Computer help plz.... Very bad virus

[porsche4life]

I was looking for a audio converter and found this.
http://www.softwarepile.com/audio_converter.html
It looked fine so I gave it a try and after it downloaded it popped up that it needed to restart. so I let it. Once it reboots a message pops up that windows has encountered a critical error and will restart in 1 minute. I try to click shut down and it tells me that i dont have permission to do that. It then goes into a continuos cycle of resart and crash. The pc is running Vista and already has Norton 360. Can anyone help?

[slodave]

Have you tried to boot into safe mode? It doesn't really sound like it is a virus.

[stomachmonkey]

Software and co seem to be kosh.

Restart in safe mode if such a thing still exists in Vista.

Remove SW.

Curious, did you disable Virus protection when you installed? Usually a good idea to do that.

[SlowToady]

GET RID OF NORTON 360. It's a horrible, horrible piece of software. NOD32 by eset is a much better AV product.

Will wait on more information to comment further

[idontknow]

Buy a Mac.

Someone had to say it!

[porsche4life]

How do I reboot in safe mode?
I didnt do anything to the virus protection when i installed.
I cant afford a Mac.

[slodave]

Restart the computer - oh, it's already doing that... Right after restart, hit the F8 key repeatedly. You should get the "Windows Advanced Options Menu". From there, choose safe mode.

[stomachmonkey]

1. Restart your computer.
2. When the computer starts you will see your computer's hardware being listed. When you see this information start to gently tap the F8 key repeatedly until you are presented with the Windows Vista Advanced Boot Options.
3.Select the Safe Mode option using the arrow keys.
4.Then press the enter key on your keyboard to boot into Vista Safe Mode.
5. When Windows starts you will be at a typical logon screen. Logon to your computer and Vista will enter Safe mode.
6. Do whatever tasks you require, and when you are done, reboot to go back into normal mode.


When you install SW it's a good idea to disable virus protection.

The SW may need to install in a directory or modify the system in a way that the AV protection thinks is a virus. So your install can become corrupt causing problems not unlike what you are experiencing.

[porsche4life]

I never get that screen and f8 isnt working.

[slodave]

Hold the power button for about 10 seconds. This should turn the computer off. Turn it back on and immediately hit the F8 key.

[porsche4life]

LOL Rage helps.
I got ticked and turned off the power strip. When I turned it back on it wanted to do a restart check or something like that. It restored to an earlier point and the software was no longer there and now it is working fine.

[slodave]

Whatever works.

[porsche4life]

Yup... thanks guys... I am typing from the culprit computer.
Now what anitvirus is best?
And where can i get something to convert from wmas to mp3's... does that software pile thing check out ok

[SlowToady]

Glad you got it resolved. Laundry prevented me from replying I would still advise you to get rid of Norton 360. It's a POS, and there are MUCH better solutions out there.

[porsche4life]

Ok well I may do that but at the moment I'm too worried. This is the first scare in over a year with this computer havent had any other bugs at all knock on wood. The isp i use is supposed to be very secure.

[Z-man]

Originally Posted by slodave

Restart the computer - oh, it's already doing that...

Coffee through the nose.

What I want to know is how was porsche4life posting here if his computer was going roundy-round and not booting up?!?

Sounds like a glitch in the Matrix.

-Z

[jcunning]

Originally Posted by SlowToady

Glad you got it resolved. Laundry prevented me from replying I would still advise you to get rid of Norton 360. It's a POS, and there are MUCH better solutions out there.

Everyone will have their opinion about anti-virus/software...
I believe they all do a relatively decent job of protecting you against the most common virus'. You just need to decide which one works better for you.

I have used Norton software for many years and I have had no problems with it. Nice GUI, simple to use, doesn't seem to eat too much CPU. I really do not like McAffee compared to Norton. I have also tried CA (Computer Associates), and I rank that below McAffee. Awhile back I used a package called Panda. I was pretty happy with that but it was more expensive than Norton. I keep coming back to Norton after trying the others. As I said before, they all seem to do the same thing. It comes down to your own preference.

[CORNICE6]

Like Jeff said, everyone will have their own opinion on AV SW. I too have used Norton for a number of years without any problems.

You can try Avast Home Edition. It's free and they got good reviews!

http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html

Good luck!

[MysticLlama]

Handy tip in case it starts doing it again:

When it gives you the 60 second shutdown notice, go to start->run
shutdown /a
OK

That should abort the shutdown process and let you go on to finding/fixing the problem.

[SlowToady]

Not exactly. All AV software is NOT created equally. There are numerous tests available online that show that Norton's detection rate is damned low; lower than most others, and lower, even, than the free AV software. You can Google it if you wish.

Also, you can't say you haven't had any virus' when using Norton if you haven't used other scanners at the same time. If Norton won't detect it, you'll never know you have a problem.

They all "do the same thing" in that they are supposed to check your system for virus'. However, the heuristics by which they go about this are vastly different, leading to widely varying detection rates.

I'm not trying to start a religious AV war here, but be aware that there are MUCH better products, for the same or less money. In every instance that I've used Symantec/Norton products, the experience hasn't been a good one. Here's just one example: If you connect to a POP3 server on a non-standard port, like I do, Norton 360 won't let you connect and OE gives you cryptic errors. Only by disabling Norton E-Mail virus checking could I get OE to connect. WTF?