In need of a good scan...

[Triple_7]

Its been to long and every scan I have tried seems to not pick up on it...the version of Norton's I have wont work with Vista.  So now I need a good FREE virus scanner that is simply that...don't want all the firewalls/extra crap.  

I've been having a problem for awhile now, its getting worse and upgraded itself to PITA mode.  

Awhile back I had to access a site using Internet Explorer, wouldn't load in Firefox.  IE is never used as every time in the past it was used I had to run scans to clear all the junk out of the system.  I'm not a fan of firewalls etc...with Firefox I rarely even get spyware or addware.  Well back to the IE disaster, I used it for maybe 15 minutes to fill out a couple forms and then closed it.  Ever since pop-ups have came flying at me in waves...they always arrive in pairs...sometimes 2 a minute other times up to 10 a minute.  But the thing is...I use Firefox as my browser...all the pop-ups show up in Internet Explorer boxes :-/

I've ran both Ad-Aware 2007, and then Spybot Search & Destroy.  Both are always updated before use.  Nothing has picked up on any viruses.  But I no longer have a scan just for viruses...so I'm in the market for a decent free one in hopes of killing these blasted pop-ups  

If its not a virus then I don't know what I'm going to do

[Gunny04]

I hate those bloody popups that do that, its complete BS but anyways a good free virus scanner is AVG by Grisoft, just google it I'm too lazy to get a link. I had this same problem the other day, I just went into my add/remove programs list in Vista and uninstalled things I didnt recognize and they are now gone, so try that and run a virus scan, if neither work, I have no idea.

Gunny

[Sir_Crashalot]

www.free.grisoft.com for AVG

www.free-av.com for Avira

Both free antivirusscanner, both very good.

Crash

[MCAntonio aka AN21]

Try a free virus scan from Kaspersky. I use Kaspersky and I am very happy with it(except of that stupid sound it does when it finds a virus )

[mrjake2002]

Yes, use Kaspersky!

[wealthysoup]

or get a 30 day trial of nod32 then uninstall it after, not sure of the website address but if you search for nod32 in google it should come up near or at the top of the list

[MCAntonio aka AN21]

or get a 30 day trial of nod32 then uninstall it after, not sure of the website address but if you search for nod32 in google it should come up near or at the top of the list

I was using it and it was a very "heavy" program..The PC was freezing at the startup. It's your decision Triple_7

[Sir_Crashalot]

Although NOD32 is one of the best antivirus programs out there, it doesn't allow for online gameplay like FS. I had a full (paid) version of NOD32 but had to uninstall it because it blocked multiplayer games. For as far as I know there is no solution for that.

Crash

[Triple_7]

Thanks for all the replies.  Decided to go with AVG.  It seems to have done the trick, there was 3 viruses found, all located in the IE program folders :-/  Haven't had a pop-up since 8-)

Don't care how badly I need to access a site for something...I'm NEVER again firing up IE to do it

[MCAntonio aka AN21]

..there was 3 viruses found, all located in the IE program folders

Not a suprise at all... Use Opera

[Alonso]

..there was 3 viruses found, all located in the IE program folders

Not a suprise at all... Use Opera

Opera all the way!!!

The only thing I don't like about it is that it doesn't work well with simviation.com page (not forums)

[pepper_airborne]

Opera and firefox are a preferred choice over IE by most people that have some know how off that stuff. And it's safer for viruses and trojans, since i got AVG and FF i havent got a single virus, atleast not one that has been picked up by any program.

[MrRooney]

Although NOD32 is one of the best antivirus programs out there, it doesn't allow for online gameplay like FS. I had a full (paid) version of NOD32 but had to uninstall it because it blocked multiplayer games. For as far as I know there is no solution for that.

Crash ;)

Usually Nod32 is only a antivirus program, but i know Eset (makes of nod32) have a security suite, in which i've had that problem before, i think that would be solved by setting the permissions.

I was using it and it was a very "heavy" program..The PC was freezing at the startup. It's your decision Triple_7

I've found that Nod32 even running at startup isn't that heavy, i've ran in on an old pentium 2 system and still found it was starting up into windows fairly quickly, if you went start > run > msconfig > startup you could remove the ones that you don't need at startup.

[Wingo]

Glad to know you fixed your problem. Although I find it disturbing that you don't like the idea of a firewall!! If you had a firewall in place it would have stopped the pop-ups showing. For a bot like that to work it needs a connection to the internet to communicate with a server which shows you the adds. A friewall would have stopped those communications. Also if you ever recieve a trojan or zombie, tools which allow a hacker to acces your computer or use your computer to attack others, a firewall will also stop them in their tracks. An antivirus wont give you a complete security protection, you need a firewall, anti-spyware and anti-adware as well to reciee complete coverage. If you are interested there is ZoneAlarm, a free firewall which is also the best available. They also sell more complete packages such as their internet security suite which covers everything listed above. http://www.zonelabs.com

[MCAntonio aka AN21]

Although NOD32 is one of the best antivirus programs out there, it doesn't allow for online gameplay like FS. I had a full (paid) version of NOD32 but had to uninstall it because it blocked multiplayer games. For as far as I know there is no solution for that.

Crash ;)

Usually Nod32 is only a antivirus program, but i know Eset (makes of nod32) have a security suite, in which i've had that problem before, i think that would be solved by setting the permissions.

I was using it and it was a very "heavy" program..The PC was freezing at the startup. It's your decision Triple_7

I've found that Nod32 even running at startup isn't that heavy, i've ran in on an old pentium 2 system and still found it was starting up into windows fairly quickly, if you went start > run > msconfig > startup you could remove the ones that you don't need at startup.

I have already done that a loooooong time ago..I start  with only 5 programs(AntiVirus,Firewall etc) so  the problem isnt there..Maybe because together with the NOD32 the Kaspersky was open too..Who knows?