Virus software?

[hawkeye]

Norton or
Webroot

 

[JOSHNAUDI]

I also appreciate the tech input. Thanks for all the input, appreciated. I must be unlucky as hell, in the last year I've got at least two viruses that were time-consuming to get rid of. If I remember right,xmlka was one, and fff5ee the other. I'm by no means a computer guy, maybe I'll give AVG another shot. Josh if you have a second, any opinion on avast, and why did the above two viruses raise so much hell with it? Thanks again!

The quick research showed for xmlka that it may have been an optional program install, meaning that you were downloading and running something legit but they also gave the option of installing the xmlka toolbar which is also an ad & redirect program.

http://malwaretips.com/blogs/remove-xmlka-com/
From that page

You should always pay attention when installing software because often, a software installer includes optional installs, such as this program that is causing the Xmlka.com redirect. Be very careful what you agree to install.
Always opt for the custom installation and deselect anything that is not familiar, especially optional software that you never wanted to download and install in the first place. It goes without saying that you should not install software that you don?t trust.

fff5ee is also adware that redirects and pops up ads. Just from reading the names used by this program can I ask if you had downloaded any coupon software? 1 name was solid savings and the other was rebateinf. Similarly this may have been added during a legit software installation when you answered yes to "normal install"

http://blog.mitechmate.com/remove-fff5ee-com-infection/

I used Avast for a period of time when AVG was very resource intensive. Before we had the RAM boom and everyone was running less than 1gb of RAM, AVG would turn decent computers into expensive paper weights. Avast did not consume as much RAM and allowed computers to run a little quicker. At this point, and I haven't checked avast in some time, I would blindly tell people that Avast was fine for the price (free) and will be better against some things and worse against others. Almost all virus protection software applies to that broad statement.

The more important thing in my mind is to figure out where you got the 2 viruses from, what you did to get them and how to prevent history from repeating itself. Fool me once, you get uh, um, you get a virus. Fool me twice.... I'm saying you don't want to get another virus. South Park ran an episode showing how we quickly accept user agreements without reading them and some software installation has done the same thing that will get the quick "Accept" clicker to actually install something that you don't want. Just be careful when installing.

 

[shamrock]

Thanks Josh, appreciate it!