My husband opened the wrong thing on my computer and several adware and spyware programs were uploaded. The company that apparently uploaded them, has a service for a fee of course to eradicate them. My question is, should I purchase their service to remove them and then use avgfree or another program to remove brave shield?
I am 46, and not too sure what I am doing in terms of adware, spyware, viruses, etc..
Thanks!
Are you sure that it’s Brave Shield, and not BraveSentry? Because I can’t find any info on Brave Shield, but BraveSentry is widely known as a rogue program.
Whatever you do don’t buy them. If any got installed, first try to remove it through your add/remove programs.
If they won’t uninstall completely (and they probably won’t) and/or if you continue to get pop ups and warnings (and you probably will) my first suggestion is to run the smitfraudfix in safe mode. This link gives a link to the smitfraudfix and instructions for running it in safe mode.
> Smitfraudfix: http://siri.geekstogo.com/SmitfraudFix.php
And regardless of whether or not the smitfraudfix removes the rogue programs, I would suggest running Superantispyware afterward to remove any other malware that may be lurking.
> Superantispyware: http://www.superantispyware.com/
* (The smitfraudfix can be removed after you’re done with it, but keep the Superantispyware permanently.)
try using kapersky .the best antivirus ,spyware etc
I think that will do more damage.
If that website uploaded virus’s onto your computer for the express reason of getting you to download their anti-virus AND paying for the removal is just asking for further issues once you download it.
Use the anti-virus protection that you have now. If that anti-virus protection doesn’t get rid of whatever Brave Sheild got onto your computer get another one.
But Don’t use Brave Sheild.
I almost wonder if they can get into massive trouble for purposely putting virus’s onto your computer for the express reason of wanting to sell you a product.
And if worse comes to worse, call a techie.
If you don’t want to pay for that, get a family friends high schooler to do it for you. =)
Most of us aren’t too computer impaired.
Phony alert boxes on your screen or "balloon" pop-ups from the tray (by the clock) about a trojan, virus or spyware infection and the attempt to sell you some useless software to "fix" the problem usually indicates that your computer has one of two kinds of infection. Either Smitfraud or Vundo.
DO NOT BUY THE PRODUCT THEY TRY TO SELL YOU! IT IS SCAM.
Almost all "general purpose","all-in one" spyware and virus removal programs such as Adaware 2007, Norton, McAfee or Spybot S & D cannot remove Smitfraud or Vundo. A specialised removal tool will be needed. A good removal tool that specialises in removing these 2 types of infections is RogueRemover Free:
http://www.malwarebytes.org/rogueremover.php
After running RogueRemover, to clean-up any remaining infection traces, scan for trojans,
and spyware etc and remove (free online scan, no downloaded program) with Ewido Online Scanner ( now known as AVG Anti-Spyware). This is NOT the same as AVG Anti-Virus. Press "Scan your computer now online and clean it for free!" on the left.
http://www.ewido.net/en/
WAIT A MINUTE!!! I just realized, that you are being tricked! Spyware can’t come on to your computer without you downloading a file from the internet. A company wouldn’t just put spyware on your computer! Spyware is malicious software that is made to "spy" on your computer. What told you that you had a virus on your computer? You should use avg to scan your computer for viruses, instead of buying another one! The program that notified you that you have a virus/spyware on your computer is a virus itself!!! Unless it was a firewall or spyware remover. Which would have asked if you wanted to remove it, not to buy another program! Only a firewall or spyware remover could know that there is spyware on your computer.
Here’s what I was originally going to say:
The most widely trusted FREE spyware ( and adware, malware, virus, etc) remover, is spybot search & destroy. You don’t need to buy a spyware remover, when the best ones are actually free! Seriously, spybot SD is much better than any programs you could buy. If you don’t like spybot, then try some of the other spyware removers mentioned in the other answers. Also, avg is sufficient enough to eradicate any viruses/spyware on your computer if you don’t want to do any in depth scanning, that could take up to several hours depending on the size of your hard drive. So, the best solution, would be to run avg, go to test center, and click on scan computer. If there is any spyware on your computer, then avg will remove it. How did you come across the so called spyware? Are not knowledgeable about computers? Because there are companies who tell you that there is spyware or viruses on your computer, just to get you to buy their product.