Hi Eric, hope you're feeling better.
The disc drive is still almost always running full speed.
I don’t know what could be causing that but as far as malware is concerned your computer appears to be fine. It could be Norton which is renowned for high disk usage but you could start a topic in our Windows forum to see if they can find another reason for it.
With regard to your antivirus question:
- Norton has always been, and still is, a resource hog and I would never have it on my system
- AVG has always been very reliable but is now also becoming a bit “bulky” and also slowing systems down
I use Microsoft Security Essentials but Avira and Avast are also very good and ones that I would recommend, (they are also all free}.
Here are links to all three:
Free Avast Home Edition
Avira AntiVir® Personal Edition Classic
Microsoft Security Essentials
NOTE: If you download any of these, uninstall Norton before installing a different one and do NOT install more than one or they will fight against each other and render each ineffective.
Also, remember to enable Windows Firewall, (Norton 360 includes one but you will be without a firewall when it is uninstalled).
To turn on Windows firewall:
- click Start, Control Panel, Security, and then Windows Firewall.
- click Turn Windows Firewall on or off. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
- click On (recommended), and then OK.
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Now that you’re free from malware, as long as your computer seems to be running well, please follow these simple steps to tidy up you computer and decrease the likelihood of getting infected again:
Uninstall OTL
- double-click OTL.exe
- click the CleanUp! button.
- select Yes when the Begin cleanup Process? prompt appears.
- if you are prompted to reboot during the cleanup, select Yes.
- the tool will delete itself once it finishes, if not delete it by yourself.
NOTE: If you receive a warning from your firewall or other security programs regarding OTL attempting to contact the internet, please allow it to do so. You can delete all other logs and programs we’ve used that are on your desktop. Just click on them and press Delete.
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Uninstall AdwCleaner
- double click on adwcleaner.exe to run the tool
- click on Uninstall
- confirm with Yes.
You can delete all other logs and programs we’ve used that are on your desktop. Just click on them and press Delete.
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Create a Restore Point
- click on Start > Control Panel (All Control Panel Items)
- click on System > System Protection
- check that you have System Protection turned on for the drive that you want to create a restore point for, (usually C:
- click Create
- type in a description for the restore point to help recognize it when doing a System Restore, and click on the Create button.
Remove old restore points
- open Disk Cleanup by clicking Start. In the search box, type Disk Cleanup, and then, in the list of results, click Disk Cleanup.
- if prompted, select the drive that you want to clean up, and then click OK.
- in the Disk Cleanup for (drive letter) dialog box, click Clean up system files. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation
- if prompted, select the drive that you want to clean up, and then click OK
- click the More Options tab, then under System Restore and Shadow Copies, click Clean up
- in the Disk Cleanup dialog box, click Delete
- click Delete Files, and then click OK.
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Recommended programs
SpywareBlaster. SpywareBlaster protects against bad ActiveX, it immunizes your PC against them. It blocks over 11,000 bad sites and uses no resources of your computer.
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Re-enable Spybot - Search and Destroy’s TeaTimer
- open Spybot Search & Destroy
- go to the Mode menu and make sure Advanced Mode is selected
- choose Yes at the Warning prompt
- expand the “Tools” menu
- click Resident
- check the Resident TeaTimer (Protection of overall system settings) active. box
- in the File menu click Exit to exit Spybot Search & Destroy
- if Teatimer gives you a warning that changes were made, click Allow Change when prompted.
exit Spybot S&D.
Remember to scan your computer with the program on a regular basis as you would with your anti-virus software.
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Update and run Malwarebytes. This really is an excellent program that you should also update and run on a regular basis, probably weekly.
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It’s important to keep programs up to date so that malware doesn't exploit any old security flaws.
FileHippo Update Checker is an extremely helpful program that will tell you which of your programs need to be updated.
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MVPS Hosts file replaces your current HOSTS file with one containing well known ad sites and other bad sites. Basically, this prevents your computer from connecting to those sites by redirecting them to 127.0.0.1 which is your local computer, meaning it will be difficult to infect yourself in the future.
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I also recommend that you read the following:
How to prevent malware by miekiemoes
If I hear nothing for 24 hours I shall assume all is well and close the topic.
Safe computing
Satchfan
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That's choice coming from Norton who are the biggest culprits when it comes to draining your system resources. I'm not, (and never have been), a fan of Norton and when your subscription runs out I would consider free alternatives which I can give you links to if you wish.
