The computer won't let me install anti-spyware?

Question

Anythime I try to install some the computer says the security settings need to be changed. must be a pretty nasty virus. any ideas? It has also stopped me from turning on the firewall.

Answer 1

have u got firewall or anti virus settings 2 high?

Answer 2

"the security settings need to be changed." Is that the exact message or are there any details? Do you have virus protection on it and have you used it? Even if you do, try going to www.trendmicro.com and using their free online scanning tool called housecall. This will scan for viruses and some spyware. Even if you have another good program on your computer, no av program picks up everything and trend micro will sometimes pick up things that others miss (it is not necessarily the best, it is just a good second service). If you have any important viruses, you should know within the first five minutes, but let the scan run completely anyway.

What spyware program are you trying to install? I would highly recommend Spybot Search and Destroy, which is not only the best, it is also freeware. You can download it from www.tucows.com.

You may not have a virus though. You may just as well have a glitch in your registry. This is fairly easy to fix, though if you don't know what you are doing, you may cause more harm than good.

Is your computer old enough that it would be worth the trouble of formating the harddrive and reloading? I tend to load and unload alot of programs over time and even when you unload it correctly, it doesn't clean it completely off your computer so every now and then (in years of course) I will format it completely and start over from scratch.

Answer 3

You haven't said anything about your computer so I'll assume it's a PC running Windows XP. As a suggestion try booting the machine and putting it into "Safe Mode". Shortly after you've turned it on, press F8 repeatedly and then select Safe Mode with networking when asked. This starts the computer using the minimum of components required. Then, go into Explorer and download WIndows Defender from Microsoft. You might then need to go into Defender to download the latest database - and then manually scan your hard drive. Here's the link:

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

This isn't exactly anti-virus software but there's still a decent chance that it might detect and remove malware from your PC. If not, you can still use Defender to check (and disable) what starts up when you boot the PC - you might be surprised by what you find!

Good Luck.

Answer 4

Sounds like a virus, start the PC in safe mode, re boot the computer while it is booting tap the f8 key repeatedly until you see a list of start up options, and choose safe mode, then in safe mode try and install the antispyware, and run a scan while in safe mode, and run any other scanners you have in safe mode as well, maybe they will detect what is causing this, after they have finished, re boot the PC and re start the PC normally, in normal mode try and update the scanners you have, but see if you can start the firewall before hand, it may need enabling in the services section of windows, click start> control panel>administrative tools>double click component services, and look for local services icon in the left hand pane, click on that, a list of services will appear, scroll down the list until you see the firewall you are using, right click on it and choose restart, see if the firewall restarts, if you can update your scanners safely then use safe mode again to run scans again. Good luck.

Answer 5

I suggest you try installing that anti-spyware in Safe Mode. Malware sometimes doesn't get a chance to run and protect itself.

To get into Safe Mode:

1.Log out and reboot your machine.
2.When the machine starts the reboot sequence, press the F8 key repeatedly.
3.Select Safe Mode from the resulting menu.
4.The machine will continue booting, but the Windows desktop will look different. You won't be able to see the Internet, for instance. Log in as Administrator. Administrator often has no password.
5.When you're finished, log out and reboot back into normal mode.

Also, I recommend Ad-Aware SE and Spybot S&D. They're both free.

Good luck.

Answer 6

You can use online scan.
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All can be trusted and you can download one.
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Answer 7

try just turning off the security center an installing the software, it can be done in the control panel, if you are running windows vista the security center see's everything as a threatmake sure to turn off the internet connection.

Answer 8

Anti spyware should be included on your anti virus software but if you must dissable the anti virus and dowload the anti spy.then re try using.i think??

Answer 9

sometimes some virus may block it ..to install you can formate and install the anti-sypware or some of the anti virus software does not allow so you can change your setting in that ...then install

Answer 10

Try ton install in safe mode (when power on system, press f8 (keep tapping) for option and select "safe mode")

Safe mode allow minimal windows to start but would not load programs. Then try to install antispyware in safe mode (you cannot update antispyware since no network connection in safe mode).

Reboot, update antispyware and scan
PS:- I would prefer you scan your system when in safe mode, faster and easily remove it.