Expert: Doug Woodall - 8/5/2008

Question
Growing up I've had to learn the hard way that virus protection is ALWAYS a must when going online with computers. However having the means to purchase virus protection constantly and even choosing the right program have not come so easily. So I've spent a lot of time trial surfing. Downloading trial after trial attempting to see what I like best and hoping to stay safe in the meantime. However I've noticed recently that I don't think the trials are acting as they are suppose to. Up until recently I haven't had any problems with infections on my computer, except for the random cookie threat here and there. Now I have the Trend Micro Internet Security trial and it's telling me that recently my computer had obtained a Tojan, knowing that's a much more serious infection it worried me significantly. Not to mention that the tojan is now deemed to be not removable. I decided to get a second opinion seeing as I dont know much about the Trent program itself. Once downloading Spyware Doctor that program now told me I had over a hundred infections, five of those being trojan viruses. Shocked I wasn't sure what to believe. If it's a scam simply attempting to get me to buy their software to remove the suspected viruses or if the programs I've had in the past failed to find the hidden threats. I've had programs ranging from McAfee to Norton to Symantec etc. I'm really not sure what more I can do or What more to believe. Any advice?? And suggested virus protection prgrams?!?!

Answer
Hi Kylee,
Do you know what the Trojan is called?
Alot of users are satisfied with AVG or Avast AntiVirus due to their versions that work well.
I myself use BitDefender 2008 on my Vista machine and it works well.
Its a all-in-one and Im impressed.

I can recommend review sites for AntiVirus, AntiSpyware and Firewall programs.
Like this one.

http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

If you cant get rid of the infection, dnload and run the program "Hijack This". Save the log results, and submit em to a good help Forum like Major Geeks.com.

Some of those trails dont completely remove themselves thru the uninstall program. Norton has a complete uninstall available for dnload at their site.

Hope this helps.
Let me know how it turns out.