This may be a silly question...

Printable View

2010-08-10, 17:45
Jet1970

This may be a silly question...

I have tried to look for an answer to this in the help section of spybot and in the FAQ's on this forum and can't find the answer I am looking for. With some syware/ anti virus scanners you see details of the files on your PC they are going through as they scan. When Spybot is running a bot check at the bottom of the screen I see it going through 1,200,000 plus items and every single one seems to be a virus - could you just confirm that these are what Spybot is looking for rather than what it is actually finding ie 10,000s of virtumonde variants?

Sorry if this is a silly question but my PC is running very slow and I wanted to check that these wern't all on my system!

Thanks

Jet1970
2010-08-10, 18:05
tashi

Hello Jet1970,

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jet1970

When Spybot is running a bot check at the bottom of the screen I see it going through 1,200,000 plus items and every single one seems to be a virus - could you just confirm that these are what Spybot is looking for rather than what it is actually finding ie 10,000s of virtumonde variants?

Yes, during the running of a Spybot scan ("Check for problems") the status bar in the lower left hand corner of the screen shows what Spybot-S&D is checking for.

When the scan completes the results are displayed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jet1970

my PC is running very slow

Does the computer show any signs of infection? What is the operating system and which security programs are installed.

Best regards. :)
2010-08-10, 18:32
Jet1970

I have windows XP. The only reason I think it might be infected is that it runs very very slow, especially on start up where it can take up to 30 mins to be able to get my home page up and get into my mail. I don't get any pop ups or fake security threats.

As for anti virus I have AVG free, McAffee free, Super antispyware, Microsoft security essentials, IObit 360 and advanced system care. I should add that apart from the first two (and spybot) I added all the others in recent weeks as I thought a virus or spyware may be slowing me down.

Many thanks

Jet1970
2010-08-10, 19:42
tashi

Hello Jet1970,

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jet1970

As for anti virus I have AVG free, McAffee free, Super antispyware, Microsoft security essentials, IObit 360 and advanced system care. I should add that apart from the first two (and spybot) I added all the others in recent weeks as I thought a virus or spyware may be slowing me down.

AVG free is an Anti Virus program.

Microsoft Security Essentials includes Anti Virus/Malware.

McAffee free. Please explain further, AFAIK McAfee doesn't provide free security programs. :)

IObit: http://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/iobit.com

Rule of thumb is one firewall/one anti virus program resident to avoid conflicts, loss of program efficiency and system lock up due to both software products attempting to access the same file at the same time.

Having more than one resident can cause system performance problems and a serious system slowdown.

Windows XP. Which edition please, Home, Business or Pro. :)

Does your XP have a Service Pack, if so which one. Are you using XP's native firewall? How much Memory is installed and available.

Best regards.
2010-08-12, 15:09
Jet1970

Many thanks that explains a lot. If I was going to remove some of my antivirus stuff which would you remove? If it were your pc which woudl you stick with? I guess I tried a scattergun approach as I thought some did things that others did not.

I have XP profesional with service pack 3. I have the windows firewall set to on.

Maybe the McAffee was not free and has just always been there! It is McAffee security scan plus and scans once a day. Perhaps that is redundant with the others? With the link to Iobit - I looked at it and take it that it is not very well regarded?

Memory it says Total Physical - 1,024.00mb, Available 237.96mb, virtual 2.00mb, available 1.96mb.

Many thanks again :)
2010-08-12, 17:09
Gopher John

Security programs often don't uninstall themselves cleanly. After using Add/Remove Programs to remove, restart Windows. Visit Ultimate List of Uninstallers, download the appropriate uninstallers and run them, rebooting each time.

My AV choice is Avast Free 5.
2010-08-12, 17:26
tashi

Hello Jet1970, :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jet1970

If I was going to remove some of my antivirus stuff which would you remove?

Everyone has their own preference, see this thread: Anti Virus Programs

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jet1970

I have XP profesional with service pack 3. I have the windows firewall set to on.

Quote:

6.) It is critical that you use a firewall to protect your computer from hackers. We don't recommend the XP firewall that comes built in to Windows. It doesn't block everything that may try to get in, and the entire firewall is written to the registry. As various kinds of malware hack the Registry in order to disable the Windows firewall, if using XP it's far preferable to install one of the excellent third party solutions.

So how did I get infected in the first place?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jet1970

Maybe the McAffee was not free and has just always been there! It is McAffee security scan plus and scans once a day. Perhaps that is redundant with the others?

If it has always been there and you have not paid the annual fee, which you would likely remember, ;) then it won't update and is sitting there taking up resources.

Cheers
2010-08-13, 11:55
Jet1970

Hi Tashi / Gopher John - thanks once more for all the info.

I looked into the McAfee thing as I never remeber paying for it and I do not remeber having it a year a go. On looking at this link http://kb.mit.edu/confluence/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=6752956
it appears it is free security check software which may have come packaged up with an acrobat update so I guess it is not AV as such? I think I will remove it unless you think otherwise. It seems that other people have also been querying how it suddenly appeared on their desktop.

I am now about to go and look for a different firewall and will trim my AV down to one. Looking at "So how did I get infected in the first place?" I take it I should use this with my new firewall, spybot and spywareblaster. What about keeping one or any of Super antispyware,malawarebytes, IObit 360 and advanced system care? Do they do different jobs or do I just pick 1 AV, a firewall, spybot and spywareblaster and ditch the rest?

Cheers
2010-08-13, 14:26
Gopher John

Norton Security Scan is a tag-along with several programs now. There is a lot of software (toolbars, scans, etc. (PUPS)) that may be installed along with the program you actually intended. One must read each prompt during install. Sometimes, even then some packages still install PUPS. See Installers Hall of Shame.

As stated, one should run only one active antivirus and one firewall at a time. Otherwise, there will ultimately be conflicts and be less secure.

Non-resident programs cause no such problems. I have SuperAntiSpyware free, MalwareBytes free, ClamWin, and SpywareBlaster all installed on my WinXP Pro SP3 without problems. They all are run manually. ClamWin does have a small module that downloads signature updates, but does no automatic scanning. I also have SpyBot Search & Destroy installed with full immunizations from it and SpywareBlaster. I do not use TeaTimer, but that is a personal choice.