Fake spyware scanner Malware Bytes cant take out.

[TRIPTEX_CAN]

Ill give it a shot... wont hurt to try.

 

[Lillebror]

Nod32 is a great av program, but if your after a free av, you can grab avast.

http://www.eset.com/images/VB-tests-passed.jpg

http://www.eset.com/images/Missed-In-the-Wild-Viruses.jpg

But always install spybot - search and destroy. Just to use the imunizer, and then you can uninstall it again - it helps LOADS by blocking alot of bad sites and stuff.

 

[newtekie1]

Nod32 is a great av program, but if your after a free av, you can grab avast.

http://www.eset.com/images/VB-tests-passed.jpg

http://www.eset.com/images/Missed-In-the-Wild-Viruses.jpg

But always install spybot - search and destroy. Just to use the imunizer, and then you can uninstall it again - it helps LOADS by blocking alot of bad sites and stuff.

McAfee better than AVG...

Those are some BS marketing graphs...

I feel sorry for anyone that believes McAfee is better than AVG.:shadedshu

 

[TRIPTEX_CAN]

McAfee better than AVG...

Those are some BS marketing graphs...

I feel sorry for anyone that believes McAfee is better than AVG.:shadedshu

McAfee was the AV installed when the infection took place.

 

[iStink]

If mcAfee is no good, what's the best? I run the free version of McAfee comcast gave me, and i've never had an issue. Its found things, deleted them just fine. vundo was a pain in the ass, but malwarebytes seems to have removed it.

 

[techbuzz]

I would first take the hard drive out of the machine it is in and hook it up to another machine and run an AV scan that way...if you haven't done it already.

I have also had success with renaming the hijackthis executable to something else. I have run across some spyware/viruses that can detect the hijackthis executable and hide itself.

 

[Chryonn]

after reading every post in this thread i decided to download Hijackthis and to install it. lol it won't install. what did you rename it to?



EDIT: it's ok i found out how

 

[newtekie1]

If mcAfee is no good, what's the best? I run the free version of McAfee comcast gave me, and i've never had an issue. Its found things, deleted them just fine. vundo was a pain in the ass, but malwarebytes seems to have removed it.

The majority of machines I see come in to my shop infected with viruses and spyware have McAfee on them. I would avoid McAfee at all costs, and uninstalling it is usally a real pain in the ass. I almost always have to run the McAfee product removal tool to get it to uninstall.

I don't believe a fully updated McAfee is really that bad at protection from Viruses and other threats. However, usually the update service breaks without the user knowing, and it quickly becomes useless due to not being updated.

There are several good alternatives to McAfee, some of them even free. Personally, I use AVG on my machines, and the shop I work for recommend it. It is free for personal use, and gets the job done. There is also Avast!, however when I used that, it broke my 16-bit sub-system on Windows XP upon uninstall. Since, at the time, I was still using some 16-bit programs, this made the machine useless once Avast! was uninstalled, worse than a malware infection, and the only way to fix it was to re-install Avast!, or reformat. Nod32 is also good, but not free, and with the alternatives being just as good it isn't worth paying for, IMO.

 

[TheMailMan78]

The majority of machines I see come in to my shop infected with viruses and spyware have McAfee on them. I would avoid McAfee at all costs, and uninstalling it is usally a real pain in the ass. I almost always have to run the McAfee product removal tool to get it to uninstall.

I don't believe a fully updated McAfee is really that bad at protection from Viruses and other threats. However, usually the update server breaks without the user knowing, and it quickly becomes useless due to not being updated.

There are several good alternatives to McAfee, some of them even free. Personally, I use AVG on my machines, and the shop I work for recommend it. It is free for personal use, and gets the job done. There is also Avast!, however when I used that, it broke my 16-bit sub-system on Windows XP upon uninstall. Since, at the time, I was still using some 16-bit programs, this made the machine useless once Avast! was uninstalled, worse than a malware infection, and the only way to fix it was to re-install Avast!, or reformat. Nod32 is also good, but not free, and with the alternatives being just as good it isn't worth paying for, IMO.

