What is the most effective way to check XP for viruses/malware etc?

[SAWYER]

I am helping an older woman from work with her computer. She had all kinds of trojans, spyware etc. The biggest offended was "Personal Antivirus" I think I managed to get it all off, that and other junk/spyware programs. I am running a scan with AVG then I will uninstall that and install Avira and run a scan. Any other tips to check the system?

 

[MustISO]

Clean it while in safe mode and turn off system restore. Avira has a free boot CD that can scan outside of Windows.

 

[gigahertz20]

My uncle had the "Personal Antivirus" scam software on his computer 2 weeks ago, I remotely logged in and did a system restore to an earlier date and that fixed the problem.

Follow this guide on how to remove it, I followed it as well to make sure no traces were left.

http://www.geekpolice.net/malw...delete-guide-t7526.htm


Download Malwarebytes and have it do a scan.
http://www.malwarebytes.org/

 

[0roo0roo]

beyond a certain point its not worth assuming the antivirus programs are going to work.
restore partition or reinstall. who knows what rootktis etc are on there. you pit your wits against a dozen virus makers? i don't put the odds as good..just reinstall.

 

[steve2000x]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
beyond a certain point its not worth assuming the antivirus programs are going to work.
restore partition or reinstall. who knows what rootktis etc are on there. you pit your wits against a dozen virus makers? i don't put the odds as good..just reinstall.

I agree - ten plus years on the internet and only one instance of a 'virus' being identified by AV software, on my computers, despite the massive amounts of downloaded media and web surfing i've done...

And the tedious ineffectiveness of adaware type programs, and just the overall hassle even when they do work...

Sometimes it's just hella lot easier to re-format, than chasing your tail wasting time.

 

[WT]

This is what I use, and its created and endorsed by our very own AT members:

Malware removal thread

 

[Sam25]

Originally posted by: steve2000x

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
beyond a certain point its not worth assuming the antivirus programs are going to work.
restore partition or reinstall. who knows what rootktis etc are on there. you pit your wits against a dozen virus makers? i don't put the odds as good..just reinstall.

I agree - ten plus years on the internet and only one instance of a 'virus' being identified by AV software, on my computers, despite the massive amounts of downloaded media and web surfing i've done...

And the tedious ineffectiveness of adaware type programs, and just the overall hassle even when they do work...

Sometimes it's just hella lot easier to re-format, than chasing your tail wasting time.

Yup, sometimes a clean re-format is the best option instead of dealing with the troubles of removing the nasty spywares.

 

[WildHorse]

``

 

[jjsbasmt]

Unless there is a compelling reason not to, I too would highly recommend the reinstall. A bit of work, but almost certainly for the better. Almost always I reinstall for people under those circumstances. After everything is reinstalled, I do an image before returning to the owner so that the next time I get their system (and you can almost always be sure that will happen within a year or so), the job is so much easier the 2nd time around.