i posted this in another topic:
i am not really too technical so i hope you understand my problems if i explain it as well as i can...
i have a windows sp2 on a 512 mb ram 1.8 gHz AMD sempron processor computer, with about 80% of the hard used. (it's a small 80 gb hard and yes i know i could do way better, i just haven't and can't afford any upgrades soon).
the AV is the avast home edition 4.8 and i also use windows firewall. i didn't install anything more since i am not sure what is good and what is not.
i've been having problems since saturday, the 9th (updates are automatic so i've no idea if there was a program update then or not).
problems are:
first, i had a "powerscan antivirus" popup unrequested on my firefox browser (which crashed immediately). since i've had a bad history with unrequested AV popups, i ran a scan on my c: and all it found were ALL the alwil software files (namely all avast files) that were infected with a trojan. at that point i got really scared, uninstalled avast, redownloaded, re-installed, updated the virus database and ran two scans.
one in safe-mode, after installing the AV - it found only one infected file - not an .exe file - (a trojan, it said) in the d: partition system restore files.
i am not sure if i did well but i disabled the system restore hoping to delete all files, then re-enabled SR.
then i did a second thorough scan, with archive scanning included, after entering windows. it didn't find anything more.
so this took care of the unrequested popups.
second problem: it takes forever since then to access the internet with firefox. i don't like iexplorer and i don't want to use it, i like firefox and i want to keep using it. but it takes a very long time to go online and also to browse pages once the browser is open. the main processes that strain the system are svchost.exe which seems to be running in separate locations for SYSTEM and NETWORK (i'm in a network so maybe that's ok but i'm not sure. avast is only installed on my computer, i don't know what the others have.) the processor hits 100% usage all the time and it's not really healthy for it.
reading through this thread i noticed that some users have disabled the archive scanning after doing the safe-mode scans so i've disabled it too to see if it makes any difference. so far i've seen none.
so what i wonder is this...
1. does the latest update make this happen? overusing the processor and slowing down my system??
it's getting annoying when even google won't show because of the long delays that cut the connection.
2. is it possible that by uninstalling the "positive" infected avast files i actually allowed a virus to spread and infect my computer? does re-installing and scanning in safe-mode provide a safety belt for this?
3. is it possible that a virus database used as an update was corrupted and made my AV go crazy on me?!
4. which online scan could i use to make sure the system IS clean and not giving me false good reads? i don't want to stop avast for an online scan by another AV, are there some good enough that wouldn't require stopping the running AV?
5. is it really the fact that avast was updated to fit with better, newer systems that's making it incompatible with my older and slower system?
sorry for all the questions. i am just getting really freaked out here.
to which, i got this reply:
HI EGR
different problem here so best not to Reply to this but to start a new post in the virus and worms forum (below)
start by going to malwarebytes and running their on line ROGUE REMOVER and THEN
their FREE ANTI MALWARE update and run a full scan
post the log in your new post/ thread
Are you using Windows XP/Vista?
Scheduling the Boot Time Scan
Click on the Menu button.
Choose Schedule Boot Time Scan.
Doing so displays a dialog allowing you to schedule virus scanning.
Check Archives, if you want scan all the archives.
Specify whether all the disks or just a specific folder should be scanned.
Select Advanced options for scheduling details.
Select how to automatically process infected files (suggestion: send to Chest)
Choose how to automatically process infected system files (suggestion: ignore/do nothing)
Click the Schedule button to confirm the settings.
thank you for the reply, btw~
the OS is a windows XP unlicensed (yes i know. i can't find it to buy it at a reasonable price in my country, after the vista explosion. i do NOT want vista.)
so i did as advised above and used rogueremover (didn't find any rogues) then installed and run a quick scan of the system with malwarebytes' anti malware program. it found about 290 results of which there are some trojans and some adware.
avast didn't tell me anything about these at any scans.
a lot of the trojans and other things mbam found in my system are located in the registry keys. if i delete them, will that kill my system? or those keys are only opened and used by the viruses?
please tell me if deleting them all might kill my OS
i am attaching the mbam scanlog. if anyone could help me, i would be grateful!!
i am tempted to just go ahead and delete them anyway... but i am scared of getting a system crash and i don't have a boot disc...
HELP!
EDIT: the log is in romanian, anyway, what it says is that there were no dangerous infections found but there are those registry keys and files/folders infected with trojans and with adware.