Watch out! I agree with newtekie1 on this. Personally I pay for my protection (Onecare) but its only because I enjoy the backup it provides and its seamless integration into Vista. Other than that I would use AVG.

 

[iStink]

The majority of machines I see come in to my shop infected with viruses and spyware have McAfee on them. I would avoid McAfee at all costs, and uninstalling it is usally a real pain in the ass. I almost always have to run the McAfee product removal tool to get it to uninstall.

I don't believe a fully updated McAfee is really that bad at protection from Viruses and other threats. However, usually the update server breaks without the user knowing, and it quickly becomes useless due to not being updated.

There are several good alternatives to McAfee, some of them even free. Personally, I use AVG on my machines, and the shop I work for recommend it. It is free for personal use, and gets the job done. There is also Avast!, however when I used that, it broke my 16-bit sub-system on Windows XP upon uninstall. Since, at the time, I was still using some 16-bit programs, this made the machine useless once Avast! was uninstalled, worse than a malware infection, and the only way to fix it was to re-install Avast!, or reformat. Nod32 is also good, but not free, and with the alternatives being just as good it isn't worth paying for, IMO.

I noticed you didn't mention Norton. No good?

Lets say I had all the money in the world or at least I didn't mind paying for my av. What would you recommend then?

 

[TRIPTEX_CAN]

I noticed you didn't mention Norton. No good?

Lets say I had all the money in the world or at least I didn't mind paying for my av. What would you recommend then?

Nod32 most likely.. or with all the money in the world you can pay MS to write a patch for all DX versions to run in Linux.

 

[newtekie1]

I noticed you didn't mention Norton. No good?

Lets say I had all the money in the world or at least I didn't mind paying for my av. What would you recommend then?

Norton's personal products are just about as bad as McAfee, I would avoid them also.

Nod32 is probably the best pay AV, but like I have said the free alternatives are good enough. If I really had to pay for something, it would probably be AVG, but that is only because that is the AV I am most comfortable using.

The main thing to worry about is making sure you know how your AV works. So you know how to make sure the AV is staying up to date, and doing the proper system scans on a daily basis.

 

[BazookaJoe]

My experience : Installing Norton / AVG / McAfee is worse than GETTING a virus.

The amount of system resource they destroy and the number of problems they create for me are simply unbelievable.

I use Nod32 - Its pretty good, I have a friend who likes Kaspersky, and also gets reasonable results there.

NO ANTI-VIRUS / ANTI-SPYWARE TOOL IS PERFECT, or ever will be, but Norton / AVG / McAfee are worse than having a virus...

I would even go so far as to say that for anyone without a Quad-Core CPU, and MINIMUM 2 Gigs of ram - Norton IS Malware - It will absolutely destroy the usability of your common generic single core "office" type pc.

I only make a point because it wasn't so long ago (2003) that I considered Norton Anti-Virus to be one of the best on the market - But now (Like many other titles) It's SO BUSY trying to do every other retarded thing OTHER than look for viruses, it can single handedly destroy a smaller PC alltogether.

 

[newtekie1]

I don't know why you include AVG in there, it uses next to no system resources. In fact AVG is using all of 3.5MB of memory on my current work machine, and uses under 50MB during a full system scan, neither cause any slowdown with the Celeron+512MB I'm running.

I'll agree with Norton and McAfee, but I have had no issue with AVG. What problems have you had with AVG?

 

[suraswami]

AVG is ok for being free. Its like cheap condom.

I trust PCCillin Internet Security Pro/Regular version. Also recommend Norton Internet Security (later version than 360 is good) for my friends and clients.

And oh $20 + free shipping for a 3 user license PCCillin Internet Security - you can't beat that. Don't understand when we can afford to buy a damn $1500 PC but cannot spend that extra $20 for peace of mind (per year ofcourse).

