Virus Problems - How do I Get Rid of it?

Question

I have this virus or whatever it is called "Spyware.ISearch". My Norton Security Scanner won't get rid of it. I tried going to the file myself and deleting it, and it won't delete. Then I tried deleting it again, and it said the file was hidden and basically couldn't be deleted.

My computer has been slower than ever. It took me forever to even ask this question just because my computer is messed up. I keep getting pop-ups that I never had before this virus.

How do I get rid of it?

Answer 1

The reason your computer is slow is probably because of Norton it's self. Norton uses so many resources, it actually has a reputation as the slowest (albeit most powerful) anti-virus scanner around.

Onto the problem.

Most modern viruses will copy themselves to a hidden system restore folder that can be written to but not removed from. Therefore a virus scanner can find the files in this folder, but can not remove them. If this is the case, you will want to reboot your system into safe mode (so that it CAN be removed from) and run your virus scanner there. One of the more powerful programs devoted to spyware you can use is AVG Antispyware.

Answer 2

Restart your PC in safe mode with networking

http://www.pchell.com/support/safemode.s...

Download, install and run a full scan with Malwarebytes

http://www.malwarebytes.org

Run a full scan with Micro Trend House Call

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

Answer 3

Norton isn't a reliable AV; it most probably won't cathc these less known viruses. A very good, free anti-virus available to download is AVG 8 Anti-virus:

http://www.free.grisoft.com

And for any spyware problems, get SpyBot - Search and Destroy:

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

Both are free, as powerful as paid programs, like Norton and McAfee, and don't use up as many resources.

Just boot into Safe Mode (Press F8 when turning on the computer) and run full scans.

If that doesn't completely fix your computer and it's still slow, there are some things you can do:

Go to the Start Menu> Run

Type in "appwiz.cpl"

Uninstall whatever you don't need.

Next, go to Start> Run and type in "msconfig".

Go to the Startup Tab and uncheck everything you don't want to startup. If you want, you can uncheck everything, and your anti-virus will still restart itself when you  log on.

Now go to My Computer> Hard Drive> Documents and Settings> [USER NAME]> Local Settings> and delete everything inside the Temp Folder. (This is a hidden folder so you will needto have "show hidden files and folders" checked in Folder Options) All the files in this folder are just temporary files that your Internet stored that for certain websites.

Then go to My Computer> Hard Drive> Windows> Prefetch and delete everything inside it. This folder is like an cache for programs and should be emptied about once a month.

Next, you should install CCleaner, it will get rid of alot of temporary files on your computer. It also has a registry repair system, which is easily the best free one available on the Internet:

http://www.ccleaner.com/download

Another option is to try defragmenting your computer.

Go to the Start Menu and go to All Programs

Go to Accessories and System Tools.

Choose Disk Defragmenter and when it loads click defragment.

Next, go to Device Manger (Start> RightClick My Computer> Properties> Hardware Tab> Device Manager) and update all drivers.

Another thing I would say is to compress your files if you already haven't.

Open My Computer and right click on your hard drive

Check the Compress Drive button and let it do it's thing.

Finally, make sure your Hard Drive doesn't have any bad sectors. Go to My Computer> Right Click Hard Drive> Properties> Tools Tab> Check Now> Check both boxes and Start. It will ask you to reboot, so reboot. This will clear out any bad sectors on your Hard Drive.

These are short-term solutions however. the easiest way is to just upgrade the RAM on your system, but at least the ways above are free.

Good Luck =]

Answer 4

use these free programs and all your problems will go away. http://free.avg.com/ww.download-avg-anti...

http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_awar...

Answer 5

http://www.download.com/SUPERAntiSpyware...