Virus and spyware problems

[Mysterious Pharaoh]

I don't know if it is the right place to ask about this, but i want to know what's the best anti-virus and anti-spyware software? I tries many softwares like: KasperSky, AVG, Norton 360, Vipre, Aira, Panda and Microsoft Security Essentials, i think that's all, but no one of them was good.
I'm currently using Vipre but i'm having many problems, so my computer stops responding many times and when i'm using photoshop sometimes it starts moving the picture itself or masks parts of the picture that i don't want to mask, besides these problems, it can't open Youtube, whenever i write youtube.com it says: Internet Explorer can't open webpage and it also happened in google chrome and firefox, even google can't display youtube videos.
Does anybody has an idea why these problems are happening to my computer? is it because viruses and spywares?

Thanks.

[Qyot27]

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure (or a ton of cure, in the case of malware). It's far easier to prevent these things from happening in the first place than it is to fix them after they've occurred. So if the problem is truly bad enough, you may need to wipe the hard drive and reinstall Windows.

If your computer is too old, then the problem may be entirely with the antivirus programs themselves - most are notoriously resource-hungry, and on underpowered or bottlenecked systems can be way too much of a burden for everything to run smoothly. Or it could even be the hardware itself - although if a fresh install works great, then it is software bloat.

One, you need to know where the virus is located on the file system. Oftentimes they hide in the Temp cache (C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temp, and/or Temporary Internet Files). Generally speaking, Temp doesn't need to have any files in it, and it's safe to delete all of the ones in there*. If some refuse to be deleted (and aren't actually necessary, like the example from the * I gave), then it might be a virus or other malware. When you know that, then you can go into Safe mode and delete the files for good (or better yet, a Linux-based LiveCD like those for Ubuntu, since that ensures that deleting them will work). When using the Linux method, the next time Windows starts it may have to rebuild the file index (this may take several hours if you deleted a lot of junk), but after doing that should be fine.

*Some programs do create and protect files in there; ZoneAlarm does every time Windows starts, but that's only one file, not twenty or thirty or 500.

The other part, the whole preventative angle, is that the most basic protection I've found is a combination of firewall (I personally use ZoneAlarm Free, others will probably recommend other apps), SpyBot S&D, Firefox loaded down with the AdBlock Plus extension, and CCleaner. I also make sure XP is updated to SP3 and some vital post-SP3 fixes from Microsoft Update.

Make sure all components are up-to-date (not too hard, really, although the firewall can be a bitch and require a restart between uninstallation of the current version and new install of the updated version), which means make sure that Firefox has its updates installed and AdBlock's definitions are current, SpyBot's definitions are current, and CCleaner is of as new a version as possible. Make sure SpyBot's Immunize feature is used, and make sure it's used every time a new definition update comes in. In CCleaner, use both the Temp files cleaner and the Registry cleaner. CCleaner can also control the contents of your Startup, so you can trim out unwanted entries from starting when Windows does.

Run SpyBot's scan, remove those infections, and then run SpyBot again. And again. And again. Run it until it does not pick up a single infection. That might be after just two runs, it might be after the fifth. Then use CCleaner's Temp cleaner (for security reasons, you might want to raise the level of file shredding to NSA or even Gutmann level). You can customize some of the things CCleaner trashes, so that you don't lose passwords and such, but I would suggest in this instance to let it run unhindered at first, just to be safe - for maintenance use you can do all the nice customization. The Temp cleaner really only needs to be run once in this sequence, though. Then move over to the Registry cleaner - you don't really need to save a backup when it asks, as I feel confident in CCleaner's level of safety, but if you're paranoid you can. The Registry cleaner you will want to run repeatedly until it detects nothing. Also check the Startup editor to make sure nothing malicious has planted itself there.

After the above is finished, it may simply be a matter of maintaining the cleanliness of the system. Don't use IE, keep Firefox updated to its newest version (AdBlock should update its definitions automatically), make sure Windows itself has at least the newest Service Pack, if not completely updated through Windows/Microsoft Update, don't visit shady websites that are the most common source of infection, check perhaps every 1-2 weeks for new SpyBot definitions and Immunize right afterward (make sure all web browsers are closed when you do that, though). You might also want to defragment the HDD, in which case you could use Defraggler, another program by CCleaner's makers that presents the progress data and so on in a much nicer way that Windows' native defragger does.

