I need some kick ass anti virus/anti spyware/anti adware/ software. Whats the best to get a deep down clean of all this shit!

format.com

skaught...the best thing to do is to format you harddrive and reinstall windows.

My computer works fine, but my GFs mom wants me to service her comp. Its is FUCKED!!!

My computer works fine, but my GFs mom wants me to service her comp. Its is FUCKED!!!

listened to me brother, go and format it and reinstall windows. its easy.

listened to me brother, go and format it and reinstall windows. its easy.

Oh I've done that many times on many computers. But her kids have so much stuff saved and installed on the comp, they dont want to loose it all.

Oh I've done that many times on many computers. But her kids have so much stuff saved and installed on the comp, they dont want to loose it all.

well than save it on another harddrive

My computer works fine, but my GFs mom wants me to service her comp. Its is FUCKED!!!

What is the operating system? If XP (most likely), begin with Windows Defender - http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx .

Next, Spybot S&D, http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

AVG has a free anti virus program, http://free.grisoft.com/ . Having her spend a few dollars and upgrade to the pay version would be even better.

AVG is terrible, use avira. I recently found stuff with avira that avg missed for years (literally).

well than save it on another harddrive

Got one I can use???

fuck reinstalling! People advise that so often when it's not necessary. Just disconnect from net, clean all caches and temp folders (ccleaner and atf cleaner should do it), run avira scan, then spyware/adware scan etc, then clean up reg and finally run defrag like diskeeper). If in doubt run hijackthis and save log and submit to an analysis site (human analysis not auto, auto HJ analysis is not so good) and people will check it to make sure there are no rootkits etc running.

The latest version of Spybot is very good. I've had to format and reinstall to get rid of Vundo infestations (after spending hours trying every anti virus and spyware scanner I could find, it still had pop unders as soon as you opened a web browser). The last computer I dealt with that had Vundo was completely cleaned by running Spybot.

fuck reinstalling!Amen to that!

You can almost always save yourself a reinstall if you just put a little effort into it.

fuck reinstalling! People advise that so often when it's not necessary. Just disconnect from net, clean all caches and temp folders (ccleaner and atf cleaner should do it), run avira scan, then spyware/adware scan etc, then clean up reg and finally run defrag like diskeeper). If in doubt run hijackthis and save log and submit to an analysis site (human analysis not auto, auto HJ analysis is not so good) and people will check it to make sure there are no rootkits etc running.

Know a good place to download Avira, and ATF?

http://www.free-av.com/en/download/1/avira_antivir_personal__free_antivirus.html

http://www.atribune.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=25

atf doesn't pick as much up as cc but I use it in combo in windows as it sometimes picks up bits that cc doesn't. It's very simple and effective for cleaning caches. www.majorgeeks.com usually has newest files for many things so worth checking there save hunting round everywhere.

Sweet! Thanks a lot Creep! (feels weird to thank someone and then call them creep ;) )

I've been using ccleaner and Window Washer on my comp. But I can't put window washer on my GFs moms computer. I did put CCleaner on it. It found 1025 errors!!!!!!!! I also put Ad-Aware on it, and it found over 800 malicious spyware/adware shit!!!!!
But yeah, its still running terribly slow...
I'll try those two though, and see if they help.

Thanks again to everyone :P

also try installing firefox with "looks familiar" theme and make it look like explorer, use ie icons pack and use firesomething to change branding. Then put adblock and updater in with silent never notify again updates and ietab and any other appropriate extensions. I find on peoples comps who don't know too much changing the browser and hidding some security/privacy processes helps, should cut down on spyware and the like at least.

To speed up slim down boot service and kill unneeded services and run rootkit revealer or HJ log and submit for analysis (spots many rootkits and like).

You are my new computer guru!

You are my new computer guru!

That's unsettling! Hehehe only joking, I don't know loads but hope I can help and glad to be of assistance.

kill unneeded services

This is probably the first thing that anyone *Administrating* an Operating system should learn. Every processes can be seen as a potential for being exploited, the more processes you run the more open to attacks you can become.

This is why the mainstream Linux lobbyists love their OS's so much because on installation the majority are barebones to work on and build up from. (although a few of the more GUI orientated installs are bundled with software)

Some processes in XP/Vista you can safely disable from ever running again, others you might want to place into Manual mode and stop them from running automatically. Others unfortunately you have to run for various functions of the OS.

Lessening the ones running doesn't just secure your system from potential attacks but also speeds up your system by freeing up CPU cycles and both Memory and Hard drive space is freed up too.

Lastly some installations like OS updates like to hang if lots of processes are running in say XP. (Notoriously taking a Vanilla XP install and trying to install via the update website SP1.) Running less processes can help stop the hangs. (Although the actual fix is to download the SP1 installation thats meant for multiple computers, Turn of autoupdates and install SP1 in SAFEMODE.)

