Hello Everyone,

My parents have a brand new HP computer with windows XP on it and have a high speed cable modem.  They are constantly  getting adware and viruses even though I have installed a firewall and they use Macfee Virus PROTECTION provided by AOL.  I am not too familiar with what AOL provides. Can anyone give me some insight on the type of upkeep my parents should be doing in terms of patches and virus protection updates outside of scanning?  I feel like they are helpless and are always calling me at work to answer their computer problems when owning a computer shouldn't be this hard.

Thanks for any help anyone can provide. Tell them to keep their virus definitions up to date! Also, defrag regularly.I'm going to recommend three PIECES of software for your parents. There are many more out there, but if your parents are at all like mine then we want to keep things as simple as possible for them.

Download AVG Free from here:

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/Get+AVG+FREE/lng/us/tpl/v5

Download Microsoft AntiSpyware from here:

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

Download AdAware SE Personal from here:

http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10045910.html


AVG Free is a virus guard, and should keep them safe. Once installed, it runs in the background at all times your PC is on.

Microsoft AntiSpyware guards against Spyware. No single program will catch all of it, but you can at least expect to keep the annoyances to a minimum. This program is the best going.

AdAware lets you quickly and easily san your PC for anything that gets through, and safely removes it for you. Have them run this at least once a week, and they should notice their problems decrease greatly.

Squirrel's comment can't be OVERSTATED: all of these programs must be updated regularly to remain relevant. Doing so is easy; they all give you the ability to connect to their sites anytime you want to download the most recent definitions. They can also be set to update automatically. Generally, once a week is all it takes.

Take these steps and see if the situation improves. Come BACK and let us know either way. Good luck.And don't forget to keep xp fully uptodate.
Patch Tuesday, the 2nd Tuesday of the Month.Cattle prods work good when the kids step out of line.

Are they making use of Peer to Peer software? Such as KAZAA?

Viruses are obtained through files that are received. If the computer is infected and the security not properly configured it will keep being infected even though you think it has been removed.

What security is being used? Mcafee seems useless to me. The Windows XP Firewall is pap.

Virus scanners
AVG Free
-- Anti virus scanner
Trend Micro Housecall
-- Online anti virus scanner.

Anti spy/malware
Microsoft Antispyware
-- Anti spyware scanner. Windows XP Home and Professional only.
Spybot Search & Destroy
-- Anti spyware scanner
Adaware SE Personal
-- Anti spyware scanner

Firewalls
Use both a hardware and software firewall.
Be advised as dual software firewalls may cause problems

ZoneAlarm Free
-- Free firewall - more user friendly
Sygate Personal
-- Free firewall - more configuration options

Removal tools
The following files are not substitutes for the ones described above.
They are either diagnostic tools or removal tools for malware of a certain kind

HijackThis
-- Manual malware remover. Post the HijackThis log generated only if requested!
McAfee Stinger
-- Virus removal tool. No substitute for a fully functional virus scanner!
CWshredder
-- CoolWebSearch removal tool. Widely known and persistant Hijacker.