Do I have a virus?

Question

I have a MCAfee Virus program which I keep updated, but my computer is slow and I notice when I am online I sometimes have a lot of errors? virus scan shows nothing? Is there a software program that is like a doctor that I can run to see if I have a trojan or something else?

Answer 1

McAfee anti virus is not enough, you need anti spyware scans to be performed regularly:
There are quite a few free anti-spyware programs available! I suggest that users should use at least 3 different products to regularly scan their systems. Most of these products are free for non-commercial use versions that have disabled some features, usually the active resident protection.

Spybot Search and Destroy is an excellent program for scanning for and removing spyware. The resident modules can be a bit buggy, but the extra included tools such as startup manger are great! http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html

Adaware is another good scanner and removal tool but it has no resident abilities at all in the free version. http://free.lavasoft.com

Ewido is fairly new as a free spyware scanner, but it comes from the people who brought us AVG, so I expect good things: http://free.grisoft.com

Microsoft has their free scanner avalable for download although many advise that this tool is a bit permissive of questionable programs and add ons! Defender does offer a couple of options the others do not have such as scheduled scan and a resident process for active protection. http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

The Yahoo toolbar includes an Spyware scanner that works ok. Yahoo does not advise this but you can run this program outside the toolbar by simply creating a shortcut to the exe file found in the yahoo directory under program files. http://toolbar.yahoo.com/

A new player is on the scene with SUPERAntiSpware. I was fairly impressed with the deep scans performed by this product, and it found some inactive files with spyware embedded,that the others had missed. I will add this to the list of tools in the arsenal and see how it really performs on active spyware. If you want to try it you can download it here: http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html

Once you have your system cleaned up of all the spyware, then you should protect yourself against new infestations. Spyware Blaster does a very good job and does not use up any system resourses in doing so. Works with both IE and Firefox browsers: This Download can be found at http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

Another good way to avoid spyware is to use the Firefox browser. While not immune from spyware infestation, you will certainly not have as many problems as when you run I.E. Easy Download at http://www.mozilla.com

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Anti virus softwares dont detect most spywares and adwares(mind it, 100s of them are released every day).Maybe you should dowload AdAware and get a full system scan.You can also switch over to Norton.Its firewall is not that good as McAfee but it detects virus better.
There is also possibility that Some of your system files have been deleted.In this case,you will have to reboot your system.
As regards the slowing down of your system,Use the defragment , system optimiser options and keep your resources from being hogged by wiping out temporary files,URL history and cookies.

Answer 4

Yes Antivirus programs slow down computers, but that is not the only thing. If you have any doubt, you can manually run your program once, or schedule it so that it runs at your specified time.
Check at the lower right corner of your computer. What are the program icons you see there. right click on each and exit, or shut down those you do not need. This helps to improve your speed. Also you can exit your antivirus program when you are not using internet. It will speed up other programs.

There are few other things you can do to improve your pc performance. IM me on YM if you want to know more.

Answer 5

these r some of the reson that make ur compu show n erro:

1. spyware or virus
2. u install to many program on ur comp
3. ur compu is old

to fix the problem

1. download these program all free
AVG Anti-virus,
Spyware Terminator,
Zone Alarm Firewall

http://download.com

2. uninstall any program that is not nessesary to you.

3. controll start up program:

Go to "start".."run"..type in ( msconfig )

then click on "startup"..

uncheck anything slowing your system down

then click on "Services" and do the same...

then you'll have to reboot...

when system reboots

it will prompt you about the changes you made...

just check the box on the bottom left side saying...

"don't show this message again"

4. get registry scan: Abexo registry cleaner is free http://download.com

Answer 6

It sounds like you have some spyware or spamware on your computer. I would suggest going to:
http://www.download.com/Best-free-security-and-spyware-software/1200-2023_4-5163183.html?tag=hed.

There are alot of good spyware finding programs out there. Give that a shot. I personally use Spyboy Search & Destroy and Adaware.

Answer 7

my last computer was like that that was why my family got a new one............the virus scanner that we used before was the same one that you are using right now but that is not enough.......currently my this computer I'm using we have Norton Antivirus plus a firewall so0o0o i suggest that you should set a firewall up if you dont have one and probably a new thing like norton to stop viruses

Answer 8

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

Use HouseCall its free.