If you scan your computer for viruses, is that good enough?

[MeShawn]

I have McAfee on my laptop, and run a scan every week or two.

I've been getting some weird popups lately when using the internet (not specifically at the cafe).

Any time I'm on the internet, I sometimes get a full screen popup. It's the same popup every time, selling art or something. I don't get the popup specifically when I click on something. I could just be typing on reading on the internet, and it just "pops up".

Another case, is when a popup shows up on my desktop, but it's not an internet window (there's nothing on the bottom toolbar where I can close the window). I click the "X" on the window that shows up on my desktop, and then I get a series of popups that can get pretty annoying. The popup is always something like Winfix for free, a spyware scanner. Ironic, I know.

Sometimes my internet freezes. Nothing terrible is happening, it can just be a pain. I restart my computer and usually everything is fine (but comes back a day or two later).

This only started a week or so ago. I do have a popup blocker and I almost never got popups before. I'm on IE, so maybe I should try firefox?

Like I said, I run scans on McAfee (and even Ad-Aware) and I never detect anything more than a minor tracking cookie.

I'm leaving for school soon, so I'd like to get this small problem settled before I leave. TIA

[Lushcrush]

Load AdAware and Spybot Search and Destroy too. If you have decent skills, set Spybot Search and Destroy to run in TeaTime mode. That lets you accept or deny any registry changes that come up.
You can get both of them by doing a search at download.com ...

[hastur]

As per my other thread, it all depends on what anti-virus you use.

McAffe I've heard is pretty good. But not the best. Something I've learned lately is "NOD32". Considered the best.

[Goatwhacker]

I think Firefox is great, but there are certain sites where I run into the same thing you do, even running Firefox with pop-ups blocked.. There are also some viruses that don't seem to get picked up even running McAfee, AdAware and Spybot S&D that will give you pop-ups and modify your home page. I had a hell of a time getting one out of my kids computer a couple of months ago.

[mtryanks12]

download Hijackthis, scan and save a log, and post on the Hijackthis forum your log and they'll tell you what to delete. Great program, and I also think Tyr can do a log scan for you. I also used a program called lm2fix to fix my comp once and it worked great. It's very complicated and confusing and can ruin your comp so if you want to use it I suggest a tech forum post.

[Atog]

Some very useful programs are Adaware, Spybot S&D, and Avast! Antivirus.
All are free.

[Payne Dailey]

Some very useful programs are Adaware, Spybot S&D, and Avast! Antivirus.
All are free.

Another is crap cleaner, just make sure you back up first.

[Flockers]

MeShawn - this website saved my life. Just follow the directions step-by-step and it should work (Ignore the first 2 links unless you're having trouble connecting to the Internet). If it doesn't get better, download HiJack This! and post it here.

You do need to register to do the stuff, but it's free and they help with any computer trouble you could imagine so most people go back more than once.

Hope this helps!

[MadScott]

Just stop surfing for porn and you don't have to worry.

JK man, of course don't do something like stopping porn surfing.

I haven't tried to see if it's still available for download but Microsoft Virus Scan Beta works pretty damn good and is supposedly going to be free to all windows users. Most folks seem to recommend a multi pronged attack of MS Beta, Adaware, Spybot and a Mcafee/Norton type program.

[lmcjaho]

I have had decent results with AVG anti-virus and it is free... Google for it...