Suggest some anti-virus, please

DouglasDanger

I am having a problem with my computer. (I am posting from my wife's computer.) I use a wireless modem, plugged into one of my computer's USB ports. Yesterday, I could not connect. Opening the little control window deal showed the available wireless networks, including ours, and the signal strength. It indicated some kind of breakdown between the computer and the internet.

The diagram showed the computer, the router and the internet. Instead of the normal green lines between those icons, they were all red.

I tried switching modems with my wife, same thing. I tried moving the modem to a different USB port. No deal. I ran virus scan, it didn't turn up anything. I restarted several times.

My computer is a 2002 vintage Dell desktop running Win XP Pro, the modem is a belkin, and the anti-virus I ran was Avira.

Any ideas?

Beltaine

Will it get internet through a wire? You're going to need to be able to download and update some software to fix it.


You can't go wrong with a Malwarebytes scan. Just use the free version. Update it and let it run a full scan.

DouglasDanger

I could do that, but I don't have time to move all of the computer stuff downstairs. Maybe tomorrow. XP has a system restore thing, right? I could try that I guess.

System restore has it working again.

I should get some better AV i guess, right? Is Avira good? This computer has AVG, is that OK? We are really tight on money, so I don't think we can splurge and get Norton or whatever right now.

Beltaine

Microsoft Security Essentials

That and Malwarebytes will have you covered.

Both are $free.99

UnderTheBridge

Avoid AVG, it was once one of the better free solutions out there but has become bloated over the years. I prefer Microsoft Security Essentials, its free and lightweight. Malwarebytes is also good.

However, are you certain it's a virus? That behavior could result from a number of different problems.

DouglasDanger

UnderTheBridge wrote: »

Avoid AVG, it was once one of the better free solutions out there but has become bloated over the years. I prefer Microsoft Security Essentials, its free and lightweight. Malwarebytes is also good.

However, are you certain it's a virus? That behavior could result from a number of different problems.

I have no idea what caused the problem. I restored the system to a few days before and I am online again.

I will try out MSE and this mal-thing.

Lykouragh

Your problem doesn't sound malware-related, it sounds like you were just having a generic networking problem of some kind.

John Matrix

http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=108166

That thread has everything you need to know. I recently did a re-format and followed the advice.

AtomBomb

Don't confuse cost with quality. I'd recommend the MS free thing as was suggested. Paying for Norton (or McAfee, but especially Norton) is worse than just throwing money away. They're terrible, and will cause more problems than they'll prevent.

It doesn't sound like it was a virus to me either.

John Matrix

Yes, MSE is great. MSE with malwarebytes and only browse the internet on a guest account with no admin privileges in a sandboxed environment. Not perfect, but pretty damn good.

JWFokker

Kaspersky or BitDefender are always solid. I'd use either.

Protein Shakes

Kaspersky, AVG, and McAfee are all pieces of crap, full of false positives. They will give you huge headaches.

Go with Norton or BitDefender or MSE. The last one only if you trust Microsoft with your security, though. I don't, but I hear good things about it so it may be okay.

Buttcleft

MSSecurity Essentials is basically an antivirus right

So if you were to install that it would be wise to uninstall your old AV, right?

WildEEP

One that you may want to consider is avast. Its at www.avast.com.
Free and lightweight.

Just my 2 cents.

John Matrix

Buttcleft wrote: »

MSSecurity Essentials is basically an antivirus right

So if you were to install that it would be wise to uninstall your old AV, right?

After the re-format I had AVG on there and I removed it to install MSE. I understand that AVG is somewhat bulky, and would be redundant with MSE. AVG is also more of a system hog than MSE. Check in the thread I posted above.