Sloooooow Acer laptop-Confused!

[humblejohn]

Went to Office Depot for a free check of above. They told me that Karpinsky av, malware bytes and superantispyware were not enough to prevent
virus attacks. Their diagnostic program says that I have viruses. Office Depot warned me that if I did their "list" of things to do I could make it worse. Told I need Karpinsky "Internet security" program. They put an icon on my computer which lists what I should do. Office Depot warned me that if I did their "list" of things to do I could make it worse. They want to clean computer for $199. Is there a valid program on the net which will scan my computer and tell me exactly what is wrong? Need help.Thanks in advance.

[ua549]

First of all, Microsoft Security Essentials is excellent virus protection software that is free. Combined with Windows Defender and windows Firewall that are part of the OS, your system will be quite well protected for zero cost. In addition I recommend that you periodically scan your system with Malware Bytes. it is also free.

There are many online scanners from reputable vendors. Take your pick. Both Trend Micro's House Call and Kaspersky have free online scanners. I'm not familiar with Karpinsky anti-virus products.

I recommend that you a) scan your system with an online scanner, b) download and install MS Security Essentials, c) enable Windows Defender, d) enable Windows Firewall, e) do a full scan of your system with Security Essentials and f) delete all old restore points and create a new one that is clean.

[bldegle2]

Office Depot wants your $199....I have never heard that doing what they TOLD you to do would make your system worse, bunch of phooey if you ask me....BTW, virus are not attacks per say, they usually are always brought on by the users surfing habits (u) and not having a proper virus protection in the first place.....

Do as ua549 said....then

review your surfing habits and questionable downloads, most viri are embedded in other stuff, also in innocent emails, in fact, you could be trading viri with friends back and forth via emails....viri can be totally avoided if you just pay attention to what you do....

one of my cousins kids went through this, I fixed/repaired the computer twice, the last time I told them I will no longer touch the unit (about 20 viruses finally brought it down the second time), he is a download freak at questionable sites (mostly free music and viral videos), that is what caused the problems....

sometimes your unit can be so screwed up the only option is to reformat and start from scratch....

good luck...

laterzzzz...........