[Huggybaby]

Indeed! Thus, Sandboxie (or a virtual machine) adds a few more clicks to make accidents harder to implement. Using those, you have to really TRY to get infected. 

[Wobble73]

I use AVG Free at home and their free Anti Spyware prog as well, only once has AVG Free ever found a virus on my PC and that was because I downloaded an spam attachment on purpose just to test the Anti virus. (I never opened the attachment of course, that would have been silly) and AVG detected and deleted the virus within minutes, still in it's zipped form. 

[Huggybaby]

Indeed, AVG just subsumed ewido anti-spyware, which was considered best in class, a definite confidence inspiring move.

[Fury]

Too bad AVG artificially limits their free versions to an annoying degree. They tend to remove some or all automatic online update features and x86_64 support among other things. Due to that, I favor avast! over AVG.

[Wobble73]

Too bad AVG artificially limits their free versions to an annoying degree. They tend to remove some or all automatic online update features and x86_64 support among other things. Due to that, I favor avast! over AVG.

Really!!?? 

My AVG updates every 2-3 days! Or at least I thought it did? I may look at avast.......?

[Fury]

According to AVG's website, the current free version of their AV has online updates but no "high-speed online update", whatever that means. From their free anti-spyware product, automatic updates as well as real-time scanning and kernel protection are missing alltogether.

[Huggybaby]

Yeah, the free AVG AV has always used a sometimes overloaded server for updates. There was a long time when it was too overloaded to work well at all, but after too many months of complaints they added more server capacity, so it's cool now. The free anti-spyware part (especially after expiration) certainly has real-time limitations though.

[S-99]

From their free anti-spyware product, automatic updates as well as real-time scanning and kernel protection are missing alltogether.

Hmm yes i believe avast what this avg is missing has all of this from what i've experienced of it. I need to check out avg as well, i've seen it on many customers computers, then i've found out many people use it(it must be good but is it?), i need to see this first hand for myself...but i like my avast

[Huggybaby]

They both rate highly, so there's no compelling reason to switch from one to the other. The major deal with AVG is that it has a free version. But as far as the difference between them, what would really determine whether you used one or the other? Unless you were to test your machine by infecting it with some particular virus, it kind of boils down to which interface you prefer, or (for me) whatever the latest magazine reviews are.

Since virus writers are getting so clever lately, it seems that frequency of updates is not as important as it once was, and that heuristic detection capability is coming to the fore. I wonder how many people actually manage to get infected with any new virus before it and its variants get added to the predominant detection databases.

[jr2]

http://forums.spybot.info/index.php (Spybot Search & Destroy Forums)
Near the bottom, post your problem under "Malware removal" - They helped me fix a problem back awhile ago, those folks are great!

[MP-Ryan]

Lots of good suggestions here.

A few of my buddies (network admins, engineers, hobbyists) and I have worked out a system we tell friends.

1.A.  Run Windows Update from the website.  Internet explorer has a menu option in the tools menu.
1.B. Run Housecall:  http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
1.C.  Download Avast.  It's the best possible anti-virus software you can get for home use.  Including McAffee and Norton.  They're crap.  Download Avast.  www.avast.com

2.  Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall.  A restricted-use version is also free.  I liked it better when Kerio maintained control of it, but it's still alright.  The main benefit here is traffic restriction - you can see what is trying to come in AND what's trying to go out.  http://www.sunbelt-software.com/Home-Home-Office/Sunbelt-Personal-Firewall/  The free version will suffice (it runs as a full version for 30 days).

3.  After those are installed, run Hitman Pro.  Then run it a second time.

4.  Download the Firefox Browser, and quit using IE.  Stick in the AdBlock Plus extensions so you quit getting suckered by ads that say you have viruses.

5.  Repeat steps 1-4 a second time and watch the results of the scans/repairs.

Chances are you don't have any viruses or serious malware to begin with.  Follow those steps.  If Avast, Housecall, and Hitman pick up viruses or malware the first go around, complete the steps, then run them all again.  If they STILL pick up problems, then reformat.

I'd put money down that says this is not a serious problem that requires a reformat of the hard disk.

[jr2]

McAffee and Norton.  They're crap.

*agrees heartily*

EDIT: Removed text for better impact.

[Fury]

2.  Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall.

Kerio has not done so well in tests lately, were beaten by a number of other firewalls including Jetico and Comodo. I haven't used the two, but I used Kerio before it was aqcuired by Sunbelt. I had to stop using the firewall because it caused massive CPU usage whenever there was traffic of LAN speeds going on, LAN transfer speeds dropped to one tenth of what they were when Kerio wasn't running.

These days I have my trusty router with built-in NAT and firewall, so I don't have much need for a software firewall as outbound connections aren't really of any concern to me.

[MP-Ryan]

2.  Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall.

Kerio has not done so well in tests lately, were beaten by a number of other firewalls including Jetico and Comodo. I haven't used the two, but I used Kerio before it was aqcuired by Sunbelt. I had to stop using the firewall because it caused massive CPU usage whenever there was traffic of LAN speeds going on, LAN transfer speeds dropped to one tenth of what they were when Kerio wasn't running.

These days I have my trusty router with built-in NAT and firewall, so I don't have much need for a software firewall as outbound connections aren't really of any concern to me.

Yeah, I've got a Linksys router now too, but I haven't had any problems with Kerio (yet).  I may eventually nix it.  For a free firewall though, it's certainly better than the Windows one.

[Arkangel]

I tried all of those above but the only one that detects the issue is Spy Hunter. (I daren't risk Hitman Pro)
Only problem is that I have to pay 30 bucks to use it.
Ah well... at least its cheaper than reformatting.

[MP-Ryan]

Why not use Hitman Pro?  It's free.

I have never heard of Spy Hunter, and I am highly skeptical of malware software you have to pay for, especially when nothing else finds the problem.

[peterc10]

i just use blueyonder pc guard, very little gets through that, but whne i do get a virus i download everything pssible untill i fix my pc. i also use peergaurdian 2 and spybot.

[Arkangel]

I searched SpyLocked (The bastard i have) on google and all these comments regarding its scam came up and they gave me the options of deleting it either manually (Way too complicated) or via software. Every site led me to Spy Hunter... It does detect all the problems i have.

I am reluctant to use Hitman Pro after reading the link at the bottom of the topic I posted at the start of this one.

Though if everyone here uses it and thinks its safe i will consider using it before purchasing Spy Hunter.
Any comments on pros and cons they have experienced with Hitman Pro will be highley appreciated.

Oh, and its now affected my MSN Hotmail too, it takes about 8 attempts before my password works. Not good i'm guessing.