Best way to scan your computer for viruses...?

The Ozzman said:
I don't use spy bot that much anymore though since I use FireFox, one of the pluses to using such a browser.
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Well, all I have to do is clear my cookies from FireFox & I NEVER find any spyware with with SpyBot. It comes down to a one second click on FireFox Vs. a 10-15 minutes scan with SpyBot. Only reason to keep SpyBot would seem to me that it supplies protection from many spy wares, but I'm not even sure if that really does too much.

I took AdaWare off my computer months ago. Like I said it just found the same 11 errors all the time & it said the errors were nothing to worry about.

I shouldn't have any spyware left on my compuiter (unless it's hidden...) & I don't find any viruses when I run a scan with PC-Cillin. I get huge slowdowns at times, while at other times my computer seems to run OK or only a little slow...
 
Get AVG or Avast, update and scan in safemode

check your startup(msconfig), just because you dont see it doesnt mean its not running
 
If you get noticable performance issues and random blue screens I would think about just formatting and reinstalling Windows. How much work that will be kind of depends on your setup. I always have a separate drive for my Windows installation so it really just comes down to formatting that drive and reinstalling there. But if your Windows drive is also used for other things then it becomes a lot more annoying to do so.

After doing so I would also look into making sure that you install the very latest drivers for all your hardware, including things like your motherboard (old VIA-chip based motherboards for instance were notorious for having poor out-of-the-box drivers that could cause things like unexplainable blue screens and other unpleasant things). You can generally find those drivers on the websites of the hardware manufacturers. Blue screens are almost always related to device driver issues. Infact it is worth taking down some details the next time you see one. Often they will include information such as the module where the error occured which can be helpful in tracking down which (if any) driver is responsible.
 
Thanks Cairath. I have an unstable machine that randomly slows down at odd times for no real reason.

I only have one drive & I have a ton of files & programs on that drive. I may like to reinstall the operating system if it is not too much trouble for me. If I reinstall the operating system wouldn't I have to back up all my other files & programs on another hard drive though...? That would suck & is impossible for me to do at the moment as I don't have another drive.

I have Windows XP. If I got Windows Vista & put it down over the top of my existing OS do you think that might possibly clear me up?? Would I still have to back up my files?? I'm just wondering if this might work, but I have heard a ton of shit talk about the stability of Vista, so I'm not sure if I would want to put it on my machine - I just want to know what I'm working with better.
 
Let me just add that computers are extremely complicated & frustrating. I've always been a simple dude with simple needs & wants & this shit is anything but simple when you get into the crazy shit. It would prbably be a real bitch to get this machine in tip-top condition with the updated drivers & & all that.
 
I have only had one problem which it took me all of 30 seconds to fix, other than that it's been fine. People hate Vista though, so I assume that people who can't deal with certain issues should stay away for the time being. My roommate says Vista is user hostile but I love it, mostly because Microsoft finally embraced the search feature. It's so much easier to search for something in the Start menu than it is to go and find it.
 
OK, great no Vista for me then. I heard so much bad stuff sbout it... Someone told me I could put it over top my exiting OS, but I don't take some people too seriously. Now all I have to do is figure out how to fuckinggoddamnit restore my OS & I should be fine godfuckingdamnit :cry: First I am going to try some other things you guys recommended like the saef-mode scan. I hope I have time to knock it all out this week.
 
I love Vista, but it is probably not the best option here no. Especially not if you have an older PC.

Unfortunately since you have everything on a single drive that means you will either need to back up all your stuff on a different drive or lose everything if you decide to go for a full reformat/reinstall of Windows. Which I guess is not an option for you at the moment. I can't remember if the Windows installer lets you install directly over an existing Windows installation. If it does then I suppose it's worth a try (you could just pop in the Windows CD and restart your computer and see what the installer offers in terms of options). It would be far from ideal though.

Probably the best thing to do would be to find someone you trust to have a bit more computer know-how than you do and have them do it for you. You will probably save yourself a lot of frustration that way.

There are also some ways to save yourself the trouble of running into these kinds of issues again. Creating a separate partition (i.e. your C: drive) just for Windows and maybe some bare essential programs and absolutely nothing else and putting everything else on another partition (i.e. D:) makes it much easier to quickly reinstall Windows without the bother of lots of things to back up (pretty much all you'd possibly need to back up is your user directory). Another thing that I highly recommend if you want to be able to reinstall Windows quickly and easily is to use a program like Norton Ghost. What you do is right after you have done a complete reinstall and have finished setting everything up the way you like it you create what is called a ghost image of your entire C: drive and burn it to DVD for instance. If at some point you want to reinstall Windows you pop in the DVD and let Norton Ghost do its magic and you will have a fresh reinstall done in literally about 2 minutes. There pretty much is no way to make reinstalling your Windows installation any more quick and painless (and easy!) than that. It is the same mechanism that those "rescue discs" you sometimes get with pre-installed computers and laptops use.

But again, unfortunately you'd probably need to find someone who can set things like that up. It's not exactly rocket science or anything but it does require a bit of experience and computer know-how to get this up and running quickly and smoothly, and you don't sound too confident in that respect.
 
CAIRATH said:
I can't remember if the Windows installer lets you install directly over an existing Windows installation. If it does then I suppose it's worth a try (you could just pop in the Windows CD and restart your computer and see what the installer offers in terms of options). It would be far from ideal though.
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I upgraded from ME to XP a while back and you could just install it without uninstalling ME first.
 
That's upgrading to a higher Windows version though. I meant if you try to install Windows on top of an existing Windows installation of the same version.

I believe at the very least if you attempt this it will offer you a repair feature but whether that does anything useful I don't know. I always just do a clean reinstall.
 
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