robmacc wrote:
> Specs are- core 2 Duo T7200 2Ghz processor, 2gb Ram, 120gb HDD.
> A "new" notebook,although it was open on the shelf of the store- not
> connected to internet though.
> The freezing is debilitating-Cannot cancel or close the window.
> The only way I can move again is to restart.
> I am about to take off the Norton security software (looks like it
> doesnt work anyway!) and try another security program and see if that
> makes a difference.
> I have twice run a "free"program from Smart PC and both times (within
> 2 days) it revealed 3 (6 in total ) instances of Trojan.-2 of which
> were IN the Norton program!
> The 1-2-3 spyware program also deleted several instances of spyware.
> Defender & Norton were and are showing the computer as free of all
> viruses & operating normally. Seems also that the Asus live update is
> not working
>
Your specs are up to Vista okay so that shouldn't be a problem unless there
is a hardware fault on it (memory, motherboard or hard drive .. not much
left lol). Could you return it and get the store to take a look at it for
you? It might just need a reinstall and as you're unlikely to know its full
history that would be the route I would take first off.
If you can't get the store to look at it do you have a restore disc to take
the machine back to a factory state? If the machine was on the shelf it may
have been tinkered with by staff demo-ing it to customers. If you can
restore it I would do that and then remove any programs you don't want
before updating all drivers and imaging the OS and installing an AV program.
I used AVG which is free and so far I've had no trojans or viruses I ditched
Norton a long time ago and with free AV, Firewalls and Spyware applications
I don't see the need to pay for it. I'm also behind a NAT server and a
hardware firewall.
If you can't get to the store and you don't have a recovery disc I would
remove all software from the machine and get rid of the trojans, spyware and
I once had a client who got a virus and although the 'cleaning' apps they
used said it had been removed it kept coming back and I found that it
hadn't been removed fully. I used some instructions from Sophos to manually
remove all traces of it but I personally prefer to keep images of machines
so I can ghost them back and it's a lot faster than going through files and
the registry.
When you do get your machine clean and running okay don't go on-line before
you have an AV program installed and a firewall turned on