 

[troyrae360]

My experience : Installing Norton / AVG / McAfee is worse than GETTING a virus.

The amount of system resource they destroy and the number of problems they create for me are simply unbelievable.

I use Nod32 - Its pretty good, I have a friend who likes Kaspersky, and also gets reasonable results there.

NO ANTI-VIRUS / ANTI-SPYWARE TOOL IS PERFECT, or ever will be, but Norton / AVG / McAfee are worse than having a virus...

I would even go so far as to say that for anyone without a Quad-Core CPU, and MINIMUM 2 Gigs of ram - Norton IS Malware - It will absolutely destroy the usability of your common generic single core "office" type pc.

I only make a point because it wasn't so long ago (2003) that I considered Norton Anti-Virus to be one of the best on the market - But now (Like many other titles) It's SO BUSY trying to do every other retarded thing OTHER than look for viruses, it can single handedly destroy a smaller PC alltogether.

Im with you on this matter.
While working as a Tech, most computers that came in with virus or other problems had one of those products on there system.
first thing to do is uninstall AVG norton or Macafee, and what ever other crap was on there and run NOD32 and it would always pull off a few virus that AVG or Norton had missed.

My recomendation if you've been on the same windows install for longer than 6months is to uninstall your current AV and at least just try NOD32, it has a one month demo, then you can go back to your old AV after NOD32 has cleaned your system.
I am almost certin that if you've been running AVG or Norton or Macafee for the last 6month+ that NOD32 will find at least 1 or more virus's, id almost put money on it.

 

[DRDNA]

Did you slave the darn drive yet and get it cleaned??????????..run a root kit detection on it as well(probably why it reinstalls after reboot)

 

[driver66]

I noticed you didn't mention Norton. No good?

Lets say I had all the money in the world or at least I didn't mind paying for my av. What would you recommend then?

KASPERSKY :}

 

[Lillebror]

some of you guys should really read this: http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/ondret/avc_report21.pdf

Even FSecure does a better job than avg - and onecare is even worse! And avast is better than Nod32.

http://www.av-comparatives.org/comparativesreviews just keep up todte with this site - it makes the best comparisons with av's ever!

 

[iStink]

Norton's personal products are just about as bad as McAfee, I would avoid them also.

Nod32 is probably the best pay AV, but like I have said the free alternatives are good enough. If I really had to pay for something, it would probably be AVG, but that is only because that is the AV I am most comfortable using.

The main thing to worry about is making sure you know how your AV works. So you know how to make sure the AV is staying up to date, and doing the proper system scans on a daily basis.

Well McAfee does update every single day, and I have scans that go Monday Wednesday and Friday at 1AM (I'm usually out on the weekends.)

I really do hope it's enough. I'll check out Nod32 if I ever run into a problem with it. Thanks for your replies.

 

[newtekie1]

some of you guys should really read this: http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/ondret/avc_report21.pdf

Even FSecure does a better job than avg - and onecare is even worse! And avast is better than Nod32.

http://www.av-comparatives.org/comparativesreviews just keep up todte with this site - it makes the best comparisons with av's ever!

If McAfee was 99.1% effective, better than all but 2 of the other AV's tested, I wouldn't see 5+ machines a week come in with McAfee installed and being virtually unuseable due to malware infection.

Anyone that deals with this stuff in the real world on a daily basis will tell you McAfee is shit.

One of the major flaws in tests like this, and one of the many reasons they are essentially useless, is that they don't deal with the actual product "durability" for lack of a better word. A fully updated McAfee might catch more malware, however the program itself is a piece of crap. The auto-updater breaks with a drop of a hat, and the program often never informs the user that updates are not being installed. The scanning engine is just as broken, and daily auto-scans can very quickly stop working, as can manual scans. This usually happens without the user being aware in any way. On top of this, once McAfee is broken, it usually becomes virtually impossible for the normal user to fix the problem. It usually can't be uninstalled fully, and will not re-install either. Without the McAfee removal tool, which most average users do not know about, removal or even basic protection becomes impossible.

