Expert: Brian Benosky - 12/14/2011

Question
Hiya Brian

I'm not ignoring your request to use HijackThis!; it's just that my question is a general one rather than any specific issue I'm experiencing right now.

I'm keen to keep my computer as clean and as mean as possible so maintenance, in the form of scanning of all descriptions, plays a dominant feature.

My main concern, however, is that of malicious infections. I have what I believe to be is a good antivirus program (AVG 8.5 - the paid-for version) which although updates automatically I confirm its authenticity every so often by manual confirmation.

I also have various programs which although I don't run continually, are installed for one-off scanning when I feel the need, StopZilla being one of them. Not wanting a conflict with AVG I've turned off all automation and, like the others, only scan when necessary.

The problem is that it always finds something, and not in small numbers either. As an example, I scanned my computer yesterday which resulted in about 20 infections and following their suggestions I thought I'd eradicated them. However, just to make sure I'm now doing another scan because I still didn't feel the computer was as responsive as it could be and it's found another 13. Whether these are new ones or errors from yesterday I can't be sure.

So my problem is, as all my infections were supposed to have been eliminated, how could I still have even one, let alone this many? Is it a fault of my program or that of the tenacity of viruses?

It's always been my belief that StopZilla is a heavy-weight when it comes to detection and erasure so I only use it when absolutely necessary, but I'm beginning to doubt its usefulness.

Can you offer any advice or suggestions (recommendations would be welcome as well). It would be silly to say that money is no object but within limits I'd rather have a computer empty of malicious infections than a bank balance full of money.

I know you're expected to reply within three days but although this particular query is important it's hardly urgent so if time presses I'd be grateful for an answer at all, let alone one within any time limit.

Yours,
Dave Crew

Answer
Hi Dave

Thank you for your patience.  With the holidays upon us, things have been quite hectic and I have had very little time online.  
You do not mention the type of infections your programs have been finding.  If they are common tracking cookies and the like, there is no real need for concern.  More serious spyware and viruses are indications your removal programs are not getting to the root of the infection.  
Let's try this:
Restart your computer into Safe Mode with Networking by tapping the F8 key on boot until a black screen with a loading menu appears.  Choose to load Windows into Safe Mode with Networking and log on as usual.  Open a browser and download Malwarebytes AntiMalware from here:
http://downloads.cnet.co.uk/view/security-software/malwarebytes-anti-malware-392
Install the program, allowing it to update the definitions and then run a complete system scan.  After scanning, click the Remove Selected button and restart your computer normally.  A log will pop up, which you can copy and paste to me if you choose.  You should then run a scan with your other programs to see if the infections are gone.  Either way, you can let me know in a reply.  

Brian