My laptop has a virus? Who can help me?

Question

My friend had gone to send me a music file and neglected to tell me that her computer had a virus. Typically I have a great virus and anti-spyware protection program and will alert and quarantine before anything can, I guess embed into my files! Well unlucky and stupid me this time nothing worked!

I've been using it offline but now that classes are starting up soon what are my options! It's a new computer I got it in December...um Dell Inspiron 1520 I believe. It has the TrendMicro Protection service.

I know that some places will clean it out but I am wondering if that's safe? Also what types of places, i.e. Staples or Best Buy will do a better job of wiping it out the fastest! && If I have the computer cleaned (stupid files I added on) will it also delete my Trend Micro Program?

Answer 1

Your friend probably didn't send the virus but the virus used the address book and used it to send to everyone on it. To answer your question I like these programs.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/downl...

http://www.superantispyware.com/download...

Answer 2

If you have a virus scanner that scanned the file before you opened it, then there is no way thats how you got a virus.

If the music file actually opened, then it wasnt a virus. Viruses are executables, exe files, and run just like a regular program.

Chances are that if you do have a virus, its from using internet explorer. IE allows sites to send cookies to you computer, which can then infect your computer. If you use Mozilla firefox instead of IE, it does not allow sites to send you infectious cookies, which reduces the chances of you getting a virus by a huge amount.

Lastly, what makes you think you have a virus? Is something telling you that you have a virus, or is your computer acting slow? When you open task manager, is your cpu meter always near 100%?

Whatever is making you think you have a virus, feel free to send me a message through my profile and I can help you remove it manually, if you actually have one.