Malware/Spyware Removal Guide

auntyS

I am not very computer savvy so please excuse my ignorance.
I have had a 30day trial of McAfee security on my new laptop which was due to expire tomorrow so I uninstalled it and installed Microsoft Security Essentials which is what I had been using without any problems on my old desktop computer. About an hour later I got a message from 'Internet Security' about some dangerous files or something and , not really concentrating , I assumed it was the Microsoft Security and clicked on the tab to block them at which point it started scanning and warning about trojans and leaking firewalls etc.and I could not access IE to find out what to do.I just kept getting more warning messages so I stopped the scan as I realised it was a scam. Using the old desktop I followed Browntoa's instructions and opened the laptop in safe mode , downloaded Malwarebytes and removed the files it detected in the scan. It looks fine now but I see that he/she recommends AdAware, CrapCleaner and SpyBot Search and Destroy too.
Should I add all of these to my security , do they do better than Microsoft Security and would you recommend that I remove that and put these on instead? Which option works best and which will slow my system down the least?
Sorry to be so thick - I need help.
Thanks for any advice.

InDebtToEverydayLiving

Good lord, I have spent a lot of time reading all the comments and just... wow. There are a lot of guys and gals in here that are throwing advice around and unless you truly know what you are doing, you should stop. Immediately.

Firstly, there are things lurking in systems that even some technicians don't mess with, including manually editing registry keys without resorting to crap software that hammers the registry into oblivion.

Learn what Safe Mode is. Learn what Safe Mode with Command Prompt is. Because learning how to navigate via Command Prompt helps when malware and spyware is activated simply by opening up files and folders by double clicking on icons or even selecting a USB device that you saved your downloads to. Yes, malware is a pain.

Don't bother with AdAware, CrapCleaner or Spybot they're outdated engines and rarely do any good nowadays.

Get the free download from 'www dot superantispyware dot com' in particular the 'free online scanner' which doesn't install the program but runs it from memory. If you want a very good free antivirus alternative, you really need to look at Avira Personal AntiVirus.

As a technician I legally own the technical licences to products I clean customers machines with and never use the 'freebies for commercial use'.

I will help where I can :-)

InDebtToEverydayLiving

michealkelvin89 wrote: »

i recommend you using best antivirus solution i.e. Avast antivirus 6 free, download and install and run your pc for a complete scan.

I test antivirus systems regularly to see which of the commercial products (free included) come to the top of the list. Guess what? Oddly enough, Norton got the highest score this month and so many people hate it. AVG and AVAST came close to the bottom, and what made matters worse is that these two in particular SELL your browsing habits to third parties which results often in spam and all the crap that reaches you in the first place.

Please be advised all that personal opinion does not equate to fact.

beefster

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2388652,00.asp

Addison07

Hello

Really need help please. Sorry if someone has already asked for help with this but there are a lot of messages on this thread.

Something on a website my son clicked on has locked my laptop and says I have to pay £100 to unlock it. Obviously I'm not going to do this but have looked up the problem on the net and have got different answers so I'm not sure which one to try. My husband has his work spreadsheets on the laptop and if they are lost he wont be happy. I really need to get this fixed so if anyone can offer any help I would be most appreciative.

The locked screen says its from the Police Central e-crime Unit

Please please please help

waddler_8

Kaspersky rescue disk. All the help you need is listed here:

http://support.kaspersky.com/viruses/rescuedisk

Browntoa

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix

will remove it , you may need to copy to a cd on another pc

once you have run it start a new thread and post the log file for us

Jake'sGran

I have been looking for a covering letter. Nothing fancy . I no longer have MS office or even Word on it's own. I often do covering letters in Notepad (without word processing) but the new printer I have prints "Copy 1-etc" at the bottom of every page and something else at the top. Does anyone know what I can use to get ri of these words? During my search for a suitable covering letter I must have clicked on something and it has messed things up. I have been trying to download BMAM/rkill etc but it is not working for me. Can anyone help?

Coopdivi

Get Libre Office which is free and does nearly everything that the Microsoft products do.

http://www.libreoffice.org/download/

MrMadhatter

Thank you for the guide, very helpfull:)