Honestly I use hijackthis and manually remove this shit when I have to.

This is probably the first thing that anyone *Administrating* an Operating system should learn. Every processes can be seen as a potential for being exploited, the more processes you run the more open to attacks you can become.

This is why the mainstream Linux lobbyists love their OS's so much because on installation the majority are barebones to work on and build up from. (although a few of the more GUI orientated installs are bundled with software)

Some processes in XP/Vista you can safely disable from ever running again, others you might want to place into Manual mode and stop them from running automatically. Others unfortunately you have to run for various functions of the OS.

Lessening the ones running doesn't just secure your system from potential attacks but also speeds up your system by freeing up CPU cycles and both Memory and Hard drive space is freed up too.

Lastly some installations like OS updates like to hang if lots of processes are running in say XP. (Notoriously taking a Vanilla XP install and trying to install via the update website SP1.) Running less processes can help stop the hangs. (Although the actual fix is to download the SP1 installation thats meant for multiple computers, Turn of autoupdates and install SP1 in SAFEMODE.)

Good lord, just slipstream SP2 into an install disk. I'll be doing that with SP3 soon.

As for disabling XP services, there is quite a debate about the usefulness of that, http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=892729 . I no longer bother.

I find it useful to disable or turn many in xp to manual just to speed things up. Many ones that you can remove safely don't have a massive effect on boot times and resource but can help, especially when slim down what loads at boot. I got my xp startup down to 8 seconds from around 30, also performance wise why run a service you don't need? However on my linux boxes it makes a big difference what services are running and has huge impact on bootup time and resources.

As for security it can help to kill some services (my linux boxes wont allow any login except local bin/bash and ssh remote login services etc all stopped and disabled for instance) many exploits cannot be fixed simply but removing a service in xp, especially if it's one you use. HW/SW firewall, and regular updates are needed too along with basic knowledge and good housekeeping.

Amen to that!

You can almost always save yourself a reinstall if you just put a little effort into it.

Usually it takes just as long to do all the other stuff to it anyway.

Reformat is overkill, you loose everything and it isn't needed unless you have major damage to OS files or complex problems you know how to deal with and data loss isn't issue so blitzing it saves time and energy.

In this case though it's not needed especially since data loss is an issue and backup might not help since many backed up files could be infected and back to square one. The machine will need such measures put in place to secure for future use anyway so reinstall will make that even longer process and takes more effort. Only people who don't know what they are doing reformat at the drop of a hat, it's extreme measure that has it's place, this just isn't it.

Wiping a machine clean doesn't solve the problem, it just gives a clean starting base. All suggested steps here need to be done whether reformat or not. Also if the people who will be using the machine are not knowledgeable then it will inevitably end up with some issues but good admin can reduce the amount of damage.

Advising most people to fool with the services in XP is akin to handing the car keys to an eight year old. By far, most are better off left alone. I do heartily recommend that people type msconfig in the Run box, and uncheck most of the programs that are listed. Just about everything you install these days wants to have itself loaded at startup. It is better to only load programs as you need them.

Advising most people to fool with the services in XP is akin to handing the car keys to an eight year old. By far, most are better off left alone. I do heartily recommend that people type msconfig in the Run box, and uncheck most of the programs that are listed. Just about everything you install these days wants to have itself loaded at startup. It is better to only load programs as you need them.

How do I know which ones to allow, and which ones I can safely disable from loading on startup?

How do I know which ones to allow, and which ones I can safely disable from loading on startup?

Look here, http://www.netsquirrel.com/msconfig/msconfig_xp.html , and here, http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php .

Knowing what you have on the computer will help you determine what to keep. For one example, MS Office, no matter what version, loads at startup. For most people most of the time, this is just dead weight. It is better to wait the fraction of time it takes to start when you actually want to use it than to have it load up and slow your boot time.

even if it is a service you use it's worth considering do you need it at boot time. Many times your net gain in time saving is negative value.

For instance if a certain service takes 10 seconds to load on startup and then app opens in 5 seconds instead of 20 seconds that's all very well until you consider you only use it 1 in 5 times you boot up so it actually costs you time, not to mention resources.

All I run is services essential to me, it's only hard if you don't know what they are. Just look them up to see if they are non essential and if so figure out if you need them running. Eg. on my machine with no printer I have all printer services killed. As for bootup unless it's essential or something I want every time I start I lose it. Good use of resource and fast startup with smooth running. Even if you start off clueless you can learn it quite quick, it's simple stuff and easy to learn. I admit people who are new to this shouldn't just start messing with admin service settings randomly but I recommend everyone learn how to do this. Once educated it'sa good thing.