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I'm having what looks like 2 seperate problems. Now, I have both Norton's Anti-virus and ZoneAlarm and have run both of them. The problem I'm having is that, still, whenever I attempt to start up IE or when I attempt to access my homepage, I get automatically rediracted to this weird page trying to sell me anti-virus software--www.ieuptodate.com. When I check my homepage on my internet options, my proper homepage is still listed. Also, sometimes when I attempt to go to sites, especially proper-anti-virus sites, I get blocked. ALSO, I now have this weird icon on my tray thatkeeps shouting that I have viruses (with a misspelled message, no less). I can't getrid of any of these, any advice?

 

It reeks of adware. Check Kitrax's sticky on adware and malware. I'd install AdAware and Hijackthis, and run them one after the other to see if they identify and remove the culprit.

Also, if you can identify the process that loads that icon in your taskbar, you should be able to prevent it from loading when Windows starts up.
Using the Task Manager (right-click on Windows' program bar), check what processes are running. See if there's one with a similar name to that of the antivirus thingy. Try shutting it down.

If the fake antivirus icon disappears from the tray by doing this, to prevent it from loading up again do the following:
1. Click on Start - Run
2. Type 'msconfig' (without the inverted commas)
3. Go to the tab labelled 'Startup'
4. Look for the process that killed the antivirus thingy, and uncheck it.

This should prevent it from loading again. Next time you boot up Windows you'll get a warning message from the system because you've been playing with the configuration utility. Tell it not to bother you anymore.

 

That's defiantly malware. Two different types too...

My advise would be to read over my guide that Colthrun linked to, and to buy SpySweeper. It's fairly cheap, and from what I've seen, version 5.0 is going to be awesome (it's still in Beta, but is already topping the charts). I can't wait to get it for myself. One of the best features of SpySweeper is it's shields. Among them is a specific shield for your IE homepage, so that malware can't change it.

 

Thanks, to both of you! Unfortunately, my problem is still a problem, but I have eliminated a large number of other problems on my computer... I will have to see about buying SpySweeper and hope that helps. I sent Norton a message about it as well and... their reply didn't help in the slightest. Bleh.

 

That's Norton for you.

 

Hey, here's another question--when I went into safe mode to scan, I noticed that I could revive an older, saved version of Windows (I have Windows XP Professional). What are the odds that this could really turn out badly for me if I tried it?

 

One in two. It's like betting the contents of your hard drive to a coin toss.

I'd suggest Ad-Aware and Spybot for scanning your computer, if you have not already scanned it with those two tools.

 

Thank you again, everyone, for your help. I have what I hope is my very last question, since if I run into trouble like this again, I may very well just throw my laptop out of a large building.
Anyway. I ran Spybot and *finally* got rid of the original problem (my homepage is no longer being hijacked, hip-hip-hooray!) and now I'm left with three virus programs all running on my computer. Now, having all three causes my computer to run rather slowly, so can anyone give me advice as to which of the three I should hold onto? Right now I have Norton, Ad-aware, and Spybot--I like what Spybot and Ad-aware have done for me, but I'm rather clueless on the issue. Which one, two, or should I just put up with all three?
(Oh, and is there a good firewall besides ZoneAlarm that I can use while I'm looking for one to buy? I'm kinda annoyed at it since I was using ZoneAlarm when I got infected.)

 

Some clarifications, I hope:

1. Zone Alarm is not anti-virus. It is more anti-spyware and anti-hacker. Mostly anti-hacker. It keeps hackers from gaining access to your machine via the net and keeps unwanted processes aka trojan/spyware programs from accessing the network without you knowing.
2. Norton is anti-virus but not anti-spyware. It only works if you have the real-time protection turned on and update often.
3. Ad-aware and spybot are not anti-virus, just anti-spyware. I assume you only have the free versions. These will not do real-time protection. They only do anything when you actually do a scan, then they exit. The paid versions do have an active real-time scanning.

So, you need them all.
1. Norton, with real time protection enabled to prevent viruses from loading from web-sites, bad e-mails etc.
2. Zone Alarm, or the XP built in firewall to prevent hackers from attacking through the net.
3. Ad-aware and spybot to get rid of spyware (mostly cookies) when you do a scan.

But most of all - turn on Norton real-time protection (right click on the Norton icon in the system tray and "Enable File System Realtime Protection") and do LiveUpdate often.

PS And also do the Windows Update often. To close the holes like the one that enabled the web browser hijack. You might want to turn on Automatic Updates, but I personally do not like that. I like to see what the Windows wants to update before I allow it.

