Computer still running slowly after removing viruses, malware

[inachu]

Once you tried all the scanners on your pc give BLACKLIGHT by F-secure a try.
On a XP system its super cheap and better to just max out the ram to 4 gig.

Oh and after all that cleanup I bet your system registry is now full of holes. By that I mean when things get uninstalled then remaining registries get left behind which also slows your pc down. Use C Cleaner to get the speed back as well.

 

[GaryGnu]

Has anyone suggesting MSE for XP SP3 considered that MS no longer supports XP OR MSE for XP? They won't be allowed to download and install MSE onto that XP.

Best course of action? Get a PIPO X7 for $100-120. Replace the entire box.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2417388

I had installed MSE on there for her years ago. When I got the PC back, MSE was red and it had all this malware and viruses.

 

[ultimatebob]

Wow. While I admire your persistence, it's really time to take that old PC out back behind the woodshed and shoot it.

Replace grammy's PC with a Chromebook for about $250, and you shouldn't have these malware problems again.

 

[inachu]

Wow. While I admire your persistence, it's really time to take that old PC out back behind the woodshed and shoot it.

Replace grammy's PC with a Chromebook for about $250, and you shouldn't have these malware problems again.

last chance I would say after all that scanning then the person will need a registry cleaner to clean up after the leftovers which really do slow down a pc a lot!

 

[VirtualLarry]

last chance I would say after all that scanning then the person will need a registry cleaner to clean up after the leftovers which really do slow down a pc a lot!

No, they don't.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Well, first of all, you shouldnt be connecting to the internet with XP, since it is no longer supported.

Time for a new computer IMO, especially since you need to upgrade the OS anyway. Any modern system with a big core celeron or pentium, Win 7 or 8 and 4gb ram would seem blazing fast to someone used to this system.

Ordinarily, I am not a fan of them, but if the owner does not use any windows specific software, maybe even a chrome box or chrome book. Should be much less chance of getting huge amounts of malware.

 

[GaryGnu]

That is a tough one. MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) is probably the lightest, but isn't the best from protecting from what all brought on this mess, and it doesn't really claim to be either. However, if this is a case of a known mistake made, and things just started compounding (which I have seen several times) MSE would be fine, and had them run a program like MBAM every week or so.

The next lightest would be BitDefender Free, which is a better AV, and just a touch more system impact.

As denis280 suggested, the BEST solution would be adding some more memory if they want to continue to use the system.

Oh, and while you have it there, go ahead and do the registry mod to continue security updates:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/registry-hack-enables-continued-updates-for-windows-xp/

This hack opened me up to a whole pile of security updates. Very cool.

 

[kitfox]

First recommendation, don't use MSE...on any OS. It is so easily disabled by malware it's not even funny. One antimalware program is not going to clean an infected system. You need to run several of them.

My personal favorites are:

Hitman Pro
Malwarebytes
Emsisoft Emergency Kit
ADWCleaner
VIPRE Rescue
And a couple virus-specific ones (Stinger and TDSSKiller)

Once you run all those, load up Autoruns (by systeminternals) and verify that everything is as it should be.

Plan B would be to format/reinstall windows as other have said. Obviously that would fix everything and would probably be easier. But formatting is for quitters

 

[GaryGnu]

Well, first of all, you shouldnt be connecting to the internet with XP, since it is no longer supported.

Time for a new computer IMO, especially since you need to upgrade the OS anyway. Any modern system with a big core celeron or pentium, Win 7 or 8 and 4gb ram would seem blazing fast to someone used to this system.

Ordinarily, I am not a fan of them, but if the owner does not use any windows specific software, maybe even a chrome box or chrome book. Should be much less chance of getting huge amounts of malware.

Doesn't the previously mentioned registry hack gain 5 more years of security updates, and therefore make XP safe to use?

 

[GaryGnu]

First recommendation, don't use MSE...on any OS. It is so easily disabled by malware it's not even funny. One antimalware program is not going to clean an infected system. You need to run several of them.

My personal favorites are:

Hitman Pro
Malwarebytes
Emsisoft Emergency Kit
ADWCleaner
VIPRE Rescue
And a couple virus-specific ones (Stinger and TDSSKiller)

Once you run all those, load up Autoruns (by systeminternals) and verify that everything is as it should be.

Plan B would be to format/reinstall windows as other have said. Obviously that would fix everything and would probably be easier. But formatting is for quitters

For someone who is not an expert in this area, can you explain why multiple cleaners are needed to run to clean infected PCs? Aren't all the programs looking for and able to clean the same infections? Why not?

 

[LPCTech]

Yes you need to run multiple programs.
Not every program is made to be able to remove every virus or pup.

Different antimalware programs work in different ways and do different things.

to fully clean out most malware I suggest running, in this order:

Rkill
JunkwareRemovalTool
MBAM or Hitman pro, reboot.
ADWcleaner, reboot
Revo Uninstaller, remove anything that was installed in the time frame where you got the virus that you dont recognize
Jetclean, use the uninstall feature to remove things that revo cant see, and then run the one click fix.
reboot
reset all browsers
reboot
you should be virus free at that point unless you have something exotic.

If you have only half a gig of ram nothing you ever do will make that PC go faster. You might be able to run a small linux distro on it but you should never hope to run windows on it. You need a new computer for windows. 512MB of ram is unacceptable in a windows machine in 2015. I had 512MB of ram in my windows 98 PC.

 

[GaryGnu]

Actually going to upgrade the memory. Found 2gb of memory for it for $12.

Great info. Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[GaryGnu]

Yes you need to run multiple programs.
Not every program is made to be able to remove every virus or pup.

Different antimalware programs work in different ways and do different things.

to fully clean out most malware I suggest running, in this order:

Rkill
JunkwareRemovalTool
MBAM or Hitman pro, reboot.
ADWcleaner, reboot
Revo Uninstaller, remove anything that was installed in the time frame where you got the virus that you dont recognize
Jetclean, use the uninstall feature to remove things that revo cant see, and then run the one click fix.
reboot
reset all browsers
reboot
you should be virus free at that point unless you have something exotic.

If you have only half a gig of ram nothing you ever do will make that PC go faster. You might be able to run a small linux distro on it but you should never hope to run windows on it. You need a new computer for windows. 512MB of ram is unacceptable in a windows machine in 2015. I had 512MB of ram in my windows 98 PC.

Trying to install Jet Clean on a PC. And Chrome is claiming that it is malicious after downloading it from download.com, and has blocked it. Ever seen that before? Google search for it doesn't give me any hits.

 

[Ketchup]

Trying to install Jet Clean on a PC. And Chrome is claiming that it is malicious after downloading it from download.com, and has blocked it. Ever seen that before?

I installed it from Filehippo and really don't see anything beyond what ccleaner does. Also, if you uninstalled a problem through Revo Uninstaller, I don't see how there would be a reference left for Jet Clean to recognize it as an installed program anyway.

But the biggest reason I don't like that program is the Registry Defrag. That was hogwash when folks were trying to sell it 20 years ago, and if possible it would be even more so today.