Laptop resurrection.

[towny44]

Well my laptop is now fully recovered from it's virus, thanks to malwarebytes getting rid of some sizlsearch "pups" and an adblock Add-on to my Firefox browser to get rid of the adverts.
The result is that FlashPlayer, with all it's attendant problems, now only consumes 20kb of memory instead of the massive 750kb+ it was reaching just after it became infected, my gratitude also to Dorsetlad on CC for giving me these tips. No thanks however to Norton whose 360 security system let the dogs in in the first place, and then their power eraser failed to find them when I sent it to sniff them out.
I had already started searching for a replacement laptop thinking this one was on its last legs, but it's subsequent rejuvenation has been nothing short of miraculous.

[Stephen]

Have a go of the free trial of Kaspersky Internet Security towny44.

http://www.kaspersky.co.uk/free-trials

I have also found PC Advisor useful for sorting out problems.

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/forums/1/helproom/

[Manoverboard]

Kaspersky files fragment all over the place and slow one's machine down somewhat ... well at least it did on mine

[Silver_Shiney]

Norton is a pig - very difficult to uninstall (at least, earlier versions were, I haven't touched it with a bargepole since) McAfee is no better - one work PC had half a dozen viruses on it, another had so many, they had to replace the hard drive.

[Stephen]

Kaspersky files fragment all over the place and slow one's machine down somewhat ... well at least it did on mine

I agree Moby. I did notice this on my old steam driven PC. But since going over to nuclier power with my now new'ish PC I don't have problem with it.

[Meg 50]

McAfee (was part of the package with a new Comp) let in nasties on mine too. I had to download a special McAfee uninstaller before I could get rid of it properly.

I went back to AVG - though I, in a moment of madness, added AVG Zen and now can't get rid of it even with the AVG uninstaller or system restore

[Silver_Shiney]

I, too, went back to AVG and, in a moment of madness, paid for the full version. It now keeps changing the settings on my mobile and giving me silly messages on the laptop.

[oldbluefox]

I've been using Microsoft Essentials together with Glary Utilities and Spybot and (touch wood) I have been virus free and the computer has been running sweetly. Since everything is running so well I am sticking with this combination.

Pleased you got your laptop sorted towny.

[Meg 50]

I, too, went back to AVG and, in a moment of madness, paid for the full version. It now keeps changing the settings on my mobile and giving me silly messages on the laptop.

paid for version? - nah - not quite that daft - I've the free version!

[Mervyn and Trish]

I gave up on McAfee after an automatic update they sent contained an error which disabled both my internet access and the ability to restore the system to a previous state. When I used a tablet to access the internet they were acknowledging the problem. Their solution, to download a patch. Now with internet access disabled I wonder how they expected me to do that? It took me two days to remove enough of the McAfee stuff to make it work again. And when it was working again the first thing I downloaded was the tool to finish uninstalling McAfee. Never again.

[Delboy]

I gave up on McAfee with my desktop computer, when I gave up on AOL, since then I have installed the free version of AVG with no problems.

However these days I mainly stick to using the IPad.

[Mervyn and Trish]

We use AVG too now. Seems to do the job for us.

[gfwgfw]

Re Norton, used it for last six years with no problems at all

I was offered a very reasonable fixed price contract using an annual direct debit




-

[majortom10]

AVG takes up a lot of space on PC and takes long time to load I now use Avast find it far more efficient.

[Meg 50]

I use Zone Alarm firewall. There's an anti virus option. Is this any good?
I might remove AVG ( if I can) and use that instead

[oldbluefox]

AVG takes up a lot of space on PC and takes long time to load I now use Avast find it far more efficient.

I have used Avast in the past and liked it more than AVG which did seem to slow the system down.

[Manoverboard]

Norton's Internet Suite is just fine as far as I am concerned, having different brands of software to take care of different aspects on any computer can deffo lead to conflicts.

Every year I uninstall it and then install a later version costing approx £20 for 3 users, usually from Amazon or PC World .... very little effort, or indeed cost, involved.

[Stephen]

I have mentioned this before. What I like about Kaspersky, apart from it works for me is, if you do online banking or are even just registered for online banking with a certain well known bank (it barks allot) you get Kaspersky for free each year

[Silver_Shiney]

Is that "bark with Bankclays for better bonking"? (very old Goons skit)

[Stephen]

It could well be.