Please help, my computer is under attack.

[granodemostasa]

Hi, i'm not computer literate, i mean i could use the thing, but i'm not a fan of all the little details that go into these things.

for the last 3 years i've relied on Norton Internet Security (rebuying it every august or whenever a new one comes out). well, now it tells me that my computer is under attack. i do a "live update" and install the things. then it tells me that a trojan horse is has gotten in, and somehow it can't fix it (after having me go through a series of steps).

one , i want to get rid of the trojan horse

two, i want to get rid of norton.

[tkam]

Yes lose Norton it's probably done more harm than good. For Anti-Virus get something like NOD32 or Kaspersky. Also download Spybot it's a free spyware/adware remover.

[KenW]

First, the trojan might be easy to remove although it did get past Norton. I'd start with a google search on the name of the trojan. You'll likely come across some instructions for removal. Personally, I'm not a fan of Norton either. For my money, Trend is a better antivirus solution. It's what I have on my office network and it replaced Norton. You should also look into and learn to use HiJack This. Just a great free program that lets you inspect and kick out some unwanted visitors should they be on your system.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, my honest opinion is that I'd reformat and do a clean install after backing up the files I need to keep.

[Dusty Chalk]

Correction: Spybot Search & Destroy is the full name of the software that you want to download and install. You do not want to download a spybot, that would be deliberately sabotaging your own computer. Spybot bad, Spybot Search & Destroy, good.

I usually recommend Ad-Aware at the same time. Since you run them manually, they're not mutually exclusive.

There's a couple of freeware -- upgradeable to better Norton replacements. Avast is a good one.

Need more details on the trojan in order to help you remove it. What I usually do is google on whatever is reported, and find some manual removal instructions and execute them.

Don't blame Norton -- remember that virus fighting software will always be one step behind the people who write the viruses. Your best bet is to go Mac or Linux, although that just lowers your risk, does not eliminate it completely.

[philodox]

I've had pretty good luck with AntiVir, though I have another program specifically for trojans that I run every once and a while though I forget the name of it. Norton is a POS in my experience and takes way to much system resources.

For spyware I just use Windows Defender... I know what people think about MS software, but it actually works pretty well, has low overhead and is free.

[deepak]

Also using NOD32, hasn't failed me yet.

[qazwsx]

IMO Norton AntiVirus does a pretty solid job finding viruses when LiveUpdate is run consistently. Anyhow, I got rid of it because of how much of a CPU usage and memory hog it is.

I use AVG -- completely free and works just as well, if not better than Norton without slowing down my computer.

[Thelonious Monk]

ss&d, avast, and adaware are all great and free. nod32 is king though.

[saint.panda]

As for virus scanners, Kaspersky was the best I've tried. When my pc nearly failed me it was because I had Antivir Personal installed, which missed 2 trojans and a worm on my pc. According the virus scan website, Kaspersky Nod32 and one or two others were the best. Can't find the link at the moment.

Kaspersky is also pretty easy on the CPU and is very fast on a full scan. I can't recommend highly enough. I even have it now running on Parallels for Windows on Mac.

If you do decide to delete Norton Antivirus, be sure to download the replacement uninstaller, SymNRT, from the Symantec support site. The regular Norton Antivirus uninstaller leaves a bunch of junk on your system.

This might be a good time to switch to Apple or Linux though.

[Eric5676]

Use AVG, Ad aware, and spybot. Already a lot of great suggestions in this thread.