Posted by Lee/AR on 4/5/11 11:41pm
Msg #378836

Free malware check/removal????

Anybody know of one/several? I have a friend who has some problem as I'm getting a LOT of spoofed address e-mails and I'd sure like to point her in the right direction to get rid of this thing.

Yeah, I know, she ought to have a paid subscription, but that's not going to happen.

Reply by Harry [NR] on 4/5/11 11:56pm
Msg #378837

Malwarebytes is an outstanding product:

http://www.malwarebytes.org

I recommend she install this and run it weekly. She should also have a reputable antivirus program installed. I generally recommend AVG and avast! to friends and relatives:

http://free.avg.com
http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download

Depending on the level of infection, she may need to boot Windows into Safe Mode by pressing F8 during startup and then running Malwarebytes from there. A lot of the more insidious e-mail worms, etc., monitor Windows tasks and will kill Malware removal and AV installs. Some also add a proxy layer to the networking stack to monitor all Internet traffic, in which case they could prevent her from even accessing the web sites to download the helpful software. In such cases, applications like Malwarebytes should be downloaded to a USB flash drive from a non-infected computer, and then run on the infected computer.

Harry
Notary Rotary

Reply by Susan Fischer on 4/6/11 12:48am
Msg #378840

Love Avast (me hardies): My Pirates for Cyber-Protections. n/m

Reply by Glenn Strickler on 4/5/11 11:58pm
Msg #378838

I have used Spybot for many years now and have found it to be sufficient.

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html

I also use a free anti-virus and have found it to be as good as any paid version.

http://www.avast.com/index

Of course, in both you can upgrade to a premium version, but I haven't had an issue on any of my computers, including a my college student daughter in many years.

Reply by John Schenk on 4/6/11 10:19am
Msg #378865

I use Malwarebytes and Spybot Search & Destroy. Spybot sometimes catches a few that Malwarebytes misses.

JJ

Reply by Lee/AR on 4/6/11 7:40am
Msg #378845

Thank you all.... much appreciated. n/m

Reply by pan/nd on 4/6/11 8:01am
Msg #378847

Lee,

I concur with Harry...I have both Avast and Malwarebytes on both of my computers.

Am very satisfied with both. What one doesn't catch the other does.

Reply by Doris_CO on 4/6/11 2:28pm
Msg #378922

This email just arrived in my inbox.

Best free software of 2011.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2381531,00.asp