run command and I found there is too many unwanted and wear names, I tried to find out what are these programs and I found it is spywares and viruses, What to do? I want to clean up my computer and to be working normal as it was, I'm using Zone Alarm Pro with antivirus but it is still not enough, could you please give me an advise which Antivirus to use? And What I can do to prevent these spywares, I'm really trapped here with my computer, its speed has been killed.
5 people like this
25 responses
@mirage108 (3402)
• United States
17 Apr 07
Well if you know when the stuff got there you can also go after cleaning all you can with your current antivirus and spyware protection. And providing you are using Windows XP you didnt say in your post. go to system restore (I hope you have it turned on) and do a system restore to a time before these items were installed.
@mirage108 (3402)
• United States
17 Apr 07
dont forget that you need to go back far enough, try going back to the last program that you installed and see if that works. Also you can try to run msconfig again and on the start up disable all then after you reboot see how it works. some of your automatic start up programs wont start but they are easy enough to turn back on.
@titaniumsoul (1191)
• Singapore
20 Apr 07
Hi Scapula, in this situation, there is no point in installing anti-virus or anti-spywares. The best solution is to reformat the hard disk and reinstall Windows. Because virus may reside in the affected area after cleaned by anti-virus softwares. However, before reformat, be sure to backup your necessary files that are not infected with virus into an external hard disk.
@dbeast (1495)
• India
18 Apr 07
hey there buddy i work for symantec and i suggest you get a antivirus program and scan up your computer.if you really dont want to purchase one you can install the trial version and then scan your computer.usually the program will fix up your virus issues but in case it doesnt you can note down the name of the virus and go to the symantec website where you ll have an entire database as to how to remove any of the viruses.if you dont want to go through the downloading and installing a trial ware,you can scan your computer at this website "security.symantec.com ".this is an online virus scan.once you have completed the scan note down the names of the viruses and then remove them from the database on the symantec store.hope this will help you out.all the best.
@adicsen (32)
• India
18 Apr 07
First u have to get an idea that what u have done from last 2 r 3 days.do u have internet?If internet is there then u have to install Mc Afee so u can easily remove virus 4m ur system n ur system can regain its speed.U do not bother that u have internet u should install Mc Afee.Bye..Take care abt u n ur computer...
@scapula (760)
• Jordan
18 Apr 07
the problem all my family members are using my computer, and I can't trail all their movement, I've ADSL internet all the time so my computer has high tendency to be infected, Although I'm using ZoneAlarm fire wall pro with antiviurs, my computer was infected and acting slowly. So I can't recall what has been done at my computer.
@kawaiijamichan (773)
• Philippines
18 Apr 07
i'll recommend either norton anti-virus or mcafee. its very helpful and works well. im using mcafee 10 and it can easily remove viruses and spyware on my computer. it even blocks before it can penetrate to your computer system. as long as you keep it up-to-date. the virus definitions and spywares your wont be having problems.
@sylvia13 (1850)
• Nelson Bay, Australia
18 Apr 07
There is a site on Internet www.pandasoftware.com, which belongs to Activescan and that scans your computer and reports to you the number of viruses and other "bad" things that your computer has. It disappears most viruses, although not all of them, but at least you know you have something bad. You can choose what you want checked, but I usually do everything. It takes a while to do though, so you have to be patient! It is almost scary to see the numbers of bad things though! My computer usually speeds up afterwards and seems to "behave" better! Good luck!
@marlyse (1056)
• Switzerland
18 Apr 07
i tell you what i did and what i have on my computer now, and im safe.
i did install avg free (runs in the background), sygate personal firewall free (runs in the background), then i have several adware scanners. at least once a week i run the free trendmicro.com onlinescan. this one needs a bit time to fix it all, but he found all of my bad links and reg. installers. its easy to do it. weel the first time you might need long time to be done with it, but after that, you should not have many infections. i use firefox with adblock (i can choose which site i want to allow). now i have no spyware, malware, greyware and virus. i am glad i did install all this and spent a bit time of researching. good luck
@mystery2005 (72)
• United States
19 Apr 07
I hear about antiviruse called "Kaspersky antiviruse" i hear good things about it
@cynddvs (2948)
• United States
17 Apr 07
I would recommend either using Spysweeper w/antivirus or Symantec antivirus. Both programs have worked great with us. We do computer repair and have cleaned many, many machines with these 2 programs. And believe me, we have seen some virus and spyware infested machines.
@patricia24 (568)
• Philippines
18 Apr 07
i think you must use Norton anti virus because thata what i using right now and its good to see that my computer dont got virus even if im online all day. I must say that you must reformat it right now so the unwanted files be erase. Then the speed will go back to normal.
@chrisaint (25)
• Philippines
13 May 07
try install AVAST anti virus and update it after update set a boot time scan so that the virus in your memory and registry will remove..and in spyware your try to use ADAWARE,XOFTSPY,SUPER ANTI SPYWARE and then if you have problem with your registry because of spywares you try to use registryfix or registry cleaner both of this is the best for registry errors...I tried and tested this softwares...good luck
@alpine_007 (1469)
• Pakistan
12 May 07
i think that you should try out symantec antivirus or mCaffee. i think that for the spywares adaware id the best
@naziashajid (847)
• Canada
18 Apr 07
Hi, i think you can download Macfee from internet and find a solution to this
@samselvarajk (260)
• India
18 Apr 07
i had this problem earlier.that time i couldnt do anything.i had to call the computer vendor to repair my computer.it is better to approach a vendor.
@faithfuljim (9)
• United States
18 Apr 07
I use AVG the free version and it works just fine. It will find viruses, trojans, worms, etc. and either eliminated them at once or give you choices of how to do so. Just go to www.AVG.com and download the free version. Of course, it doesn't deal with spyware. For that you need a separate software and the one I use is also good--it's called AdAware SE and can also be downloaded for free. It will detect any spyware and give you choices of how to get rid of it.
These are the two I use and they work great.
I hope they work for you.
If not--in case your situation is too far removed, you may have purchase Nortan Ant-virus and install it. My wife swears by it. By try these other two first.
Wishing you the best,
Jim.