I have loads of viruses on my computer. is rebooting the best idea?

Question

I got a trojan virus. Wait, ALOT of viruses.
I had about 50 infections 2 days ago and I couldnt fix it without paying. So my dad set the date back before the virus started and it went fine. But yesterday morning it came back with other alerts saying they cant take my password and put information on my laptop and spread my e mail or whatever.
And all I get is warning at the bottom right with block or ignore and I can't block it unless I pay.
Is rebooting my entire laptop the solution?
I tried to scan using AVG but it found LOADS in an hour and 15 minutes then i stopped it because it took too long and tried to remove them but it wouldnt let me because i stopped it. so it did the scan again and came up with less.. perhaps because I had the other scan on at the same time? but it wouldnt let me remove them.
x

Answer 1

I explain to my customers that if they have really neglected there inet security then reformatting and reinstalling is the best way to know 100% that you have gotten everything. If I do it in the shop I delete the partition and reformat then do another full installation.

But there are security software you can install and scan with that may do it but you cannot count on them being 100% by scanning and deleting. Something to remember is that a virus or Trojan and all of the others are so effective by hiding from such scans. And these apps are good at hiding. Unless you have the knowledge to know where and what to look at then just scanning shouldn't give you the feeling that all is well. Odds are you will miss something by scanning alone. Be safe whatever you do. Pay more attention to your security.





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Answer 2

Turning the date back is not the answer. From the sound of it your best bet would be start from scratch again and do a complete wipe of the system and then a full reinstall. If you have files you need to keep copy them of first.

Once you have reinstalled or recovered the system install your anti virus software AVG is good, even the free version, and learn how to use it correctly and make sure it is always up to date.

I would guess that you tend to surf to web sites that are virus infected or are using peer to peer downloading such as Limewire, the answer to this is DON'T as download clients such as this carry large amounts of infected files.

If you do download files no matter what they are or where they come from scan them for infection before doing anything with them. You can do this with AVG. Just right click on the file and then click "Scan with AVG". If the file contains any infection delete is immediately.

When an anti virus scan is running do not stop it, the time it takes is the time it takes, there's nothing you can do about it.

Make sure Windows firewall is turned on. If your running XP then Windows firewall is not much good download and install Zone Alarm free edition and install it, you will have to learn how to use it. If its Windows Vista the firewall is better, but not a lot.

You can find anti virus, anti spyware, firewall and other software on my web site at: http://www.alpha-acs.co.uk/

Hope this helps you out of you dilemma.

Answer 3

The antivirus product you used which didn't let you remove those virus without paying appears to be a rogue antivirus. I can't 100% guarantee that it is though since you did not mention the name of the other antivirus which detects those stuff. Anyway, rogue antivirus is antivirus which tries to scam the user by making loads of fake detections and ask the user to pay to remove those fake detections. Try downloading MalwareBytes scanner from malwarebytes.org and do a scan. That free scanner will detect and remove rogue antivirus and trojans. If it takes too long to scan, try scanning in safe mode. If you don't know how to go to safe mode, keep pressing F8 when you restart / turn on your computer before it enters Windows. A menu will appear and choose Safe Mode from that menu.



Hope this helps :)

Answer 4

The reason why is because the software you're using, may cause that to happen and the reason why you're computer reboots because it depends on what software programs you're using and I would suggest if you buy Registry Power Cleaner because it cleans the PC so it can prevent the computer to freeze up or to reboot

Answer 5

yes Format the laptop is not the best solution for removing virus the only thing u need is better anti virus. But as per your wording it could be possible that you have been encountered by spyware. If that is so then i would say format is as soon as possible.u can use trojan remover software too that help in removing your trojan files.or there is a process of deleting this anti-virus but that would some network engineer can only help you in so best solution is format your laptop



http://www.zimbio.com/Spyware/articles/5328/Remove+Fast+Antivirus+2009+FastAntivirus+2009

Answer 6

No,reboot does not delete anay viruses found in your computer.You install a anti virus on it.Then update the virus database and scan after update.delete all viruses that the anti virus detected on your PC then reboot.If the virus is has already spread and command.com is already disabled,reinstalling the operating system is the last solution.

Answer 7

Rebooting is turning your computer off, and then back on. You mean reinstalling. If you have multiple anti-virus programs at the same time, they can conflict with each other, so be sure to only have one installed and running (I suggest AVG). Let it scan. It will take longer for you to reinstall than for it to get rid of the viruses. If it can't get rid of the viruses, you may have to reinstall.

Answer 8

Personal Antivirus is malware+spyware software it means tat ur com is in great trouble u should go download avira the free version antivirus to scan for it if u cant go to any antivirus website u should go into safe mode with networking and scan from there

Answer 9

PaV is a 'rogue' & yes a formatted re-installation (not the 'Repair') of the OS will cure that.

To avoid this kind of crud in the future, start using Firefox with "NoScript" add-on (but there are many more things that need to be done).

Answer 10

You have to install a fresh copy of operating system then install a virus gurad like kaspersky 2009 then full scan ur laptop n fix them

Answer 11

you can reinstall windows

reboot means to restart your computer