Expert: Carolyn Meinel - 9/7/2011

Question
Hiya Carolyn

I think I need some advice on keeping my computer secure.

I thought I'd done a fair job in that I've installed AVG antivirus, the paid-for version, and a few computer maintenance programs - Advanced System Optimizer, Registry Easy among them.

I've also got StopZilla v5 which I only install when necessary as I find it quite resources-hungry and a bit heavy-going but recently I installed it but haven't been able to lift it as I'm always having to run it.

I don't know if I'm right, but although installed I've restricted its use to on-demand running only - it's not 'on guard' as I thought this might conflict with my usual antivirus program and I've run it several times over the last few days and on each occasion it's found on average about 50 serious infections.

I haven't d/loaded and installed anything new in this time and as far as I can remember the computer has the same programs installed as it's always had.

I've scanned the whole computer on each occasion which obviously includes my library of software so apart from being frustrated in the slow performance of the comp which necessitated this continual scanning I'm at a loss as to how I can make it more secure.

Can you offer any helpful suggestions please?

Answer
Because Stopzilla has so many detections of alleged malware, and because it slows down your computer so much, you are well justified in being concerned. According to the Malwarebytes forum, Stopzilla appears to be a rogue program masquerading as a helpful program. I have always been impressed by the high quality of the free Malwarebytes program for removing malware, so I take their warning seriously.

See their information on Stopzilla here: http://forums.malwarebytes.org/index.php?showtopic=1416

You can download their free program here: http://www.malwarebytes.org/

If you have trouble uninstalling Stopzilla, please let me know and we can work together on that.