So, yes, a fresh install of McAfee on a fresh install of Windows might give you more protection. But 2-3 years down the road, it is likely not to be working at all anymore. Compared to some of the others which are far more reliable.

 

[fart_plume]

Have you tried running MS malicious software removal tool in safemode? It got rid of a similar virus my wife had on hers.( It plants itself in the restore point files where you can't get access to it, even most AV can't get in there) if you go in to safemode turn off system restore and then run the MS malious software tool then scan it with AVG you should be able to clean it out.

 

[BazookaJoe]

I don't know why you include AVG in there, it uses next to no system resources. In fact AVG is using all of 3.5MB of memory on my current work machine, and uses under 50MB during a full system scan, neither cause any slowdown with the Celeron+512MB I'm running.

I'll agree with Norton and McAfee, but I have had no issue with AVG. What problems have you had with AVG?

Hi , Yeah - AVG Isn't really the prime offender in my rant - but Since version 8 It's real-time scanner is ABSOLUTELY APPALLING in its CPU time usage, and rendered a NUMBER of smaller machines (that I was asked to look at because they seemed broken) virtually useless.

Clients where literally calling me up saying - "I think my PC is broken..." only to find they had upgraded to v8+ when I arrived.

Its hard to not notice 1 of 4 cores running 100% all day on a quad, but in a single core platform your day is over.

Beyond that however - AVG's virus database is very very poor - regularly I find PC's running AVG with latest version, and all updates done that are infected with multiple actual viruses, as well as spyware, and some of the viruses are more than a year old in Nod32 / Kaspersky / heck even Symmantec databases.

I don't mean to be TOO hard on a free product - but a Nod32 / Kaspersky 1 year license is SOOO cheap... Whats the point in taking the risk?

 

[techbuzz]

Hi , Yeah - AVG Isn't really the prime offender in my rant - but Since version 8 It's real-time scanner is ABSOLUTELY APPALLING in its CPU time usage, and rendered a NUMBER of smaller machines (that I was asked to look at because they seemed broken) virtually useless.

Clients where literally calling me up saying - "I think my PC is broken..." only to find they had upgraded to v8+ when I arrived.

Its hard to not notice 1 of 4 cores running 100% all day on a quad, but in a single core platform your day is over.

Beyond that however - AVG's virus database is very very poor - regularly I find PC's running AVG with latest version, and all updates done that are infected with multiple actual viruses, as well as spyware, and some of the viruses are more than a year old in Nod32 / Kaspersky / heck even Symmantec databases.

I don't mean to be TOO hard on a free product - but a Nod32 / Kaspersky 1 year license is SOOO cheap... Whats the point in taking the risk?

I recently tested out the new version of Norton Internet Security and was very impressed. Symantec did a good job listening to customer complaints and concerns and ended up releasing a quality product. I have started recommending it to all my customers.

I personally get a free license of an AV program called Sophos. Unfortunately it is not managed well and it tends to slow computers down dramatically on occasion.

My experiences with AVG Free used to be very positive, but recently, with the newer versions, it just seems to take over the machine making it impossible for the computer to even be used at times.

The problem with products like Nod32 and Kaspersky is that they are not well known brands to most users. I have problems convincing my customers that they are safe AV applications and that they are worth the money.

If I had the money I would spend it on Norton Internet Security. They seem to have all their ducks in a row. Their virus definitions are always up to date with current threats and they leave a very small footprint on machines.

Oh! Most people that come to my shop with virus issues usually have McAfee installed.

 

[TRIPTEX_CAN]

I've been installing AVG's latest version on several PCs from laptops to high-end desktops and I've never seen CPU usage idle anything over 0%. When the on demand scanner is running there are resources being used obviously, but I wouldnt say it made the PC useless.

@ bazookajoe there must have been something wrong with your PC or AVG install for it to run @ 100% all day. You should just scan overnight.