Looking For Malware Removal For XP

[///M]

Originally Posted by vonVile

I find it odd all of a sudden after years of being here Avast is repeatedly hitting me with pop-up warnings for URLs that don't seem to exist. I looked a few up and Google can't find these sites. It could be an Avast problem, but it's annoying having it announce false warnings every few page loads.

From my now thankfully buried in the past time fighting with Avast to keep it cracked when I thought I desperately needed it (I didn't), I found that it would frequently throw up spurious warnings about non-specific things it couldn't match to anything solid. Probably all driven by its heuristics engine I guess. After a while of putting up with the random warnings and blockages and other assorted annoyances and inconveniences caused seemingly by Avast, I decided to engage my critical thinking brain instead.

Just as Microsoft has a vested interest in giving away their operating systems which are built around a core purpose of spyware and data capture, so they can sell the resultant targeted advertising data to third parties (remember kiddies, when something is given away from free it means YOU are the product being sold), anti-virus companies also have a vested interest in keeping you scared so that yoy can constantly be sold the newer /better version of the software to deal with these new emerging threats they just made up.

Just as all the constant updates from Mincrosoft are there to keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat, so that when their new OS with even more obtrusive and deeper data gathering capability is released, you'll rush to download it, companies like Avast need to keep you just as scared so that you'll rush out and buy that new version of their software too, to keep you "safe" from the big bad bogeyman hacker looking to steal your shopping docket loyalty points. Think about it.

Install Winborg 7 instead and say goodbye forever to constant nag screen update demands and false positive virus/malware reports. It's amazingly nice to have a computer that just works day after day exactly the same way year after year. No updates, no learning new workarounds to the latest swathe of "improvements" that stop you doing things the easy way. No finding that latest piece of software isn't supported yet and needs a whole bunch of new drivers. Just a computer that works exactly like it did yesterday and the day before that and the day before that and at exactly the same speed too.

[gmcbee]

Originally Posted by Intershar1

The pop-up alert was more than likely showing that Avast caught and blocked the malware. XP? As in Windows XP? Go to bleepingcomputer

Hey, now. XP was the most stable OS MS ever released. SP3 was bulletproof. I ran it on an Inspiron 9100 for a million years. The laptop finally shit itself, and now I'm on an Optiplex 780 running Win 7. The first thing I did was find a util called never10.exe! Win 7 is nice and stable, too. 7 years or so, and not one single BSOD.

I'm not a gamer, so I don't need the bandwidth or speed. I'm content to ride the plains, just me and my pygmy pony. 250,000 tunes, 2,500 full length movies, decades of tv series, all on my four 4TB WD friends.

Of course, I'm older than most of you whippersnappers. I can read Hollerith code off a punch card...

They call me an anachronism, but I don't even *like* spiders!

[OddBa11]

Originally Posted by redsox1211

I dont have avast so i cant say, all i can suggest is to not use windows XP at all, for anything trust me you'll be better off not risking getting hacked or a severe virus, question, do you use Firefox? if you go to settings and choose 'strict' under browser privacy, that will block every ad and pop up you can come across on every site, its what mine is and it works great.

Most likely an Avast issue.

Having said that, I use Microsoft Security Essentials. I don't know that if it is still compatible with XP. But from the testing that I've seen, they are all about equal.

[redsox1211]

Microsoft Security Essentials no longer works, it ended support january 2020 along with windows 7, how are you not getting popups and notifications telling you that? Microsoft defender is what windows 10 uses, its basically the same thing, Microsoft Security Essentials is better in my opinion and i miss it, but it doesnt work anymore.

Originally Posted by OddBa11

Most likely an Avast issue.

Having said that, I use Microsoft Security Essentials. I don't know that if it is still compatible with XP. But from the testing that I've seen, they are all about equal.

[///M]

Originally Posted by redsox1211

Microsoft Security Essentials no longer works

To be realistic, neither ever worked and were worse than useless. Unless you enjoyed being constantly blocked from doing anything useful with your computer and being denied any kind of networking connection.

Microsoft's networking "functionality" is so haphazard and such a mess of overcomplication, that the first step every troubleshooting guide ever written says about getting it to work is "disable Firewall/Defender/Security" just to cut down the myriad number of things that will interfere in trying to get a connection established.

[OddBa11]

Still available, and still updates everyday> http://microsoft.com/en-us/down...s.aspx?id=5201

And only available for Vista/Win7

[OddBa11]

Originally Posted by ///M

To be realistic, neither ever worked and were worse than useless. Unless you enjoyed being constantly blocked from doing anything useful with your computer and being denied any kind of networking connection.

Microsoft's networking "functionality" is so haphazard and such a mess of overcomplication, that the first step every troubleshooting guide ever written says about getting it to work is "disable Firewall/Defender/Security" just to cut down the myriad number of things that will interfere in trying to get a connection established.

Can't say that I've ever had it block me from doing anything. I have numerous PC's on my home network (Win7 and Win10 now) and any "networking" issues that I've had, have all been Windows related (especially trying to keep a Win7 machine working) and not AV related.

[///M]

Originally Posted by OddBa11

especially trying to keep a Win7 machine working

You wanna look at the WinBorg version of Windows 7 and install that instead of the standard M$ version. It has all the crippling junk Microsoft embedded it with to make it auto-obsolete itself stripped out.

No updates, no online phone home authentication, no expiring licences, all drivers built in, no AV required, no nag screens, no reminders, no warnings. It just works and there's no work involved in "keeping it running" as you say.

There would be a WinBorg 10 version too except that Microsoft got so serious about embedding and integrating the spyware and data mining capability of Windows 10, that it's actually impossible to strip it all out without crippling the OS to a point where it simply doesn't work.

[redsox1211]

Microsoft Security Essentials doesnt work on windows 10 and NOBODY for any reason should be using windows XP, thats about it.

[///M]

Originally Posted by redsox1211

NOBODY for any reason should be using windows XP, thats about it.

Ridiculous blanket statement with no validity whatsoever. How about on a computer not even connected to the internet used solely for running obsolete software to operate an EPROM read/writer via serial port which only operates under Windows XP?

There's the one perfectly valid and legitimate reason I need to prove your statement completely false. Before you retort with I should use a virtual machine version of XP, no I can't do that because the hardware communicates via a serial port which no longer exists on any modern computer powerful enough to run a virtual machine and no, why should I have to buy an adapter when I have a perfectly reliable XP computer to drive it directly?

Or how about another example? Driving an OpticFilm mounted slide scanner which is again obsolete and no longer made for digitizing priceless irreplacable family photos from long past eras for archival purposes. The software for which only operates correctly under XP and for which the manufacturer has ceased support and is no longer releasing any updated drivers to work on later OS?

In fact, I'll make another blanket statement that NOBODY who cares at all about their private data should for any reason use Windows 10 since it is the most prevalent form of spyware in the world for Microsoft. That's about it.