 

*sigh*

People still waving the SpyBot SaD flag huh? What a shame. Here's a quote from PC World after doing a review of several current/upcoming versions of anti-malware programs.

Inactive threats are the badies that gather all the info they need, and then sit and wait for something to poke them before they call home with the info they stole from you. Detecting only 2% is horrible!

Here's the full article. You can even compare the programs (listed as they are ranked, top being the best) by clicking a link at the end of the article.

Like Chas said, you need them all...well, one of each type that is. You need a firewall to help protect your computer from intrusion, a virus scanner for removing viruses and similar malware, and an anti-spyware program. Depending on your current PC, you might need a RAM upgrade to keep your computer safe, but still productive.

Each area has it's own battle for being the "best" program for the job, and then there are the all-in-1 suites that *try* to be the best at everything...but usually fail to do so.

• Right now, the virus scanners list is toped by McAfee and Norton. Who both offer the all-in-1 suites. It's their standalone scanning programs that are the cream of the crop. Personally, I use McAfee, and I wouldn't have it otherwise.
• The firewall are is a little more diverse. It goes without saying that Zone Lab's ZoneAlarm is at the top, while Windows Firewall is at the very bottom.
• The anti-spyware are is where things get heated up. Most people are cheap and go for the free stuff...and in turn don't get a very clean computer. Right now, Webroot's Spy Sweeper is on top, with PC Tools' Spyware Doctor in close second, with the free programs rounding out the bottom.

I hope that answers your question.

 

I disagree with your software choices.

ESPECIALLY Norton. What a piece of junk.

ZoneAlarm is good - but nowhere near the best imo. You're dead on about Windows Firewall though.

I usually go for the free stuff and use my skill to keep my computer clean - but if I buy security software, I go with F-Secure Internet Security... even with the ridiculously idiotic support.

 

Indeed, Norton is a resource hog.

I have been using Kaspersky for years now. It is one of the fastest to respond to new threats and it also has one of the best detection records.

Some links to tests and reviews (mainly about Kaspersky) that I hastily found, some are a bit old though:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1916880,00.asp
http://www.overclockers.com/articles1260/
http://www.software-antivirus.com/program/kaspersky-antivirus-review.html
http://reviews.cnet.com/Kaspersky_Anti_Virus_6/4505-3667_7-32004282.html?tag=pdtl-list
http://www.pcworld.com/article/124475-1/article.html

Lastly, something about Norton...

http://www.computergripes.com/NortonAntiVirus2003.html
http://www.computergripes.com/NortonAntiVirus2004.html
http://www.computergripes.com/NortonAntiVirus2005.html

 

Hehehe, I feel like I've started up a console debate, but about computer protective services.

Well, I'll stick with what I have for now--Spybot may not be rated well, but it did get rid of the one problem I asked it to--and I've got Norton running constantly, so hopefully it'll take care of what the other two miss. I've reinstalled ZoneAlarm, since it was my own stupidity that caused the breach, not ZoneAlarm's capabitlities. I'll look at some of the other suggestions when I can afford them (don't ask!) Thanks, again, to everyone who gave me advice, as I'd be tearing my hair out right now without you.

 

I agree. One tip to all readers is to avoid IE!
I've never had Dragon's Jewel's orignal problem by using Mozilla Firefox, and Opera probably the probably has no such problems either.

 

I read the article referenced by Kitrax above. In the replies section, the AdAware people asked that if you read the fine print, AdAware did better in most areas but was still rated overall less that the paid versions, so WTF? I wonder if the paid programs had big paid ads in that months magazine?

But AdAware does nothing for Firefox or Opera. I have tried doing a full scan on every disk/directory to see if AdAware will find the Firefox or Opera tracking cookies and it does not. When I clicked on the link to go to AdAwares home site from within its help section, it used IE even though Firefox is my default browser. The article never mentions which scanners work on non IE browsers.

When I use Spybot, after running AdAware, it does clean out the tracking cookies from the Firefox and Opera browsers. And Spybot does continue to update its definitions. So I will continue to use both and hope that AdAware adds non IE support. Maybe it already does in the paid version but I see nothing about that on ther web page.

 

Chas - Yeah, I saw that too...and I was a little disappointed with PC World. AdAware is one of my favorite free programs that I still use on a regular basis to see if it can catch anything that SpySweeper misses. Usually neither of them find anything on my computer, but there has been 1 or 2 times where AdAware found a suspicious cookie where SpySweeper passed it by.

IMO, AdAware should have been high up on the list.