Reformating Computer? Viruses?

Question

I have so many viruses on my computer that have slowed my computer down drastically and even freezes it at times. The viruses started when my brother download Limewire and none of the anti-virus protection that I have, like Norton, Avast, etc. Have gotten rid of the viruses. They only seem to find tracking cookies but when i delete those my computer stays the same. I have Windows Vista Home Basic btw. I need to know if there is any other option besides reformating my computer to get rid of the virus. I can't go back to a restoration point because my computer did not save one that is far back enough to when the viruses started. I have heard that McAfee is good and that it will sweep my computer of every virus it has even the un-traced ones. But, i don't want to go buy it if it is not gonna do the job. My computer seems to get slower everyday no matter if i run virus scans constantly and I don't download anything anymore besides the free virus scans. Is reformating my only option? And if it is then how do i save everything that is important and be able to save them again on my computer. Also if there was something that i saved that i did not know had a virus, would it put another virus on my computer by me re-saving it?

Help. Sorry it's lengthy.

Answer 1

www.threatfire.com

www.malwarebytes.org

Run full scans with both,both are totally free.It that doesn't work, post another question and you can get help with saving things,or email me.

Answer 2

First, do all your virus, spyware and malware scans in safe mode.

Second, never install more than ONE antivirus program, as one will cancel the other, in fact leaving you with no antivirus protection.

Third, do not save data off the computer and install again without making sure it is virus free. You can however burn your data to a CD, and scan the CD with antivirus before reinstalling it on a virus free system.

Fourth, do all online scans in "safe mode with networking."

Because you say you have so many viruses, it could be a lot longer process to gid rid of them than to reformat. If you reformat, do not just do a simple format, but wipe the drive with a program that writes the drive to all zero's. The binary code by which your computer operates is made up of ones and zeros, (and only ones and zeros). When a hard drive is written to all zeros, then the drive cannot contain data, so there is no chance of a virus surviving the format, which is possible.

Use a program like "killdisk" and run that before doing the normal format. You can get a free copy of "active@killdisk" from here.

http://www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm

Download the DOS version. Either burn it to a CD or run it from a floppy.

Viruses can and sometimes do survive a normal format with either the NTFS or FAT32 filing system.

Depending on the capacity of your hard drive (size in gigabytes) it can take quite awhile to run "killdisk" or a related program, but it is far more secure.

Answer 3

The short answer is "No, you don't have to reformat your hard drive."

First get rid of all of those extra antivirus and antispyware programs that you've downloaded. Having more than one running on your PC at any given time is undoubtedly part of your problem because they typically interfere with each other.

Keep the antivirus /antispyware software with the most current subscription.... Macafee.... Norton... OneCare... they are all quality products - as are some of the free ones such as AVG.

Run a "deep scan" using your antivirus. It will insulate your PC from any viruses that it can identify.

Next go into your "Cookies" folder and delete each and every one in the folder. While cookies are not inherently dangerous - they are too small to do any real damage, they often record your internet viewing habits, and other personal information.

Uninstall LimeWire if you haven't done so already and don't download any other file-sharing software unless the corporation behind the software is well known... Microsoft: ok... Apple: ok ... Adobe: ok... basically anything you can find in a box in your local store is probably fine, If the company doesn't have boxed products on store shelves you're taking a tremendous risk with your computer and with your personal information.

Next: Look at all of those tiny icons in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. If you hover over the icons, you'll get a good idea of their purpose. If there's something that you don't actually need - and there will probably be a lot of those - go into Windows Defender and disable them.

Once all of that is done... Defragment your hard drive. The Defragmentation process overwrites areas on your hard drive that could contain viruses/spyware that were only logically deleted.

Your PC should operate at least as fast as it ran when you bought it.

Answer 4

I know a company that help with almost any computer problem. They are btexpress computer repair. They are great. I went to them and they know what they are doing. I love what they done to my computer. It was not fast and had viruses on it but, now it is clean and fast as lighten. If you would like to visit them the link is in myprofile. btexpress computer repair is great.  

Answer 5

Open Trend Micro House Calls link below and their server will scan your entire system direct for viruses, worms, spyware, etc. etc.  Allow the active ¨X¨ to be installed as needed for their server to scan.   Can take upto one hour or more depending on how many programs you have installed in your system, plus files folders, memory, registry, sub folders.   Follow the instructions if if the scan should stop before finished for cleaning of a major virus.  

Please complete the scan no matter how long it will take. And then follow the instruction on cleaning at the end of the scan

http://housecall65.trendmicro.com/

Mind Doctor, France

Answer 6

IF the computer has too many virus, and slows down each day you use, you can scan it with your antivirus program, if you have done so...if you did, and that didnt help, try doing this, you can scan the PC for errors, if Windows vista home basic has a disk error checking utility, you can check the hard drive for errors, I know XP Pro has it, but not sure about home Basic (vista)

and to prevent form your computer having virus, or threats on the screen, i recommend AVG 8.0. I used it, and i didn't have any problems with it, it can pick up Real good, it picks up all of the tracking cookies, what it does is that it scans on the registry, the file system, and All of the folders..

Answer 7

system mechanic 7 or bit defender.com