Question. I have used Avast free edition for a while. I’ve never gotten a virus on my computer. In the last 2 weeks, I have gotten two. Avast up to date. Windows security up to date…Firewall etc. With the malware defense virus, I received a pop up out of no where, then I did NOT want to click on it at all, so I task manager/end process, but this would not work…I ultimately had to reformat my drive…I tried EVERYTHING step by step on the bleeping computer forum…The problem was, when booting in safe mode, rkill would not work …I would boot to safe mode…then immediately try to engage rkill asap, a black box would come up saying be patient…and it stayed like that for HOURS…I couldn’t run malwarebytes, even when renaming it. I didn’t know what else to do so I reformatted…which wasn’t a big deal because the computer I had the malware defense virus on had nothing important on it…Then tonight, on my MAIN computer, I get this pop up…antivirus soft…IT seemed to block me from ending task on it and it would not let me run malwarebytes or spybot s&d…HOWEVER, it didn’t disrupt AVAST at all. I ran a full avast scan, it found nothing, even though it was right there. I Then went to safe mode…ran rkill asap, ran malwarebytes (updated) and it found it and took it off…My concern is why is avast not catching these viruses? I went to the malware defense page and saw a lot of comments on that dating back to 2008, so it didn’t seem as if it were that new…
First, congratulations on knocking off that rogue AV - those have a reputation for being hard to handle.
No antivirus is perfect, and things will inevitably slip by eventually.
You can get an extra level of protection by using Firefox with the NoScript addon; it is a bit hard to get used to at first, but the protection is superb (I regularly visit malware-laden sites to analyze malicious JavaScript on them, and NoScript’s never failed me, even there) and it becomes intuitive pretty soon.
You can get a second layer of protection by only browsing in a sandbox program, such as Sandboxie; you can set it up to let your bookmarks through, but block everything else. Once again, I can personally vouch for Sandboxie - I frequently run malware inside it, and once again I’ve never had a problem.
Finally, as the user, you are the most important part of security. Don’t browse adult sites, sites with pirated content, or sites that look “shady”; if your intuition warns you about a site, don’t wait around to see what’ll happen next. That may not protect you from legit sites that have been hacked, but it’ll certainly help (unless you already do all that).
Cheers!
computerfreaker
Hi Samantha :
The programs you are talking about are NOT “Viruses”, but considered
“Rogue” programs by the malware-fighting community . These “Rogues” are
periodically “modified”, so security program programming has to be
“modified” to “Detect” the modification . Which is why it is recommended to
use the “Layered” Approach to security, using multiple security programs as
long as they do NOT “conflict” with One another .
At times, the “rkill” recommended by BleepingComputer MAY become
ineffective, and I have been recommending, as an Alternative, the FREE
“exeHelper” program accessed at www.raktor.net//exeHelper/exeHelper.com .
Thanks! I took the advice and added the script blocker to my firefox browser. I hope this helps:) I’m still amazed at my lack of computer knowledge and I was successfully able to get the 2nd malware off my computer without having to reformat. I downloaded the .exe helper to have on my desktop in the future. Does anyone know if adaware live watch is of any assistance in preventing malware from being installed? I have ad adaware downloaded and updated and it sits in the taskbar saying “livewatch” is currently on. I didn’t have this running when I got infected by the malware the other day. The programs I have on my computer currently, other than avast are: Advanced system care “free”…Spybot S&D free…Malwarebytes free…AdAware free…and Ccleaner free…IS that overkill?
Does anyone know if adaware live watch is of any assistance in preventing malware from being installed?Malwarebytes PRO will stop it, it is a onetime fee for a liftime license www.malwarebytes.org
The programs I have on my computer currently, other than avast are: Advanced system care "free".........Spybot S&D free...........Malwarebytes free........AdAware free.........and Ccleaner free.........IS that overkill?I would remove Spybot, it is no good and i would remove IOBit AdvancedSystemCare
IOBit info
http://www.malwarebytes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=29681
http://www.malwarebytes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=30989
http://www.malwarebytes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=33217
There is also a tool for removal of IOBit software. Bitremover 1.2
you will fiend it on the right side of the page
http://uninstallers.blogspot.com/