My pc or laptop is slow/I think I have a virus or spyware/malware

[Simon Pieman]

Computers do get slower the more technology and the demands placed on them evolve, but if you've noticed drastic slow downs, especially in a short space of time it's more than likely leftover crap, a virus or some spyware/malware which is causing it to run slower.

To combat this, here is a list of some really useful and free programs for you to download which should increase the performance of your machine. I have also given some instructions on what to do once these have been downloaded.

It's also worth noting that maintaining a healthy pc will be better than waiting for a problem to happen, so you should do these things periodically.

Spybot Search & Destroy
http://download.cnet.com/Spybot-Search-amp-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10122137.html

Malwarebytes anti-malware (it's free, don't need to upgrade)
http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html

Ccleaner is also an easy tool to clear out crap and temp files from your pc.
http://download.cnet.com/CCleaner/3000-2086_4-10315544.html?tag=mncol

If you need to uninstall programs windows leaves behind traces of these when you remove them through windows. I use Revo uninstaller to avoid this. It's easy to use, you simply open the program and select the uninstall programs button in the menu.
http://download.cnet.com/Revo-Uninstaller/3000-2096_4-10687648.html?tag=mncol

AVG is a decent free anti-virus program. I used to be sceptical of free AV software, but it's found and fixed more problems than Norton or Zonealarm ever did i.e. it's really good.
http://download.cnet.com/AVG-Anti-Virus/3000-2239_4-10385707.html?tag=mncol

Windows comes with a disk defragmenting tool but it is painfully slow to run, think hours! I have been using a free software tool which does just as good a job as the windows utility but in a fraction of the time. It's called Auslogics Disk Defrag. When you run the program you just select your hard drive from the drop down menu on the main screen and then click next. It will then be busy for a long time (anything up to an hour but usually 15-30mins), the moving graphics will stop and it will tell you when it's finished. You can download from the link below and it also has a video to explain what disk defragmenting is and why you may need to do it.
http://download.cnet.com/Auslogics-Disk-Defrag/3000-2094_4-10567503.html

Once downloaded I would run in this order:

AVG anti-virus
Malwarebytes anti-malware
Spybot S&D
Revo uninstaller (if you have programs you need to get rid of)
Delete as many uneeded files from the machine as possible, then empty the recycle bin. This will free up hard disk space.
Ccleaner
Auslogics Disk Defrag

Once you've done all that, it's useful to get as much debris and dust from your machine as possible. Unfortunately this can be tricky if you can't/don't want to open up your desktop/laptop. The preferred method in which case is to get some compressed air from a stationery store (don't buy an air keyboard cleaner as they aren't strong enough). Spray this into the vents on the side and bottom of the machine. The alternative and arguably more effective method is to hoover the air vents. Although I have never heard of anyone short circuiting their laptop, be aware that hoovering will cause a static build up and there is a risk of it happening. Make sure your laptop is switched off before you do any of these final suggestions.

[@MacPhlea]

Here's one for the Mac users out there...

Turn it on

Just use it, it works...

Turn it off....

Sorted...

[Berniman]

If anyone does want a more comprehensive anti virus package at a relatively cheap price, Eset NOD32 can be purchased here and is one of the best available.  This is also the cheapest price on the web:-

http://www.epospartners.co.uk/store/product/1247/Nod32-Anti-Virus-Single-User/

This is part of the company that Chubbs and I work for so it is a safe local one to buy from.

 

[Peter Venkman]

If anyone does want a more comprehensive anti virus package at a relatively cheap price, Eset NOD32 can be purchased here and is one of the best available.  This is also the cheapest price on the web:-

http://www.epospartners.co.uk/store/product/1247/Nod32-Anti-Virus-Single-User/

This is part of the company that Chubbs and I work for so it is a safe local one to buy from.

 

meh....freebie links Berni...freebies!

[Luci]

Hang on - by downloading all those cleaner programs, wont that take up more space and slow up the pc anyway?

[Peter Venkman]

Hang on - by downloading all those cleaner programs, wont that take up more space and slow up the pc anyway?

Negativo Ms Tourettes, they are teeny in comparison to the size of your disk.

[Gazza's Fat Mate]

Negativo Ms Tourettes, they are teeny in comparison to the size of your disk.

What has the size of her tits got to do with anything?

[oxford_fan]

AVG started to annoy me because it suddenly stopped updating properly, so I now have avast! which works a treat.

[Simon Pieman]

Hang on - by downloading all those cleaner programs, wont that take up more space and slow up the pc anyway?

Spybot is the largest program which comes in at under 54mb
AVG is just over 27mb
Ccleaner is less than 1mb
Malwarebytes is less than 4mb
Revo unintsaller is just over 4mb

Grand total of 90mb, which equates to 10-15 mp3s at a decent compression rate on my machine.

