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Can anyone recommend a useful free anti-virus program?

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lilshawn:
i have to agree, nuke it. you need to start fresh, but you also have to realize that people are making all sorts of viruses all the time. blindly clicking things during installs and in websites is BAAAAAD. ALWAYS attempt to dismiss a dialog box using the "X" in the corner if one is provided...otherwise, ctrl+alt+del and kill the process. just because it says no or cancel doesn't mean it's not going to do it anyways.

you need to secure yourself with multiple programs and at multiple points to keep secure.

it really starts with a good firewall. when a virus gets on your computer the first thing it does is try to spread itself around. a good firewall (properly set up) will prevent it's spread.

another thing a virus or malware does is attempt to contact a central server to uplod info or download more malware or viruses...again a good firewall will prevent this.

the next thing you'll find is viruses and malware will change system files...this is where a resident shield comes in. it's going to monitor for changes to files and stop and alert you if things look fishy. (why is a program trying to overwrite the task manager?)

sounds like you have a combo malware and virus. the virus has gotten in, installed itself and overwritten the task manager so when you ctrl+alt+del, you load the malware.

kill the laptop with fire. reload.

update and scan ALL computer connected to your network.

hope for the best

DaOld Man:
I would like to recommend "FPROT". Its not free, but it is the best I have come across. It uses very few resources and you can (legally) use it on up to 5 machines. For 29 shucks a year.
Ive been using it for over 7 years, and no major viruses. And I dont even know it is running, unlike a lot of the "free" antiviruses.
(NOTE: I "fix" a lot of machines for folks, and I have "fixed" a lot of machines that have a free anti-virus program, such as AVGFree.)

www.f-prot.com

Sub note: I have nothing to gain from suggesting F-Prot, but if you would like to send me money or real estate for pointing you in the right direction, then by all means, feel free to do so.

Dawgz Rule:
Download malwarebytes and be sure to get the latest update.  There is a way to manually install the update if that proves to be problematic.  Also download and run ComboFix.  As was previously recommneded, RKill.  AVG is good and I also like Microsoft Security Essentials.  No reason to spend money on subscription based AV...plenty of good free stuff out there.

hypernova:
Like others have said, if there's nothing on there that you need to keep, I'd format right away.  If you do have stuff you need to have access to, use the above suggestions, and do your best to back up what you need, and do it fast.

Then format it.  Yes.  Format it regardless of whether you get everything taken care of.  Because if it's one of those viruses/malware that just never seem to go away no matter what you throw at it, you certainly don't want to spend your time over and over again in the future on what could be the same ugly beast rearing its head.  Alot of the times, you can think you got everything, but you later find out it's just hiding, waiting for you to open other types of files.  Pretty much everything can be eradicated with enough diligence and research, but some of those infections are just not worth the time and effort because they are so cleverly and deviously written, and it could turn out that you actually do save time by just starting from scratch.

Goz:
Microsoft Security Essentials works great for me but I surf porn and warez on my Nix and Mac machines.

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