Over the last week I have realized that I cannot do anything with my computer. First videos and things that need flash wouldn't work. I tried downloading a new update of flash and I got an error message. I cant download anything, my virus protection which is AVG will not update or run a virus scan for me. I tried running an online virus check and it will not work. I cant save pictures from online, I cannot run a spyware scan or anything. Does anyone have any idea what i can do to fix this?

You can try to remove the viruses, trojans, and every other kind of malware you may have but you're not likely to be completely successful. Many, if not all, of the experts say the only sure way to get rid of malware is to back up your data and reinstall the operating system.

A word of caution - If you're going to back up to an external hard drive, make sure you disable Autoplay and Autorun before you plug that into the computer after the fresh install of the operating system. Several of the bugs out there will write an autorun.ini file to external drives (hard drives and thumbdrives) so that when you plug it into another computer the virus is activated and infects the computer. If you're not familiar with disabling them, you can google disabling Autoplay and find several articles. To disable Autorun, I recommend this article: http://wiki.twit.tv/wiki/Security_Now_187. You can disable autorun temporarily by holding the shift key when plugging in a disk. But be careful because you can still activate the autorun if you do not access that drive the proper way. It's best to do the full disable on Autorun.

This post has been edited by Gatorgrad: Jul 3 2009, 02:29 PM

Will the anti virus run in safe mode?

Another note...

If you are absolutely dead set against reinstalling the operating system (I seriously advise that you do) you can try the steps I used several years ago to clean a friends computer. The details are here. Be aware, the steps that were successful for me years ago are not likely to work today because the malware has progressed and sinks much deeper into the computer.

Hmm, what is the error message you are getting.

Hey Before you go wiping anything off your computer I have had some problems like that. AVG Not updating is a pain and their technical support i think is just automated but here is what they told me to do to help you try to update it. This worked for me.




One other thing Try checking you Dns Settings I have had viruses change it so that i don't connect. If it is there erase it and Set it back to auto detect if that is what you have had it set up on Previously.

I hope this Helps least with AVG.