Computers...

[Kahnai]

Alright, so I was on my computer this morning and suddenly... A virus!



Is okay, I thought. I have had viruses before. So I reset my computer to an earlier time as I have done in the past. In the past it has worked quite well too... Though this time when I loaded up my computer after it said the system reset didn't work...

I tried to click on my virus protection to tell it to clean imediately and I couldn't even acess it. I tried to turn on the internet. Couldn't access that either. Tried to turn on my paint program (for the heck of it) and that too would not open. The virus had blocked me from doing anything on my computer aside from turning it off and on. I called around to a few places that might help and they all told me to set my computer to factory settings. I called a few virus removal people and they wanted obscene amounts of money to remove this virus from my computer without setting it back.



With a heavy heart I gave in and set my computer to factory settings. Had I had things like family photos or other such items on it I would have probably forked out the money but since the things on my computer (while dear to me) were not THAT important I reset it.



Goodbye to all my music, goodbye to all my homework documents (I am hoping my college teachers won't ask to see a copy of recently turned in papers), goodbye to my list of fav sites to visit, and goodbye to my games which I had saved...



It is a sad day for my computer indeed. The moral of the story, back up your stuff! I didn't and now... *sighs*

On the upside (if there really is one) my computer is all squeaky clean inside...

 

[iPhonefreak]

Wow! That stinks! What is your antivirus? Did you try opening it in safe mode?

 

[Kahnai]

I opened it in safe mode and tried to do a system restore that way, still didn't work...



I have Charter Security Suite.

 

[iPhonefreak]

I would reccomend getting a new anti-virus.

More of common one like Mcafee or Norton.

 

[Kahnai]

Know how much they would be?

 

[Sinon]

Don't go near Norton. It's a resource-hog and it doesn't work very well. I use AVG Free 2012 and I have had a grand total of two viruses since getting this computer, both of which were captured and deleted with no issues.

 

[iPhonefreak]

Don't go near Norton. It's a resource-hog and it doesn't work very well. I use AVG Free 2012 and I have had a grand total of two viruses since getting this computer, both of which were captured and deleted with no issues.

Norton runs completely fine on my computer. I love Norton, and has worked very well for my family and I.

Know how much they would be?

About $60 now, on sale.

 

[Jazzy]

I use Avast which is free. I have never had a virus and have been using Avast for three years now.

 

[iPhonefreak]

Anti-Malwarebytes is a good free one, too.

 

[Evil Eye]

The moral of the story, back up your stuff! I didn't and now... *sighs*

True that...

Although you can always take out your hard drive, plug it into another computer and copy whatever you want to keep. (Obviously the second computer should have some antivirus software to prevent it from being infected as well... but it works.)

 

[Jazzy]

True that...

Although you can always take out your hard drive, plug it into another computer and copy whatever you want to keep. (Obviously the second computer should have some antivirus software to prevent it from being infected as well... but it works.)

Great advice IF you have a second computer. I don't....

@EE: What antivirus do you use?

 

[Evil Eye]

Great advice IF you have a second computer. I don't....

Err, yeah. I suppose you could try to borrow someone else's computer, they might not like that very much though

@EE: What antivirus do you use?

Avira. So far I haven't had any issues with it.

 

[Jazzy]

No problems with my Avast either.

 

[Kahnai]

Thanks for all your advice. I will look into each of these antivirus softwares and see which I like the best.



Hopefully another incident like this doesn't befall me agian...



Oh, and another upside, my mp3 player had 120 of my 500 some songs so I din't lose all of them!

 

[Evil Eye]

Oh, and another upside, my mp3 player had 120 of my 500 some songs so I din't lose all of them!

Well that's good news. Did you lose any you didn't listen to anyway?

 

[Kahnai]

There were a few I didn't listen to anymore, but not many. Worse yet I can't remember what the other songs were. I guess I'll just start slowly collecting them again...

 

[TommyTooter]

Don't go near Norton. It's a resource-hog and it doesn't work very well. I use AVG Free 2012 and I have had a grand total of two viruses since getting this computer, both of which were captured and deleted with no issues.

i've been getting excellent results with AVG free backed up by spybot search and destroy and ccleaner, all free programs.



there's one with a $40 dollar annual license called PC Tools that gave excellent protection and i consider sophos products from the UK to be the best. i don't remember what the license fee is, but most are less than $50 and well worth it when you consider how much time and data was lost on this one incident alone.

 

[Raven]

Don't go near Norton. It's a resource-hog and it doesn't work very well. I use AVG Free 2012 and I have had a grand total of two viruses since getting this computer, both of which were captured and deleted with no issues.

Norton has improved ALOT in the last few years. I've been using it for the last 3 years. But it is quite expensive.

For freebies try McAfee or AVG.