Recently my computer became infected with a nasty little virus. So I reached out for help in stripping it. This is the comprehensive advice I was given, I see no reason that TK readers shouldn't have the advantage of it as well.

Safe computing!


Malwarebytes' Anti-malware is a little known program in which I've found a great deal of success. It reliably takes out malware, usually fairly straight-forwardly. If it finds and removes things on the first pass, run it again after to see if there's anything else to clear out.

http://www.download.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html?part=dl-10804572&subj=dl&tag=button

F-Secure online scanner once you've run the Malwarebytes program to detect and remove anything else. This is a good follow-up scan, and will see what's left over.
http://support.f-secure.com/enu/home/ols.shtml

Kaspersky online scanner is also fairly in-depth, though it just tells you what's infected, it doesn't remove it. But, you can use it to find the files, then go to them individually and delete them. Shouldn't need it after the above two, but just in case.
http://usa.kaspersky.com/downloads/free-virus-scanner.php

Hopefully that clears your PC up. If you have problems downloading the Malwarebytes program, you may want to download it on another PC and place it on a USB flash drive, then copy it onto your PC and run it.

I've had to remove a few nasty ones, and this is the procedure that's been working for me lately. Let me know how it goes. Once your PC is clean, I definitely recommend changing anti-virus providers.

If you want free, AVG Free (http://www.download.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition/3000-2239_4-10320142.html?part=dl-AVGAntiVir&subj=dl&tag=button) works, as does Avira AntiVir (http://www.download.com/Avira-AntiVir-Personal-Free-Antivirus/3000-2239_4-10322935.html?tag=mncol).

For non-free varieties, I'm a fan of F-Secure (www.f-secure.com), though I've heard good things about Eset (www.eset.com) as well. Anything legitimate is better than nothing though.

For removing spyware / adware, I recommend running both Spybot Search and Destroy (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html) and AdAware (http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-2008/3000-8022_4-10045910.html?part=dl-ad-aware&subj=dl&tag=top5&cdlPid=10903602). This is in addition to the anti-virus. Don't have to run it often, but they're both useful to have.

Avira AntiVir is no slouch - welcome to give it a try, even moreso since you had AVG, your PC got infected, and it sounds like AVG couldn't remove it by itself.

Outside of anti-virus and anti-spyware/adware products, one other item that could assist is firewall software - helps to keep most undesirable programs from even contacting your computer in the first place. If you're running through a router that has a firewall, then you've already got one. If not, you may want to consider a free one, such as Comodo Firewall Pro (http://www.download.com/Comodo-Firewall-Pro/3000-10435_4-10460704.html?tag=mncol)
or Zonealarm Free (http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/free-upgrade-security-suite-zonealarm-firewall.htm).

Other than that, only other major topic would be to ensure that your Windows Automatic Updates are enabled in the Control Panel - Security Center. If you don't want the updates installing automatically when Microsoft releases them, you can tell it to notify without installing, so you choose when you install it.

Overall, if you've got anti-virus and anti-spyware/adware, you're good to go. Firewall, either inside a router or in software, will add to your security. And once your PC's clean, if you've got good preventative tools, your PC will tend to stay clean in the future.