Brand New Computer, Need Advice!!!

[CompCrisisAHHH]

Hi, I need some quick advice. I purchased a brand new HP ten days ago and the second day I had it I noticed it was behaving rather odd. About 50 "Symantec E-mail Proxy" windows kept popping up with all of these random e-mails and messages apparently having been blocked. (I did not recognize any of the addresses or e-mails). So I called HP. They told me to call Symantec. Symantec had me download the Update Installer and do Live Update to update the virus definitions. Then they had me run a full system scan both from my software and then from their website. All scans found no infected files. I spoke with them 5 times about this problem and each time they swore there was no virus on my comp. Each tech had me adjust the settings in Nortan to try to alleviate the problem behavior. After the fifth try, it seemed to calm down. Then, suddenly, a few days later, I woke up, opened my computer and there were 298 E-mail Proxy windows open!!!! I called Symantec and they tried to charge me for service! So I got fed up and took my comp to Circuit City. It took them ten minutes to run a scan using their software and they found a "trojan-backdoor-adagoe". Now they want $139.99 (after a $40 rebate) to remove the virus and clean up my pc. Plus they install the full version of Nortan Internet Security and Webroot. My question is, should I read up and attempt to remove the trojan myself, saving the money? I have read horror stories and I don't want to destroy my System Restore and not be able to restore it later if I need to. Is there a good, free anti-virus software out there? Is Nortan a good software? Is it a waste of my time and intelligence to let someone else do this for me? Or should I bite the bullet, pony up the money to get the software and the peace of mind that my comp will be back to normal. I bought it less than two weeks ago and I plan on having it for a while. Also, I do online banking and online credit card payments with my PC. Please someone, help me decide the right solution!

 

[halo71]

I think if I were you I would download and run AVG to try and remove that virus. Before paying them to do it! Or do a system retore. You need to stop using the PC to make credit card payment and online banking until you rectify this issue.

 

[DelJo63]

the sequence goes like this

1. get it clean
2. download AVG7 for AV support
3. download comodo firewall
4. update your system from MS (but avoid IE7)
5. install AVG7
6. install comodo
7. enjoy

the how-to-get-it-clean will be your major effort

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Hello and welcome to Techspot.

Very Important: Before deciding whether you should clean or reformat your system, go and read this thread HERE and decide what it is you want to do.

If after reading the above, you wish to clean your system, do the following.

Go and read the Viruses/Spyware/Malware, preliminary removal instructions. Follow all the instructions exactly.

Post fresh HJT and AVG Antispyware logs as attachments into this thread, only after doing the above.

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:

This thread is for the use of CompCrisisAHHH only. Please don`t post your own virus/spyware problems in this thread. Instead, open a new thread in our security and the web forum.