What Anti-Virus are you guys using?

[Paul2]

i think my laptop has some kind of nasty virus that even after i did a windows recovery, the laptop is still slow.  like 5 to 10 times slower than before.

a couple months ago, i took my laptop to a computer repair shop because the screen was broken.  I used to live in a room and board and last late February a resident broke my laptop's screen.  He went into my room while i was away and used my laptop without my permission.  According to him, he said he uses it but he didn't break it.

But my roommate said he accidently broke it.  Then he got kicked out of the house and he didn't have to paid for the damage.

So 2 months ago, i finally went to get it fixed and about 3 weeks later.  my mom and i finally able to pick up the laptop and when we got home.  i notice there are 2 cracks on the back of the lower left side of the screens and next to the power supply.  i called the repair guy and he said it was there before so i guess i learned to check the entire laptop before i send it to repair to see if there are any cracks or defect on it.

Yesterday, i also notice the ground prong on the power cord has some fry burnt dot in the middle of the prong.  i am suspicious the repair guy probably fried it somehow?

Anyway, sorry for the long story.  After i got the laptop screen replaced, i notice my laptop runs like 10 times slower.  maybe the repair guy put some kind of virus in it?  i did a windows recovery and when it get to the format the hdd, it only formatted for like a minute or so before it install a fresh copy of windows 7.

When i notice the laptop still runs slow, i did a windows recovery for the 2nd time and it didn't format the hdd completely.  it only format for like a minute or so and after all that, it still runs slow.

so i wonder what anti-virus you guys use and what anti-virus would you guys recommend me to use to fix the problem.

[§ôµÏG®ïñD]

I use AVG, malwarebytes and pest patrol.

Never have a issue.

[Titan]

I use avast and spybot. Up until recently I also had malwarebytes. Speaking of which, Souly, do you have the free or the paid version? I had the free and took it off my computer because it would start when windows started and would start up randomly and scan when I didn't want it to. When I went in the options to change the schedule it said I needed the paid version to do it. You have that problem?

[Kurt Angle]

I use Spybot, Malware Bytes and Microsoft Security Essentials. All free programs and not had any virus issues. 

[Paul2]

i use avg anti-virus too but it couldn't detect this virus that causes my laptop to run slow.  Last night I downloaded the Malwarebytes that you guys are talking and scanned the laptop.  After it finished scanning, it found 0 threats.  But surprisingly, i try to open multiple tabs with lots of texts and some pics and it run faster than before.  Maybe 3 times faster.  Its still not as fast as 10 times before the maleware/virus though but still somewhat faster.

Strange indeed.  Over a month ago, i detect this "svchost.exe (netsvcs)" that eat up cpu performances.  does anybody know what it is?  I am pretty sure its a virus or malware but neither avg or malwarebytes could detect it though.

[Titan]

Hate to say it paul, but I don't think you have a virus. There is a laundry list of things that can make your computer slow. When was the last time you defragged your hard drive? How many programs do you have running in the background? As your computer gets older and you install more programs or plugins for web browsers, programs, etc, sometimes they run in the background without you knowing. Every few months, I run msconfig and shut down unnecessary programs at startup and that run in the background. That exponentially speeds up a computer. I'll have to find the links I use. I'll get back to you.

[Paul2]

i defragment my laptop frequently.  About once a month.  i put both my brother laptop's and mine laptop on auto-defragment and it schedule to auto-defrag every week.  Strangely, the main drive (drive C) doesn't auto defrag but other drive (external hdd) and recovery drive defrag every week though.  So i have to defrag drive C every month though.

Sometimes i defrag it right away whenever i copy, delete, or encode videos, especially big size videos before i burn it to dvd.  otherwise burning to dvd will crash if i didn't defragment it.

i only use the web browser and that is all i use and i open say 2 or 3 tabs in the web browser and right away i notice my laptop starting to run pretty slow.  say if i open ign.com, and then i open vgchartz.com, i notice slow down right away.  Before i get my laptop's screen replace, it runs very fast and i open like 5 tabs on my browser and it still runs very fast.  But after i got the screen replace, it runs like 10 times slower.  now, it only runs 3 times slower.  which i find rather odd.

[Paul2]

oh yeah, my laptop is a september 2011 model.  its a 2nd generation intel i5 cpu laptop that my middle brother bought for me.  so it should be very fast.

[§ôµÏG®ïñD]

I use avast and spybot. Up until recently I also had malwarebytes. Speaking of which, Souly, do you have the free or the paid version? I had the free and took it off my computer because it would start when windows started and would start up randomly and scan when I didn't want it to. When I went in the options to change the schedule it said I needed the paid version to do it. You have that problem?

nope, i don't let it boot with windows. I disabled it. I'll only allow things to run when i want them to run.. Including anti virus. I do all about once a week.

[Titan]

I use avast and spybot. Up until recently I also had malwarebytes. Speaking of which, Souly, do you have the free or the paid version? I had the free and took it off my computer because it would start when windows started and would start up randomly and scan when I didn't want it to. When I went in the options to change the schedule it said I needed the paid version to do it. You have that problem?

nope, i don't let it boot with windows. I disabled it. I'll only allow things to run when i want them to run.. Including anti virus. I do all about once a week.

Yeah well I was too lazy to fix that in msconfig. I also forgot I could do that, lol. I have been thinking of buying the license for Malwarebytes so I can set up a schedule (another feature you have to pay for). I am horrible of keeping up with running scans. That's why I like avast to start with Windows. I'll never remember to turn it on otherwise or run scans. I have it scan once or twice a week.