Cleaning viruses

[Stance]

My computer is infected. AVG ain't picking 'em up. Some cunt has nicked £500 off me. What's the best free and easy way of clearing my PC of viruses please?

[Funky_Kingston]

Do you have a second computer and a usb memory stick (flash drive). That's a big help in the process of getting rid of problems.
There's no one size fits all solution, it's usually not as simple as just downloading a program, running it and poof everything's good. AVG is a great program, I've used it for years, but as with all programs it can't catch everything.
I can probably help you with this, but I need more details. I do this stuff for friends all the time, just cleaned up somebodies machine a couple days ago.
We need to determine what type of malware is infecting your machine. You also need to not be online with it if you can help it. If so you are wide open to the malware downloading and installing other viruses, trojans and worms, among other bad stuff. If you have to be online with it start it in Safe Mode with Networking. On most PCs you do this by pressing F8 continuously as your computer boots up (you do it during the black "boot up screen"), then you'll get a menu with boot options.
So,
1: What's your computer and what operating system are you using.
2: Do you have a second computer?
3: What exactly is happening? Once we know what's infecting your machine we can search for a step by step removal guide/what program to use to remove it.
4: If you don't have a second computer it's ok, we can still work it out by having you run your computer in Safe Mode with Networking, but first thing's first.

Let me know. PM me to let me know when you are on line, but post the info here so this can help others.
I'll be up late.

[Papaskin]

Get AVAST - the latest AVG sucks shit...AVAST will catch it realtime, but it's scanning is slow as piss..

Get SpyBot Search and Destroy - make sure when you first install it to update the definitions (of both really)

Boot into safe mode and run both..spybot first as it will usually get what you need done...run anti-virus scans later when you have 3+ hours if you want...should be fine.

Rinse, repeat.

[Funky_Kingston]

Basically, my computer is running really slow. Firefox/IE keep crashing. My IT nerd pal says to run an AVG scan to boot but I can't find how to do this in plain English?

I went ahead and put this here so it benefits others.

Sounds like you don't have a virus, most likely just a bunch of spyware and adware and maybe some other malware.

@Papaskin; That's the second or third time I've heard AVG isn't what it used to be. I'll be looking into that, prefer to keep my shit locked up tight like Fort Knox.
But yep, what papaskin said; I would boot up your computer in Safemode With Networking before you download and install these so none of the bad shit is active, things will most likely be a little faster in safe mode. To download and install spybot search & destroy & do it to it:

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/ownmirrors1/index.html

Choose custom install in the installer and uncheck the Teatimer option when you get to that part, it's annoying and conflicts with some other programs.
Like papaskin said, you have to update it first once it's installed. Close your internet browser before you do the next step.
Then with Spybot S&D open click on the blue shield on the left menu that says Immunize. Spybot will run a check, when it's done click the green plus sign in the upper left that says Immunize. This adds some protection to your internet browsers for later.
Then click Search and Destroy on the left menu, click on Check for Problems and let it run. It will take awhile.

I would also recommend installing Malwarebytes and running it, same as above, in Safemode With Networking, update it after installing, then run a full scan, NOT a quick scan. This will take awhile to.
I say run Malwarebytes as well because it catches things that Spybot S&D misses, and vica versa, so I use them both to be damn sure my machine is clean.


You still need an anti-virus program, the two above are not anti-virus programs. They catch adware, spyware and other types of malware.
I can't speak for Avast, I haven't used it in years, had problems with it in the past, but I'm gonna take papaskin's word for it and try it out on my backup laptop.

Hopefully this will fix you up. If you're still having problems after this let me know, you may have too many programs running in the background as most people do, and/or have some conflicts going on. First things first though, get your machine clean.

[Stance]

Much appreciated chaps. Still going through Malwarebytes. Once this is done, I'll run it in Safe Mode.