Let's see what I ran-I only used things that seemed to be rated decently by
sources such as CNET. Some of those listed however weren't compatible with
Vista - at least at the time of the review.
Very good; Ensure you download software only from reputable sources. If in
doubt - DON'T! Check first in relevant fora and/or ng's.
I did the free one from Kaspersky, also the one from Spysweeper (which will
install and identify for free but not remove unless you subscribe) and tried
Ewido which for some reason did not complete and wouldn't allow me a second
chance to install.
Don't use these apps. anymore; They are nothing but marketing tools
(promotional baits) to pay for something you may not require; Their use can
be pretty unsafe as well.
Some of the things detected: odigo, coolwebsearch both of which I have read
to be "real" threats I forgot which one found these: iframeref.gen,
trojandownloadr, zlobgen
Re: Odigo; "Odigo Express is a Web-based version of the Odigo Messenger
that allows you to access your Odigo Friends List and communicate with
users from any computer ...". Did you install this application? If not get
rid of it using Revo Uninstaller.
Re: coolwebsearch; CW Shredder might remove this.
Re: iframeref.gen and zlobgen; David's MULTI_AV.EXE should take care of
these.
Like I said, none of the three applications I have installed mentioned these.
I haven't installed or considered Norton since I've seem to read conflicting
reviews.
Good thinking/decision!
Valuable advice from an AV expert, David H. Lipman
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
http://www.ik-cs.com/got-a-virus.htm
Question:
"Is it advisable to turn off System Restore while cleaning the OS using
AV/A-S, and if so, when do you turn it off and then on?
Also is it was recommended to delete all restore point during this
procedure?"
Answer(David H. Lipman):
"I used to be convinced that one should dump the System restore cache PRIOR
to cleaning a system. However after many discussions and based upon
personal tests and experience, I have come to the conclusion that this
should be done AFTER a system is cleaned.
Here's the problem. Most malware are binary files that the System Restore
cache will create a backup of in restore points. When one gets infected,
copies of the infector are now stored in the System Restore cache. If you
clean the system then restore to a prior Restore Point that contains
infectors, the OS become re-infected.
If you clean a PC and don't expect to restore to a previous Restore Point
then eventually the infected files will cache-out. In that situation, one
does NOT need to dump the System Restore cache.
If you dump the System Restore cache PRIOR to cleaning the system, you will
also remove a fall back point. That is, if during the cleanup the system
becomes unstable, you will not be able to restore the system from a
previous Restore Point. If you did restore the system
back to that state, you can clean the system differently such that the
system won't become unstable and/or unusable. Thus an infected Restore
Point is better than no Restore Point at all.
Later, when the system is cleaned and verified to be stable, you can then
dump the System Restore cache, reboot the PC and then re-enable the system
Restore cache and subsequently manually create an initial Restore Point.
Thus it is better the dump the cache AFTER and not BEFORE the system has
been cleaned of malware."
Be guided accordingly.
Stimulating thought from Gary S. Terhune MS MVP Shell/User
http://grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://grystmill.com/articles/security.htm
"Forget about paid versions, free AV ware are just as efficient and
reliable!"
Question:
"Do you think that the free AV can be really as efficient that the other
ones?"
Answer:
"Absolutely. In fact, when it comes to real efficiency, the ability to scan
accurately for viruses without getting in the way of the rest of the
computer's functions, some of the free ones are more efficient than some of
the most expensive. For instance, Norton and McAfee, and even Trend Micro
in some packages, are among the most *inefficient* applications out
there,whereas Avast!, AVG, and other free offerings are among the most
efficient. After that, it's a question of the definitions used, and whether
or not they're free has absolutely no bearing on those stats.
Understand, many of the best offerings are offered to home users for free
by huge companies that make their money serving business and industry
clients,and their logic is that the more home machines they can get
protected,preventing them from becoming zombies that distribute malware,
the better off business and industry are."
Good luck
