15 replies to this topic

[nerfboi]

I was wondering if any of you NIC members know a FREE adware/spyware/malware(don't know if it's the same thing) remover/removal software? Because my computer is, I guess, "infected" with it by Trojens(sp?) and the other works. So if you guys could direct me to a FREE site to just remove and scan it please, that would be great.

[Rambo]

Use Lavasoft AdAware SE Personal and McAfee Virus Scan(Free 30 day Trial, but it's the best out there).

[SHADOW HUNTER ALPHA]

Use Lavasoft AdAware SE Personal and McAfee Virus Scan(Free 30 day Trial, but it's the best out there).

Be careful with that McAfee program if you use a Windows OS (operating system). I use a Windows XP OS, and the security center and McAfee programs kept interfering with each other. That slowed my computer down considerably.

[Rambo]

What are you running? A Windows Firewall?

Just running Virus Scan on your drives shouldn't conflict. If you run their Security Center, it may conflict, but I don't know why you'd be using a Windows Firewall anyway...

[Uncle Hammer]

AVG control center free edition ftw. One of the better free anti virus softwares on the net.

[WratH]

Spybot: Search and Destroy and Ad-Aware are the best free ones I know of.

[taita cakes]

Stop downloading porn?

Serious.



Oh and "HijackThis!" It's a standalone .exe and not for nubs, so be careful.

[Flaming Hilt]

I use a Windows XP OS, and the security center and McAfee programs kept interfering with each other.

...don't use Windows Security Center?

(It has the word "Windows" in it)
(-- before you yell at me: Yes, some of us are forced to use Windows by our parents, but if you take everything off your computer that it doesn't need (my "Program Files" folder has 6 Microsoft-related folders in it) it will run like never before. Almost as good as a Mac does) XD

[Pineapple]

Stop downloading porn?

Serious.

Agreed with Tait.


I've been using computers since 1997 (High-tech Windows 95), and have yet to catch a so-called "virus" or spyware or adware of any kind.

Almost EVERY person I've spoken to that had an "infected" computer (including some who I've worked with in a church) had admitted to visiting or downloading files from pronography-related web sites (deliberately misspelled). It's the first question I ask anyone who tells me that their computer is "down".

I once had an infected Word document in a used laptop I was assigned to, but the commercial stuff wiped it out quite handily. I have Ad-aware, Spybot Search and Destroy, and Spyware Doctor in my current PCs, and they keep most of the annoying pop-ups off of the few places I visit that shoot pop-ups at me (usually wholesale sites and other smaller sites that want to sell you something.)

I have two Mac Minis as my office computers, so that goes without saying....virus free.



-Piney-

[The Infinite Shindig]

For spyware clean up and prevention, I use Ad-aware and Spybot. For my virus scan I use symantec anti-virus because it's free from the College of Engineering. I use no script, which is an addition to the FireFox browser. Lastly, I use ZoneAlarm to manage my firewall. ZoneAlarm allows you to go "stealth" online; my roommate can't even ping my computer when it is in stealth mode.

All of these programs you can get for free besides the anti-virus.

I concur on the pron comment. It can mess up your computer and is a bad habit to develop.

[SHADOW HUNTER ALPHA]

...don't use Windows Security Center?

Yeah, that's what I meant. The sceurity center for Windows has got to be the slowest thing on the goddamn planet. Programs like Spybot Search and Destroy and Spyware Doctor are more reliable, faster, and free to download and try.

[Carbon]

If you're looking for a free antivirus, check out Avast!...it's what I use whenever I fix a downed computer, and haven't heard any problems afterwards. (I keep an installer for Avast!, Firefox, and Zone Alarm on a USB drive for just that reason).

[nerfboi]

I'm going to be completely honest, I visited porn a "few" times. But, as TIS inquired, a very very bad habit. But now I'll understand not to do that anymore. So thanks everyone for showing me some links. If there is more and you can submit more, that would be great.

EDIT: Ummm When I run the Ad- aware, it goes, then it goes to a blue blank screen. It reads :STOP c000021a {Fatal System Error}
Windows logon process system process teminated unexpectedlly with status of 0x000000005 (0x00000000 0x00000000). Is this supposed to happen?? Any ideas why?

Edited by nerfboi, 03 April 2007 - 08:59 PM.

[WratH]

Not teh blue screen of death!!!! Anywho, if you're not running windoze XP, it's fairly common, and it basicly means that that one program is taking up more than its share of ram (if I remember correctly from Cisco hardware class).

[nerfboi]

Ok, I got my computer fixed, but now i can't put a backgroung on my desktop. Is this bad? I can only change the color, but not put a picture.

[Prometheus]

Yeah, that's pretty bad. My pc used to be really slow, but I had adware from using kazaa. So beware about P2P software, keep your virus def's up to date.