Windows 7 Lag

[Ryu-ka]

About a week ago, I stupidly allowed an adware installer to run on my Windows 7 system. Yesterday, I installed Spyware Doctor and ran a scan, which picked up and removed the adware and a couple of tracking cookies. After the adware was removed, I noticed my computer was going in and out of short lag attacks, where the programs I was using (including Windows Explorer) would lock up for around 10 seconds, then start functioning again for about half a minute, then lock up again. I don't have a restore point and I don't want to reinstall Windows unless that's the only thing I can do to fix the problem. Any help would be appreciated.

[booger_sniffer5000]

I scan with AVG + avast! 4 home edition when I have to remove viruses/adware/spyware/whatever. They don't interfere with each other (my experience anyway), and they seem to do a nice job. Personally, I always reinstall Windows after a possible infection because I don't feel safe otherwise.

[Ryu-ka]

I uninstalled Spyware Doctor which seems to have solved the problem, then installed Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. After a system scan, it removed more spyware, but continued to block access to malicious IP addresses. I ran more scans with Malwarebytes' and Ad-Aware, plus BitDefender 2010 Internet Security, but all failed to detect anything. Reisntalling is the last thing I want to do. I'll give AVG a try on top of this (wow, this is really making me paranoid).

[booger_sniffer5000]

I uninstalled Spyware Doctor which seems to have solved the problem, then installed Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. After a system scan, it removed more spyware, but continued to block access to malicious IP addresses. I ran more scans with Malwarebytes' and Ad-Aware, plus BitDefender 2010 Internet Security, but all failed to detect anything. Reisntalling is the last thing I want to do. I'll give AVG a try on top of this (wow, this is really making me paranoid).

Which is exactly why I don't take chances with scanners and just reinstall.

[curlyboy]

Do yourself a favour go get this security suite and put it on your machine & its free

 

http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/

[booger_sniffer5000]

Comodo firewall is good but don't download it if you don't want to be prompted by it asking what to do with a program every 2 minutes (literally).

[Alessandro17]

Comodo firewall is good but don't download it if you don't want to be prompted by it asking what to do with a program every 2 minutes (literally).

 

That doesn't need to be. Put "Defense+ Security Level" in "Training Mode"

Put everything else to default.

You'll be asked a few times if you want new applications to access the internet, but that seems reasonable to me, it is the purpose of a firewall.

However, if that annoys you, put the firewall in "Training Mode" as well.

[danova]

Personally, I always reinstall Windows after a possible infection because I don't feel safe otherwise.

[kalel83]

or you could use eset smart security and feel safe

 

 

 

Personally, I always reinstall Windows after a possible infection because I don't feel safe otherwise.

[Craighton Miller]

try to use, MBAM, a.k.a Malware bytes

 

Best program to fix up your mess

[siviog1]

YES!! I use malware bytes as well works great

[jermaindefoe]

YES!! I use malware bytes as well works great

 

hijackthis is a good tool when you are familar with how ot use it

[jeanpave]

Supposedly Avira is the best antivirus program now. So I've read.

[DeMiNe0]

You should give malwarebytes a try. Works pretty well for me.

[light33]

You should give malwarebytes a try. Works pretty well for me.

It works fine here too. I love this program. It detects a lot of malwares and viruses.

[4km41]

go for kapersky.

[m4778]

another vote for maleware bytes, helped me out sooo many times. on the other hand who doesnt love a fresh new install?

[PixelOz1]

Reinstalling Windows every time you get an infection? My God that is way to drastic! If you are going to do that every time your computer gets infected your are going to do a lot of installs and in the big majority of cases is not necessary whatsoever.

 

Imagine configuring the OS and reinstalling all Windows applications and utilities and configuring everything, that is two to three days of work if you are a knowledgeable PC user unless you have a full disk backup system or if you know how to use the system restore feature to restore the system to an earlier restore point.

 

There are many free tutorials on-line that tell you how to use the system restore feature. Infections nowadays are pretty common and there are many ways to deal with them. Even the best anti-virus programs sometimes miss a virus or two so it is a good idea to scan Windows periodically with good free anti-spyware programs or additional free on-line virus scanners.

 

Be careful with anti-spyware programs, there are a lot of fake ones out there that are really trojans and will only damage your system. Here is a list of the bad ones, don't get any of those:

 

http://spywarewarrior.com/rogue_an [...] m#products

 

I have used SuperAntiSpyware for years and it has proven its worth and in anti-virus forums is one program that is constantly recommended:

 

http://www.superantispyware.com/

 

Even the free version is very capable and a good compliment to your main anti-virus program. And another very good free program that is very similar is Malwarebytes Anti-Malware which is also frequently recommended in anti-virus forums (well you already know about that one):

 

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

 

Again the free version is very good and as a matter of fact sometimes is better not to get the full versions of them cause those offer real-time protection and in some cases that conflicts with your main anti-virus real-time engine so those free versions are good to have as backup to run them once in a while to keep your system cleaner and safer.

 

Another option that you have is to use free on-line virus scanners like Nod32 or Mcafee. They scan and remove viruses and spyware programs from your Windows installation and they are free and easy to use.

