GGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!   

My home PC is being over-run by adware/malware and I have absolutely no idea how to get rid of it. I'm a complete IT novice. Can someone explain in very simplistic terms what I need to do to get rid of it please?

I have a free AVG and have run a scan and my pop up blockers are on both of which dont stop it.

HELP!

Hi Nosher

I got rid of AVG because it seemed to never find the Malware  I use Ad Aware now which I think is better

Download this http://www.malwarebytes.org/  again its free and gets rid of 99% of it.


Are you downloading a lot of stuff? as a lot of those download crap if you dont read the install instructions properly as you have to opt out of downloading extra stuff rather than opting in

Thats my 2p's worth from experience rather than from being a technical boffin

I wouldn't get rid of AVG as it may not stop malware, but it does prevent the really nasty stuff getting onto your computer.

I'd second Ad Aware and Malwarebytes did a fine job of cleaning up an old laptop for me.

Have a look at Gizmo's Freeware Reviews
http://www.techsupportalert.com/

I only got rid of AVG because AVG 13 refused to update or scan

When I first ran Ad Aware it found 2 Trojans ( the virus not the people)  that AVG had never detected for about a year

I would second Fenton's advice about being careful about what you download. Even seemingly respectable sources like Microsoft and Apple have jumped on the bandwagon and will lumber you with some crappy search engine if you're not careful.

Easiest thing to do is to type the name of the malware into Google and you will get various sites that will explain how to get rid of it. Some are easy enough with just a few strategic deletions. Others are a little more persistent. I have used Malwarebytes in the past and it seems to work. 

I've used AVG, Avast! and Kaspersky at various times - usually depending on who had the best offer at the time! All seem to have their strengths and weaknesses and all seem to to me to be equally good in their own way.

As a backup I do use Ad Aware and/or Spybot to double check.

I also run Firefox with No Script which serves the double purpose of stopping javascript running without me knowing and persuading others not to use my PCs as constantly having to give scripts permission to run drives them crackers

I'm fairly tech savvy and will do things like dig around in msconfig to check what's lurking under the bonnet but despite my paranoia I still get caught out occasionally.

I use slim cleaner as well which gets rid of a lot of crap

Bit obvious - but don't run more than one or two protection programs. They interfere with each other. Your box will also appear to run slowly when you run a scan.

ianS

I friend last night recommended me to try 360Amigo ..clean out lots of stuff found old empty files and big left over files from old games etc got 11gb back on my hard drive... It is free as well

Quote from: Fenton on 15 December 2013, 09:58:57 AM
I friend last night recommended me to try 360Amigo ..clean out lots of stuff found old empty files and big left over files from old games etc got 11gb back on my hard drive... It is free as well

Since you mentioned Slim Cleaner, doesn't Slim PC do much the same as 360 Amigo?

Amigo just seems to do a little more in reagards to defrag's etc...Well it works more easily for me anyway

AVAST offers the best perfrmance imho. That sounds like some worm/dropper. Did it hijack your browser aka is your internet startpage still the same or changed?
If you were closer to me I would say, grab the machine, get a decent beer and come over....

Quote from: Fenton on 15 December 2013, 03:31:44 PM
Amigo just seems to do a little more in reagards to defrag's etc...Well it works more easily for me anyway

Worth knowing - cheers Fenton

Yes - downloaded and ran 360Amigo - cleaned out nearly 8GB of rubbish - thank you for the tip!

Good stuff...Glad it helped Robert