This is getting annoying (Virus Problem I think)

[Bahamut-X]

My computer has been acting weird lately. I get tons of annoying random popups and windows keep deselecting randomly (gets extremely annoying when playing FFR/SM). Another thing is my computer takes forever to start up. My oh-so precious Microsoft antispyware isn't helping, but it keeps detecting these 2 threats:

1. SearchMiracle.EliteBar Browser Plug-in. I think that's this (only in IE):
It just randomly installed 1 day without my consent, and it won't disappear.

2. Virtumondo Adware. I think this is what's causing all the popups.

Each time it catches them, I delete them, and next scan they return. I was wondering if you guys knew of some way to permenately get rid of these things so I can get my computer running fast and normal again, cause I think these are what's making my computer all funky.

[Omegix]

RE: This is getting annoying (Virus Problem I think)

Get Firefox.

[Bahamut-X]

RE: This is getting annoying (Virus Problem I think)

That would only make sense if I uninstalled IE, which I don't know how to do. I checked in programs list, but it wasn't there. How do you do that?

And yes, I probably look very stupid asking this, but everyone has to learn at one point right?

[Afrobean]

RE: This is getting annoying (Virus Problem I think)

Internet Explorer is considered a component of Windows. If you go to the part that says "Add or Remove Winodows Components" you should be able to uninstall IE.

[lightdarkness]

Re: RE: This is getting annoying (Virus Problem I think)

Get Firefox.

[chickendude]

RE: Re: RE: This is getting annoying (Virus Problem I think)

You need to get multiple spyware killing programs (ad-aware spybot whatever )

go into safe mode
and run all of them, and delete everything

just muck them all out
uninstall anything that looks funny on Add/Remove programs

[Afrobean]

Re: RE: This is getting annoying (Virus Problem I think)

Get Firefox.

Simply getting Firefox is only part of the solution. He must also get rid of the adware which is causing popups.

For example, my teacher at school has MASSIVE adware on his computer. He uses ONLY Firefox, yet random things still popup in IE. Meaning that simply using FF in the place of IE is not enough. The source (in this case the toolbar or whatver adware is installed on your computer) must be eliminated also.

[180digi]

RE: Re: RE: This is getting annoying (Virus Problem I think)

Norton seemed to be, to me at least, the best antivirus program. Even though it was annoying as hell in the way that it would pop up when i was in the middle of playing games like EQ and Halo making me lag out like an expletive and then crash, it got the job done. My mom took it off the computer and now we have AdAware and AVG Free which dont work nearly as well at finding viruses as norton did. =/

[Bahamut-X]

RE: Re: RE: This is getting annoying (Virus Problem I think)

Afro: I found the components list, checked IE, clicked next, it deleted the stuff, I restarted my comp, and the stupid thing is still there.

Chicken: How do I run safe mode? I've never done all that stuff before.

[Afrobean]

RE: Re: RE: This is getting annoying (Virus Problem I think)

I'm sorry that uninstalling IE didn't help, but just think of the brightside: you no longer have IE installed on your computer.

How do I run safe mode? I've never done all that stuff before.

After starting up your computer, but before Windows starts, hit F8 a lot (in fact, you may need to hold it). You should be able to figure out how to run in safe mode from there.

And in case you don't know what it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe_mode

[chickendude]

RE: Re: RE: This is getting annoying (Virus Problem I think)

Safe mode basically disallows the running of most programs at startup
(mainly the crapload of processes in the background)

It makes it easier to bust out viruses
Its main use is to shoot down malicious programs

Its key to get multiple spyware detecting programs - because 1 will not do the job in most cases
I have norton, ad aware AND spybot

I had a problem similar to yours at one point
This got the job done