[Samdy Gray]

If anyone does want a more comprehensive anti virus package at a relatively cheap price, Eset NOD32 can be purchased here and is one of the best available.  This is also the cheapest price on the web:-

http://www.epospartners.co.uk/store/product/1247/Nod32-Anti-Virus-Single-User/

This is part of the company that Chubbs and I work for so it is a safe local one to buy from.

 

No offence to you or Chubbs, Berni - but NOD32 is bollocks. Very resource hungry and slows the PC down on start-up whilst it automatically updates and I found it also didn't pick up half the things that freeware such as AVG did.

Anyway, if you must go down the route of using NOD32 there's a very easy way to make your free trial last forever meaning you never have to pay. Not that I've ever done that, ahem.

And to add to Si's list, more as a preventative measure than anything else, I'd suggest PC Tools Firewall Plus which can be downloaded for free here: http://www.pctools.com/firewall/

I'm running it fine alongside AVG and it's a million times better than Windows Firewall.

[Luci]

Spybot is the largest program which comes in at under 54mb
AVG is just over 27mb
Ccleaner is less than 1mb
Malwarebytes is less than 4mb
Revo unintsaller is just over 4mb

Grand total of 90mb, which equates to 10-15 mp3s at a decent compression rate on my machine.

Cheers!  Sorry for the silly question but I'm no pc expert!

[Barry Scott]

No offence to you or Chubbs, Berni - but NOD32 is bollocks. Very resource hungry and slows the PC down on start-up whilst it automatically updates and I found it also didn't pick up half the things that freeware such as AVG did.

Anyway, if you must go down the route of using NOD32 there's a very easy way to make your free trial last forever meaning you never have to pay. Not that I've ever done that, ahem.

And to add to Si's list, more as a preventative measure than anything else, I'd suggest PC Tools Firewall Plus which can be downloaded for free here: http://www.pctools.com/firewall/

I'm running it fine alongside AVG and it's a million times better than Windows Firewall.

Just to vindicate what others have said and to add my two peneth. I've never used NOD32, but have been told it's one of the better ones along with Kaspersky, but i hate resource hogs. Kaspersky is now the one i use, primarily because it's surprisingly light on resources, although a bit overly intrusive.

I also had to use their Firewall as well, simply because of my Google problem that was documented on here. Working around PCtools and/or Outpost were just impossible. But i agree PCtools firewall is the shit, although Outpost (which isn't free) is supposed to be the best.

I have a friend who works in Malware/Spyware and he says the best AV is NOD32 or Kaspersky, the best anti-malware is Malwarebytes and the best Firewalls are as above - and he really does know what he's talking about. He says Zonealarm is almost completely pointless fwiw.

[Simon Pieman]

Cheers!  Sorry for the silly question but I'm no pc expert!

It was a good question, rather than silly! I was going to add something in the original post as it does seem contradictory, but only when you look at the program sizes you will realise that they don't take up too much space. The post seemed massively long so I omitted it. I can think of a few other things which should go in there too, but I'll leave them out for the time being as most problems should be solved by following those instructions.

I was thinking of doing a separate firewall thread so cheers for the heads up Sam.

[Berniman]

No offence to you or Chubbs, Berni - but NOD32 is bollocks. Very resource hungry and slows the PC down on start-up whilst it automatically updates and I found it also didn't pick up half the things that freeware such as AVG did.

Anyway, if you must go down the route of using NOD32 there's a very easy way to make your free trial last forever meaning you never have to pay. Not that I've ever done that, ahem.

And to add to Si's list, more as a preventative measure than anything else, I'd suggest PC Tools Firewall Plus which can be downloaded for free here: http://www.pctools.com/firewall/

I'm running it fine alongside AVG and it's a million times better than Windows Firewall.

I have NOD32 running on my PC and it is the 5th lowest application as far a resources go using 2,168k, so I am not quite sure where the resource hungry thing comes from.  It is also pretty much the quickest anti-virus with regards to boot up and if it really slows your PC down then maybe that is an issue with your PC rather than NOD32 mate!   But if you prefer AVG and think it's better than fairplay to you.  I have some gumpf that shows comparisons to other AV's with regards to missed viruses, resource usage and sutch and I will try to post a link.

Oh, and we had NOD in to see us the other day and the dodgey versions making the free trial last forever will stop updating soon as they are in the process of making them stop.  Not that I am happy about this because I have got a mate  that is using one of those versions.  Mind you, I can get some serious discount on a pucker version so not too bad for me.

[Berniman]

Following on from my previous post, take a look at the stats here:-

http://www.cts-retail.com/nod32.htm

The stats never lie!