My advice get a Mac.
Over 2% of FA users have one.

Unfortunatly neither skant or I liek macs OS.
and I dotn think he cna use one for work

The only reason OSX has no real worms like on Windows is because no one cares enough to do it. OSX is not any more secure (and from the number of vulnerabilities it has, it's probably less so).

I quite like Avast for my anti-virus solution. It's free, doesn't suck up system resources, and has kept me decently clean.

As far as Vista goes, I'd say either Business or Ultimate.

Don't bother buying Business or Ultimate - they have nothing really valuable than Home Prmium has, and are more expensive. Apart from the fact that Vista itself isn't worthwhile, but this is MY opinion.

Skant, rootkit nests in OS' kernel, so nothing really can remove it correctly. So far the only one effective way to get rid of it is to format and reinstall Windows. Rootkit usually means that there is something else sittitng in your comp, so before you'll backup your important data, you should scan your harddisk from another PC - in this way nothing dangerous should run during the scan. A little bit complicated, but it works fine for me.

Hope that it would help.

Well, I like having Remote Desktop, which means Business or Ultimate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rootkit
Scroll down to the part about detecting the things, and see if any of it might be of help.

you dont need vista, thats a virus in its self. you just need better software. usually notron products are infestive in my experiance, try NOD32, its pretty good. avast is a useless cpu hog, macafee is as good as dirty toilet water. :3

-Z

I'd say Home Premium is about all you need. Ultimate really doesn't offer anything of value, Basic is just silly, and Business is... well, for business customers, really doesn't offer anything you want and takes away some features you might appreciate.

But yeah, Vista gets my full endorsement if your computer is pretty recent. Unless you're in the situation where you've got an older version of some expensive program which claims to not be Vista compatible, if your computer can handle it, I fully recommend it. The search integration and enriched Start Menu alone make it worthwhile.

ack norton is bad av most bussiness don't use it. I found free avs better than norton my advise back up your system and wipe it. Then use a diffrent Av

There is only one real way to detect rootkits mathematically. Thats by state checking, knowing every little detail of your system when its supposedly not infected, and checking that to your current system.

My advise is to back up your good stuff and fdisk that drive.

Rawrawrawr

I second that!
Rawrawrawr!

Linux... :>

Sadly I have no computer wit to aide with but I hope you manage to get that sucker somehow...

Dont do vista, if you use windows stick with XP, theres nothing in Vista worth it accept wasted physical resources.

Nod32 is an outstanding antivirus program [ http://www.eset.com/ ] high on the top 10 list of best antivirus programs.

And I hope life works out better for you soon ^^

Vista is only compatible with vista-specific products. For example: we in my household can't use our printer with the computer downstairs because vista won't allow it access.

Have you looked for patches or updates to the driver?

Yup.

Damn.

I have never had a serious virus before x..x I am sorry to hear about that skant..

I had a annoying one the other day. NOD32 didn't even see it. It took this little program: http://www.superantispyware.com/ to find it, and fix it. So I suggest to use it, and it doesn't interfer with other Anitvirus programs. I used the free version, want to have it live scanning you will have to pay to upgrade, but it found the bug I had, and nuked it from my system. Thats my suggestion. hope it helps

AVG is a pretty decent AV. NOD32 too (though don't use any of it's firewall-like functions).
You could possibly detect the rootkit with Rootkit Revealer.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/...../bb897445.aspx is the URL. It's a sysinternals tool, and it's very good at detecting hidden rootkits. Still, it's only a complement to an actual AV.

Ugh, as if I needed any more reasons to consider Norton Antivirus a bloated piece of crap. I had all kinds of connectivity issues until I uninstalled it. Doesn't seem like it's very good at detecting viruses, either.

I've heard good things--and had good experiences so far--with ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

http://www.eset.com/products/nod32.php

Also, wouldn't recommend the jump to Vista unless it's absolutely necessary for your job. Give a few more years--if it lasts that long.

I recommend avoiding Vista. It's very frustrating and M$ has already opted to stop supporting it. They may bring back support for XP instead.

Oh, and try going to housecall.trendmicro.com. It's a free online virus scanner that seems to catch most things. It may not be able to remove the virus, but it can give you a name and instructions on how to disable and then remove it.

I'm a bit confused. How as Microsoft opted to stop supporting Vista?

They're no longer actively developing fixes to major issues with the O/S. They'll fix certain security leaks, but instead they're developing a "new" O/S since Vista was a failure business-wise.

Um... just because they're making Windows 7 doesn't mean they've given up on Vista. Windows 7 will probably be released 3 years or so after Vista was, as is the norm with OS releases.

I don't really understand how they're not fixing major issues. You just said they're fixing security leaks. What else is there for them to fix?

o.o;
what a fucked up virus. hopefully its just malicious and not apart of some botnet structure. a nuke may be the best thing to do with that but you'll want to save only the things that you've had on there weeks before the infection. I personally use Avast! antivirus and i find it works well for detecting and removing and even has a nice little boot scanner that can help get past many other viruses that require full OS resources by doing an antivirus scan before windows loads.

Wow I actually ran into this while fixing a the computers at the paintball place I go to. It's quite nasty, the only way I totally got rid of it was to nuke the drive and start fresh.

I recommend Trend Micro's PC-Cillin. Good stuff.

I've heard good things about PC Doctor, though the advanced features require you to buy the full version.

I've also used Adaware and SpyBot SD with decent success.

D.O.P.R

Just don't go to Vista. It's a waste of time (and resources from your computer too !) }:/

I'm running Vista Home ony my laptop.

With a Dual core 1.8, and 4Gb of DDR2 memory, It works perfectly. memory never goes over 40%.

Ouch, rootkits are such a pain to remove. If you've got your data somewhere safe, I would say that it's your surest and easiest option.

I just hit a major snag in Vista earlier this week, which actually became a less than opportune chance to update and streamline my Vista Home Premium Installation. If you do end up going with Vista, check out vLite. :) You can slim down Vista to under 4GB installed, which is pretty nice compared to most people's complaint-worthy 12GB Windows folder.

I would recommend going for Vista Home Basic Upgrade (if your computer is less than three years old).
It's $100 from Staples or Amazon, and has a nifty trick I'd be happy to walk you through. Installing the "30-day trial" from the DVD (by not entering registration information) and then installing it again using your "upgrade" license allows you to install Vista directly without having to spend the 90 minutes or more required to install XP.

http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Vista-Home-Premium-Upgrade/dp/B0013O54P8/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1211865455&sr=8-1

Windows XP is easy, cheap, and efficient, and holds enough of the market-share that I don't foresee any of us being forced to upgrade in the near future. If you can post some hardware specs, I'm sure we could help you pick out the most appropriate OS. (Linux really isn't out of the question if you stick mostly to Second Life, which is fairly compatible with the major versions out there.)

Good luck, and if you do end up with a Windows OS, you can use the NOD32 trial from ESET.com indefinitely. It's one of the fastest AV options out there, and I liked it enough to pay for it. (As a reference, it's the only software I've purchased individually in over a year, including games.)

Send me a pm/email/poke if you'd like some help. Always happy to lend a paw to another dragon.

Man, I went with the Vista business edition, and I cna't go back to XP, if your a computer programmer Vista is the way to go, I switched up a few of the things, modded up the OS, its the best you can get. As far as Antivirus is goin, AVG tookout a Rootkit no problem on my XP desktop. Hope that helps ya yo!
~Fir~

P.S. Sorrah about my accent yo~