Need Help on Computer Malfunction-Again

[Pego]

Kind of a relief to know that I am not the only amateur plagued with computer/printer problems. My puter guy says don't buy spybot or anything that pops up demanding money to get rid of itself. Of course, his solution is for me to call him and he fixes it. So, WTF, he has kids to raise. Sometimes, since I am such a good customer, he can fix it over the phone

Your puter guy is probably right, but I faced 5 options.

1. Buy a new computer.
2. Reformat the hard drive.
3. Call the Geek squad at $200 a pop.
4. Drag the damn thing to the shop.
5. Install Stopzilla and give them $10.

The last option may not be the best, but is certainly the simplest and cheapest .

[guru]

Spybot Search & Destroy is an excellent free spyware program. I have Spy Sweeper since it's free with my MSN account.

Important to remember that because you have an anti-virus program running doesn't mean you're protected from spyware/malware.

[lonewolf]

Hey, I vote for Stopzilla if that does the job. It is just that I am ultra-computer incompetent. :?

[bad hammy]

Kind of a relief to know that I am not the only amateur plagued with computer/printer problems.

Hey, I'm a pro and still have these problems. Today's print server problem cost me a 40 mile round trip and a $20 part.

As for the malware crap, this was from an email I sent to some friends in March:

I just spent the last 90 minutes getting rid of a really obnoxious piece of malware that got downloaded onto my computer. One of the places I recently surfed was successful in getting around my barricades and installed something called Spyware Protect 2009 on my computer.

This fake spyware cleaner then started popping up warnings left and right about infections it was finding. It got particularly aggressive when I started searching Google for information on Spyware Protect 2009 and ways to get rid of it. Many of these pop-up windows would not close which made reading web sites kind of tough. Of course there were a number of vendors selling software to clean this off my computer for $30. (I had downloaded one that found this SP 2009 but when I went to clean it then it requested the $30)

I did come across a couple of web sites that had details on how to manually get rid of this piece of shit software, but apparently this fucker mutates regularly so the specifics on how to get rid of it were out of date. However there was enough info that I could work with that I finally got to the point where it was apparently gone. At least the software I downloaded that found it can’t find it anymore, and the annoying pop-ups are gone.

The bad news was that my computer never really got back to being its 100% self, and I ended up reformatting and rebuilding from scratch about a month later.

:x

[El Toro]

Marlow, I feel your pain. It sounds like you might have a Vundo variant and it is a real pain - I have been there and it was particularly annoying because I was running a well regarded firewall and anti-virus/malware package that failed completely.

A word of advice to all out there - do not download any antimalware software that comes up in a google search. A lot of these are built by the scumbags that write the friggin malware in the firstplace and will take your money and credit card details and leave the malware on your PC in quiet mode so you think you got rid of it. :evil:

Only use software assessed by legitimate computer mags or well respected antimalware websites. If you are not sure seek professional advice (or post your problem here :P )

I recommend Malwarebytes AntiMalware software http://www.malwarebytes.org/ which has a free version that will clean up infections as well as the paid version - just doesn't stop it in the first place, which is the motivator to buy the full version.

Download the product and instal, click on update, then reboot into Window Safe Mode (WSM) and run the software. Instructions on WSM can be found at http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixthe...safemodexp.htm

If you don't boot into WSM you are unlikely to get rid of Vundo and its variants as it will keep on coming back.

[Pego]

A word of advice to all out there - do not download any antimalware software that comes up in a google search. A lot of these are built by the scumbags that write the friggin malware in the firstplace and will take your money and credit card details and leave the malware on your PC in quiet mode so you think you got rid of it.

Do you know, if Stopzilla is one of those scumbags? Did I sell my soul to the devil :twisted: ?

[jazzcyclist]

El Toro, should all programs that are running show up in Window Task Manager's Processes Tab?

[bad hammy]

El Toro, should all programs that are running show up in Window Task Manager's Processes Tab?

Should? Yes. Do they? No.

[El Toro]

El Toro, should all programs that are running show up in Window Task Manager's Processes Tab?

Theoretically they should but normal Windows processes can be hijacked so which version of the process is the malware? Some malware can also change Task Manager settings or block it opening. Unless you are familiar with all that jazz :wink: you might not be able to tell what's going on.

I'm no expert except in the particular circumstances that I went through and any knowledge you gain is outdated quickly as the balance between good and bad guys shifts constantly. I think the only way to be safe(er) in the long run is to always run virtual machines but this won't be helpful to the general public until common OSs do that by default.

Pego, your product seems to be legitimate, it's just not ranked highly! Still, if it worked for you, it worked. I'd still download another another freeby such as the product I mentioned above or http://free.avg.com/ and run it for peace of mind. The only thing you don't want to do is run different active software at the same time because they might not play well together.

[tandfman]

Pego, your product seems to be legitimate, it's just not ranked highly!

As you were writing that, I was consulting with Mr. G, who confirmed that with a link to a two-year old review.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2163435,00.asp

[Pego]

Thank you, all.

[balzonia]

After a little over 20 years of loyal PC marriage, my wife finally got sick of hearing me complain about my LeadingEdge/dell/gateway/hp/compaq and custom built PC's and bought me a MacBook Pro for my birthday 8 months ago...

Haven't cursed at a computer in 6 months... (the first 2 months I had to figure out how to do everything so the cursing was at my own limitations!)

No viruses, no spyware, no malware, no popups, no built in ads and/or "reminders," boots up from a dead stop in < 30 seconds, runs every program I need (and a million I don't), opens every web page I want and just plain works.

Others may have different experiences and opinions, but if you want a computer that works, get an Apple.

[Daisy]

Others may have different experiences and opinions, but if you want a computer that works, get an Apple.

Shhhhh!

[lonewolf]

My son, an engineer, sings the same praises for Apple. I just never seem to come to a complete replacement point.

[tandfman]

After a little over 20 years of loyal PC marriage, my wife finally got sick of hearing me complain about my LeadingEdge/dell/gateway/hp/compaq and custom built PC's and bought me a MacBook Pro for my birthday 8 months ago...

Haven't cursed at a computer in 6 months... (the first 2 months I had to figure out how to do everything so the cursing was at my own limitations!)

It's those first two months that worry me. I fear it will be something like learning to speak a foreign language and I really can't afford to be inarticulate for two months. One of these days, I suppose I'll just get frustrated enough with my PC's and take the plunge. Everyone says they're really better.