 

Nod32 free on-line scanner:

 

http://www.eset.com/online-scanner

 

Mcafee free on-line scanner:

 

http://home.mcafee.com/Downloads/FreeScan.aspx

 

One other thing that you can do is to use the scannow feature of Windows (Windows 2000 to Windows 7 have this) to check that your Windows files remain intact and in the original versions. This is of course after checking for and removing any viruses or malware programs from your Windows installation.

 

This feature will check Windows files against the installation disks. It doesn't matter if you have installed any service packs it will work. You go to start menu and in accessories activate a command prompt and then in the window that appear type sfc /scannow (with the space in between) at the command prompt and it will check all system files. It may prompt you for your Windows disk so have it handy or better yet put it in the CD tray before you start the process and let it run until it finishes.

 

If you have Windows 2000 be careful that you have at least Service Pack 4 installed before attemting to use the scannow feature:

 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/814510

 

Further assistance on resolving persistent viruses in Windows can be obtained from some online forums such as the Malwarebytes on-line forum:

 

http://forums.malwarebytes.org/

 

and the Superantispyware forum:

 

http://forums.superantispyware.com/

 

These people are usually very good in helping others to remove persnickety virus and malware programs.

 

One last thing that you can do is to use a registry cleaner. If all else fails you can try this. I know that many people don't recommend using registry cleaners but I have used Eusing Free Registry Cleaner for years in many computers without problems at all and if you do not know your way around the Windows registry it may be an option.

 

You can get that from here:

 

http://www.eusing.com/free_registry_cleane...try_cleaner.htm

 

After install click on Scan registry issue button at the top left and let it run. After it finishes scanning click on the second button below that one called Repair registry issue and it will repair the errors found. Don't worry if it finds a lot cause it is common to find plenty of those and many of them are not that significant and Windows runs just fine like that so you do not have to do this all the time. Just use it when your Windows installation gives you too many problems an you have tried everything else first.

 

You have the option before attempting to scan and repair to save a backup of the registry as it is that you can use to restore the registry to the state that it was before repairing it. It is in the File menu, the first item that you see called Backup Full Registry... in the window that appear choose a location where to store the file and give it an appropriate name like RegistryBackup03May2010-1 and that's it. You can use the third button to the left Restore previous registry to locate and load the file that you saved to restore the registry to the previous state.

 

I hope that this helps.

[PixelOz1]

One more thing is that if you have Windows Vista or Windows 7 you will have to do something extra to be able to run SFC /scannnow and that is that you have to run it from an administrator console and not the regular console.

 

What I mean is that in Vista and Win 7 when you run the command prompt you have to elevate it to administrator privileges before you are able to use that command.

 

To do that you go to Start menu and click on All Programs and the click on Accesories then click on Command Prompt but with the right mouse button instead and then in the pop up menu that appears you will select Run as administrator and that will activate the command console but with elevated administrator privileges (in a similar way to the Linux su console command) which will allow you to use the SFC command.

 

Observe that at the top of the console the message is different, it will read Administrator: Command Prompt instead of just Command Prompt.

[ComputerKid96]

Reinstall your computer or check for viruses

 

Maleware Bytes Works Good to get rid of anti spyware etc

[Hueythefreeman]

Unfortunately the best course of action is to backup and reimage... but that's usually an annoying process. If you want a paid option that's really nice, get Eset Smart Security 4 (or NOD32, which is just the antivirus and was mentioned above). It has some of the highest detection rates out there, and is very lightweight and fast.

[oldtopman]

...Cant believe nobody said it yet. Spybot S&D works great for me. Doesn't slow down my computer. My experience with adware, I was experimenting with msie6 and entered the url directly. I used it for 15-20 min and realized what I had done. I ran SS&D and I had and removed adware. Afterwards, there was a 20sec lag at start and had lag attacks. I reinstalled windows, then Xubuntu and all is well.

[Metrogirl]

... or you can just run a virtual machine in VMWare and roll back to a snapshot after installing anything dubious.

 

I used to swear by Kerio/Sunbelt firewall which has great application-level and web control functionality, but they haven't released a W7 version yet. For W7 they force you to install their full Vipre product which has the firewall bundled with an anti-virus suite. That's probably quite a good AV but I am p*d off with them because there's no excuse for not releasing just the firewall. It obviously exists within the bundle. Their salespeople have triumphed over the wishes of the user. FWIW the antivirus, like so many others, is plagued by false positives. In my line of work, there are many things on my computer which AV software doesn't like and which get quarantined or zapped if I'm not careful. Because of this I don't run AV, I rely on running stuff in virtual machines. I also use Thinstalled apps wherever possible in Windows, avoiding permanent installs.

 

+ to the recommendations of Malwarebytes, it's good.

[internal]

Mate instead of installing multiple anti-adware programs and scanning your computer countless times i think its just best to copy your data and give the machine a clean reset, That should sort the problem out once and for all and it will teach you not to use unlicensed programs again!

[oldtopman]

and it will teach you not to use unlicensed programs again!

 

This means no homebrew. This means WAR!!!