[Kariudo]

Norton being no good is a given, but what makes you say that Kaspersky and the others are no good?

Without more specific information, I can't even begin to guess at what the problem might be.
Even with specific information, I might not be able to.
I'd suggest getting HijackThis and posting the log in the spware warrior forums (the section specifically for hjt logs)

[Qyot27]

and so on in a much nicer way that Windows' native defragger does.

Than. Fixed.

[Mysterious Pharaoh]

(I personally use ZoneAlarm Free, others will probably recommend other apps)

First Thank you very much for your replay.
I searched for temp files but i didn't find many, i only found one and i deleted it. And by the way, my computer isn't old, i'm using Sony Vaio VGNCR410 with Windows Vista and i bought it at the end of 2008.
I'm downloading the softwares you mentioned, but you didn't buy ZoneAlarmfull version, you just use ZoneAlarm Basic Firewall for free, right? and should i remove Vipre antivirus before i install these softwares you mentioned?

Norton being no good is a given, but what makes you say that Kaspersky and the others are no good?

Thanks for your comment Kariudo, well KasperSky and the others didn't catch the viruses and spywares on my computer.

[Kariudo]

Norton being no good is a given, but what makes you say that Kaspersky and the others are no good?

Thanks for your comment Kariudo, well KasperSky and the others didn't catch the viruses and spywares on my computer.

This strikes me as odd. Kaspersky has historically performed very well, though it seems others have beaten Kaspersky out recently based on this site's testing. It's a good idea to get CCleaner, Zone Alarm and Spybot S&D, but if you weren't using a firewall before (windows firewall doesn't count) or checking for spyware before I'd really recommend getting HijackThis and posting the log to see if you're still infected with something.

You shouldn't need to uninstall Vipre to install ZoneAlarm Free (which is also what I use)

[Mysterious Pharaoh]

This strikes me as odd. Kaspersky has historically performed very well, though it seems others have beaten Kaspersky out recently based on this site's testing. It's a good idea to get CCleaner, Zone Alarm and Spybot S&D, but if you weren't using a firewall before (windows firewall doesn't count) or checking for spyware before I'd really recommend getting HijackThis and posting the log to see if you're still infected with something.

You shouldn't need to uninstall Vipre to install ZoneAlarm Free (which is also what I use)

You mean i can install ZoneAlarm Free, Spybot S&D and CCleaner beside Vipre? But that is too much for my computer O.O it will be slow, is it okay if i uninstall Vipre?

[Mysterious Pharaoh]

I Installed ZoneAlarm Free but only the firewall security works but the anti-virus and anti-spyware is off, do i have to buy them? or you only use the firewall? and ZoneAlarm is really annoying whenever it doesn't allow my programs to access the internet, is it the same with everybody? or are there some settings to change?

Thanks.

[Kariudo]

The free version only gives you the firewall, hence why you should still keep vipre.
The only programs that are (or could/should) be constantly running are Vipre and ZoneAlarm.
CCleaner and Spybot S&D don't run continuously, so you shouldn't really see any more slowdown than what you get from running vipre.

ZoneAlarm will pester you with prompts for a while, until you get all your regular programs ok'd. (then you'll just get the occasional prompt.)
For stuff like firefox you can click "remember this" before you click allow so you don't have to give the go-ahead to firefox (that is, until you update firefox.)

Annoying, yes, but don't just blindly allow everything access to the internet. Take the time to read what program is asking for internet access, and google what you don't know. Stuff like your editing program probably doesn't need to connect to the internet (or if it does, it should be so infrequently that you can just ok it for one time.) A poorly configured firewall is worse than no firewall at all. When in doubt, deny.

[Mysterious Pharaoh]

Thanks for the useful information Kariudo, but today i reinstall my Windows so Vipre was already uninstalled. My computer already came with Norton 360, and since you said it's not good then what anti-virus and anti-spyware do you recommend? which one do you use?