[fuzzywolly]

Having some major problems with my computer. A small window popped up, stating something along the lines that my AVG was infected. ???

It says its a problem with Windows, and that Windows is trying to take care of it. I am terrible with computer technology and stuff, but I have Dell XP computer. Is that connected to windows? (Could possibly be a very stupid question).

Basically, I am thinking the virus protector thing is the virus. Happened on my old computer. I am going to shut her down for the night. Will check back later, but am worried to use this computer due to possibility of things screwing up. Will try to get on a laptop or something in the meantime.

Any advice appreciated until I get one of my family members to help, as they are relatively good with this kind of stuff.

 

[silentfury214]

That is exactly why I switched from Dull to Mac.

 

[mosin]

Fuzzywolly,

The problem you're having here is that you most likely downloaded that AVG version from an untrusted website. If you had went to a store and actually bought the program and installed you shouldn't have that problem. In anycase, I'd reccomend downloading "Spybot Search and Destroy". Simply google it and it'll probably be the first or second link there. It's a free program (they accept donations however) and it works reletively well.

As far as your first question is stated, yes. Majority of over the counter Computers are run off of the Windows operating system. The only other types out there (Big timer ones anyways) are Linux and Mac. But in your case Dell is a Windows platform. So just go ahead and get the Spybot SD and give it a run. If that doesn't solve the problem then uninstall AVG and go directly to their website and just do a quick 30 day trial one. That should work for you.

Worst case scenario, wipe the hard drive. But chances are slim it never gets to that.

SilentFury: Please don't turn this into a Windows Vs. Mac thread. We have amazing computer experts on both sides of the spectrum here who can argue this until our finger tips are raw, but at the end of the day it's preference.

 

[silentfury214]

That is exactly right Mosin. I wasn't trying to start one of those threads (been in them before and they are not fun). I have owned both for a long time, and I just PREFER Macs.

 

[gentlemann]

I'd recommend downloading Malwarebytes, it's the program I used to clean up a virus disguised as an anti-virus. Be ready to use safe-mode and you should be able to shut down the pop up without clicking anything by using ctrl+alt+delete to bring up task manager and isolating and ending the offending process.

 

[shadowbot]

I can vouch for Malwarebytes. I have used it and it does a good job of finding viruses and cleaning your computer. Also in the near future you may want to get some virus protection software. The university I am currently at offers us free Symantec virus protection software and it is pretty good. I switched to Microsoft Security Essentials half way through last year though, and I like it a little more. Microsoft Security Essentials is free. You can read about it and download it here->http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/. I hope this is helpful.

 

[Cheese Man]

Use your terminal equivalent and hang onto the 'top' command. That should get you a list of all of the processes. Then, when the window pops up, find the pid (process ID) and track it to its home folder. Change directories to the folder, rm the file, and, TA DA!!!

 

[lefttooth]

If you can, just google the actual name of the fake antivirus. There are several websites out there that show you exactly how to remove it from your system. This DOES involve messing with your Registry, so if you don't know what that is or you're uncomfortable touching it, I would advise using Malwarebytes or the other removal software people have suggested.
However, I wouldn't do what Cheese Man is suggesting. A lot of times, due to registry entries, the program will just re-download itself.

And, if you're feeling frisky, switch to Linux.

 

[fuzzywolly]

Thank you all for your suggestions, comments, and help. It is greatly appreciated. The problem was indeed a Virus disguised as a anti-virus and the problem has since ceased. One of my family members deals with computers and she has experience with this. We have McAfee installed (Security software) and that seemed to take care of the problem fairly quickly.

Thanks again for all your help. I am terrible with computer terms and technology. McAfee seemed to take care of the problem but would you guys suggest upgrading my security system to something else? I am going to research some of this later today, and will see if there are some better options, maybe like some of the ones you said above.

Thanks again guys, I will be coming back to this thread and reading through it again so I can understand all this stuff better and for reference in the future.

 

[Cheese Man]

Do it yourself. Get a root kit onto your computer that you can access through a separate machine. Then, if you do get a virus, isolate it, and rm the file from the other machine. That will remove the virus permanently from the computer.