Hi,
After a long while of not scanning for viruses (I didn't think I needed to! I don't go to dodgy sites, so why would I have one?), I noticed that my computer was being really slow, so I scanned with AVG. And what do I find but like 20 trojans.
Whatever the case, removing them with the antivirus programs has only made it WORSE... as now I get spam popups, even in Firefox (you know, how it's supposedly "immune" to the IE-like malware?)
The thing is - I really can't afford to reformat. I have LOTS of programs I got from Giveaway of the Day - almost 100, even, and I really don't want to lose them. I don't suppose there's some backup thingy that will let you put programs back on that are currently installed after a reformat, is there?
An idea that I heard about was to get a Live-booting Linux CD, and run it with an antivirus - really a perfect way to get rid of them I think, as the Linux wouldn't be affected by whatever crap's on my hard drive. But I'd need help with it - I can find and burn a Ubuntu image, but where do I go from there?
I've tried all the programs imaginable - AVG is my top choice and preferred one... but it seems that all the stuff I remove in AVG just comes back after a reboot. Same goes for Ad-Aware and Spybot. I heard from someone that TrojanHunter was one of the best antiviruses, but the problem is I had it before and used up my trial. And I'm not paying $50 for a key! (Unless you can make like a new XP account and that'll let you use another trial )
What other programs are there? The associates at Micro Center are always telling people to buy Spyware Doctor... surely there's a demo of that out there... I got Symantec security suite, and will scan with that tonight.
I'm just really frustrated as these problems are turning my computer into a nightmare, and I don't know how to fix them! It's gotten to the point where it's somehow corrupted my sound card, and so now I get no sound. Even upgrading/rolling back the driver doesn't work.
Any ideas?
After a long while of not scanning for viruses (I didn't think I needed to! I don't go to dodgy sites, so why would I have one?), I noticed that my computer was being really slow, so I scanned with AVG. And what do I find but like 20 trojans.
Whatever the case, removing them with the antivirus programs has only made it WORSE... as now I get spam popups, even in Firefox (you know, how it's supposedly "immune" to the IE-like malware?)
The thing is - I really can't afford to reformat. I have LOTS of programs I got from Giveaway of the Day - almost 100, even, and I really don't want to lose them. I don't suppose there's some backup thingy that will let you put programs back on that are currently installed after a reformat, is there?
An idea that I heard about was to get a Live-booting Linux CD, and run it with an antivirus - really a perfect way to get rid of them I think, as the Linux wouldn't be affected by whatever crap's on my hard drive. But I'd need help with it - I can find and burn a Ubuntu image, but where do I go from there?
I've tried all the programs imaginable - AVG is my top choice and preferred one... but it seems that all the stuff I remove in AVG just comes back after a reboot. Same goes for Ad-Aware and Spybot. I heard from someone that TrojanHunter was one of the best antiviruses, but the problem is I had it before and used up my trial. And I'm not paying $50 for a key! (Unless you can make like a new XP account and that'll let you use another trial )
What other programs are there? The associates at Micro Center are always telling people to buy Spyware Doctor... surely there's a demo of that out there... I got Symantec security suite, and will scan with that tonight.
I'm just really frustrated as these problems are turning my computer into a nightmare, and I don't know how to fix them! It's gotten to the point where it's somehow corrupted my sound card, and so now I get no sound. Even upgrading/rolling back the driver doesn't work.
Any ideas?
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