Computer issues help!

[Castlemaid]

Computer geeks, please help in simple language (like you would talk to a six year old. )

I downloaded Lavasoft Ad-Aware, and now it took over my computer! It used to be a good thing, what happened?

It has made 'secure' Lava-soft search Bing bar the default browser, and Adblock stopped working on all the sites.

So I went to add/remove programs, and removed it, but ad-block was still not working, and the Bing bar was still the default browser window.

So I did a system restore (first one on this computer). Did not help at all. Removed chrome and adblock and reistalled it, still have the lavasoft bing bar page open when I click on the chrome shortcut, even though I made it my default browser, and adblock still doesn't work.

I'm not even going to mention what this is doing to my Facebook - It looks alien, and seems all my settings have defaulted.

Can my sanity be restored? (Hey, I don't take to change very well!)

[MichaelE]

That software is malware. I wish I could help, but I would need to be at your computer.

It can be eliminated but someone that can explain it better than me will have to post.

[Liesje]

Yeah I agree with Michael. I remove viruses and malware as my job but every computer is different. Most cases do not take me long but I don't follow a checklist.

Don't install anything these days unless you know what it is and what it does. And even then don't install it unless you're getting it directly from the publisher (not some third party download site). I spend hours every day just removing crap because people download freeware that looks cool and don't read the dialogue boxes they click through as they install and it ends up loading the computer with malware.

[jang]

I am like you...totally not computer savvy...but I do know that when I downloaded chrome it really messed things up for me..have no idea how to remove it...sorry for your dilemma..

[Castlemaid]

Ad-aware is malware? I thought Lavasoft was highly respected and safe!

I used to have it as a spyware remover on my old computer, recommended to me by a computer geek. Geez! Can't trust anyone nowadays!

So any tips on how to get rid of it? I run Windows 7 and Microsoft essentials.

[Rua]

The only way you can be sure you are rid of any malware is to do a complete reformat of your computer.

[MichaelE]

Originally Posted by Castlemaid

Ad-aware is malware? I thought Lavasoft was highly respected and safe!

I used to have it as a spyware remover on my old computer, recommended to me by a computer geek. Geez! Can't trust anyone nowadays!

So any tips on how to get rid of it? I run Windows 7 and Microsoft essentials.

I downloaded it several years ago to an XP machine. It was the first time (and only time) I ever had to re-format one of my XP machines.

It was as though it was opening ports up on that machine randomly and all kinds of crap was getting through. I had untold amounts of re-directs, browser hi-jacking, so many pop-ups I could barely read the page I was trying to load, etc.

It was a mess. I consider myself a bit more computer savy than the average home user, but I was completely taken by surprise by this garbage software.

I don't remember, but I might have downloaded it from a third party site, or a spoof site, because like you I thought this company was OK.

[GatorBytes]

try where you see bing or google or antivirus at the top of your screen (depends on what you have) in mine bing is listed along with yahoo under my AVG toolbar...right click and you will get a list - bing will have a checkmark - uncheck it...right click on google or chrome or whatever and click on appropriate or help

[Thesilentone]

I've never put any anti-virus on my computer nor have needed it, except back when I was in school and was required to have it installed. Antivirus software for the most part is basically a beacon for viruses(spyware, malware, etc), It has to act like a virus in order to catch a virus. It can slow down programs you have on your computer, you can check this by bringing up the Task Manager and seeing what processes, how much CPU is being used- even looking for suspicious .exe files helps that seem to be sucking up unwanted usage. The best way to rid anything on your computer would be to do a complete restoration which means going back to the original default settings and everything on your computer would be deleted. Also, it helps drastically to use a safe and secure browser like Firefox or Opera(essentially the best of both Firefox and Chrome). Good luck.

[Rua]

Originally Posted by Thesilentone

I've never put any anti-virus on my computer nor have needed it, except back when I was in school and was required to have it installed. Antivirus software for the most part is basically a beacon for viruses(spyware, malware, etc), It has to act like a virus in order to catch a virus. It can slow down programs you have on your computer, you can check this by bringing up the Task Manager and seeing what processes, how much CPU is being used- even looking for suspicious .exe files helps that seem to be sucking up unwanted usage. The best way to rid anything on your computer would be to do a complete restoration which means going back to the original default settings and everything on your computer would be deleted. Also, it helps drastically to use a safe and secure browser like Firefox or Opera(essentially the best of both Firefox and Chrome). Good luck.

Yeah we are the same for all our computers. My hubby is a software engineer and doesn't believe in using ANY sort of antivirus software. Won't touch it with a barge pole. And we've never had any issues with viruses or anything in 15 years.