Possible Computer Virus-Trojan Issue

[Frank-0-Sport]

Greetings ....

Issue Began ... Monday 4/11/2011 around 3:00 PM ET (USA)

Description .... Whenever using any of three web-browsers (Firefox, Opera, MS-IE) on my laptop, AVAST alerts me of a threat regardless of what I click onto. In each case, AVAST identifies the running process as the specific browser in use.

A quick scan with AVAST was done, which singled out some html and htm files. I deleted those because I had backups. However, the AVAST alerts continue with web-browsing.

There have been no AVAST alerts when using non web-browsing apps.

A search of this issue on the internet indicates that I may have picked up something which triggers false alerts to AVAST. If this is so, and if AVAST can't find it, what is a good solution?

Thanx-A-Lot, Frank-0-Sport

[ControlJunkie]

Got a few suggestions for you, and I'd say run them all. First, grab Microsoft Security Essentials . It's a free antivirus from Microsoft, largely based on their corprate Forefront Client Protection. Regardless of what you may think about MS, it has won numerous awards and tons of praise from sites that usually do their best NOT to endorse anything by MSFT.

Second, grab SpyBot Search & Destroy . The link is to a portable version, which means all you really have to do is extract it somewhere (as opposed to installing it), and run it. It's not antivirus, it's antispyware, but I'd still recommend running it at least once.

Third, another portable AV, ClamWin , just for good measure. In a case like this one, it's best to have a number of different engines scan, as the definitions can vary from product to product. Again, no need to install, just extract it and run it. You can actually extract this and SpyBot Search & Destroy to a thumbdrive and use it on multiple computers, again with no installation needed.

If this doesnt help, post back and I might have some other ideas for you. Good luck!

EDIT: Sorry, I forgot about MalwareBytes . Our desktop support group at work uses it from time to time when McAfee Corprate doesnt catch everything. You may want to grab it if the other suggestions dont find anything.

[Frank-0-Sport]

Greetings ....

Turned out to be a bad definitions update by Avast. They issued corrections within the hour, and now everything's running OK again.

Thanx-A-Lot, Frank-0-Sport

[motteler621]

In cases like these you can always run your computer in safe mode, Once in safe mode do a system restore to before you had the problem.

[shades9323]

Originally Posted by Frank-0-Sport

Greetings ....

Turned out to be a bad definitions update by Avast. They issued corrections within the hour, and now everything's running OK again.

Thanx-A-Lot, Frank-0-Sport

I would still dump Avast and run MS Security Essentials.

[ControlJunkie]

Glad to hear you got it straightened out!

And yeah, I agree with shades' post above, you might want to look at swapping out Avast in favor of MSE. It's surprisingly one of the best products they've put out in a while.

[Kieran123]

I have been trying out MSE for the last few weeks and I think it is pretty good. Along with Spybot S&D; and Ad-Aware......anti virus in itself is NOT ENOUGH.

[Frank-0-Sport]

Greetings ...

I tried Microsoft Essentials for a time, but it turned out to be a big resource hog and slowed down things way too much for my liking. It's now on my "UNLIKE" list!

Thanx-A-Lot, Frank-0-Sport

[ControlJunkie]

Originally Posted by Frank-0-Sport

Greetings ...

I tried Microsoft Essentials for a time, but it turned out to be a big resource hog and slowed down things way too much for my liking. It's now on my "UNLIKE" list!

Thanx-A-Lot, Frank-0-Sport

That's wierd, I've got it on multiple personal machines as well as a few virtual machines housed on them, and have never had a problem with it requiring much at all. I usually forget it's running, to be honest. Huh... Oh well, sorry you had a bad experience with it.