Heelp! Free antivirus software needed

[MeeWhoo]

I have some kind of virus in my computer, the MacAfee security thingy kept coming up with the message "Trojan removed, no further action needed"
BUT when I go do a google search and then click on any of the results, instead of taking me to that link, I get all sorts of crap, and a lot of it is porn sites (nooooooooo!!!!)
It's ok if I type the address on the bar, but it seems I can't click on google links... Any ideas? I have logged in to my MN account jus now (for some reason I got logged out), but I don't want to do any internet banking or other "risky" stuff until I get this sorted

Can you not use McAfee to do a full virus chec again? If you have their security you should be pretty safe if it's all up to date.

I have AVG.

free.avg.com/us-en/download-free-all-product

We use Panda Anti-Virus (recommended by DH who works in IT)

We use avast. Or AVG.

First off, download and run Spybot which is free and bloody good. It will detect and remove viruses, spyware, malware, keyloggers and rootkits. Then download and install something like Avast free version and Threatfire.

You might need to use a clean pc, downloading to a usb. If so, start your pc in safe mode then install and run from the usb, starting with Spybot. Avast and Threatfire both update automatically, so no need to go looking for updates.

DS works in IT and advised me to use Avira.

The reason I say 'you might need to download to a clean pc' is that some malware won't allow you to download security software.

Thanks everyone.
Hedlyey, looks like you are right as it seems I cannot download the Spybot to my computer, will try later on DH's one.

We use AVG too, just the free one and it works just fine. We ended up with a Trojan worm when we were using McAfee.

Hello, I had this recently, where i couldn't download new software because the virus blocks it. What worked for me was something called system restore- i'd never heard of it but it is part of the windows operating system. You choose a date where you know your computer was not infected and windows puts the computer back into the state where it was at this point i.e. it removes any changes made since then. You can then add new software. Different versions of windows access system restore differently- (i do mine by putting system restore into the search box on the start bar, my DH's is in the accesssories folder instead, so you may have to do a google search to find out how to access on your version of windows)

Thanks WhyAlways, I have now downloaded to a pen drive using my old, almost dead computer, but otherwise I will use system restore if it doesn't work. (Actually I've had to use it a couple of times for other reasons, but hadn't realised I could use it in this instance)

Try Malwarebytes,make sure you download the free one and update it before you scan with it,recommended by the geeks on another forum I go on.

MBAM is good too, as is Superantispyware. Again, it's free.

Good luck!

What WhyAlwaysBoris suggested is likely to help you be able to install the various malware removal tools you've been advised to try, since it will reverse the majority of changes to the computer that the infection has caused, but it is definitely not enough on its own.

It will not remove traces of the infection that may well have hidden themselves in obscure locations. For starters, anything that Windows determines to be data files are not touched by a system restore (that is so that you don't lose recent docs and pics if you restore to an earlier date) so you are definitely NOT safe to assume that the PC is "clean" if all you've done is a system restore, even if the most obvious symptoms of the infection have since disappeared.

If the system restore allows you to then download and install anti-malware tools, run Malwarebytes first, then the others (spybot and superantispyware.)

Then uninstall McAfee and replace with (in my order of preference!) either Avast (but maybe not today, as v7 has just been released so maybe better to wait for any bugs to be found by others!), Avira, Microsoft Security Essentials or AVG.

Hello again and thanks everyone for your help. Unfortunately after numerous attempts with different malware removal and antivirus programmes the little blighter is still there . It's the Rootkit.Zeroaccess and from research on the internet it seems it is pretty hard to get rid of...
Would someone be able to recommend a good "Tech" forum where they might be able to give me some more help?
Thanks

Try here: www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/forum103.html
Or here: www.geekstogo.com/forum/forum/37-virus-spyware-malware-removal/
Or here: forums.majorgeeks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=35

If I were you I would search for "zero access" in the registry (regedit) and delete every reference to it - but I am a cowboy IT geek . This is a bit risky and I would make sure you had a recent system backup and don't delete anything else out of the registry.

Then make sure you are running up to date versions of avg, malware bytes and spybot once it''s gone.

I have no issues with viruses, spyware anymore using a combination of these and I download all sorts.

Oh and delete mcafee once you're all clean and protected if no one has already said that!

befuzzled - Unfortunately removing reg entries will definitely not be enough to remove this particular infection - it's a pretty nasty rootkit and is far more ingrained than that.

Would it help her install the anti-malware at least? (am not a windows person)

How do you get rid?

befuzzled Go to the sites I linked to and search for the rootkit by name to see the threads where malware removal experts have helped others to do just that. There's no one single answer, unfortunately, so you cannot just safely follow instructions that they've given to someone else. Have a look at the complexity of the process and you'll see why it's way beyond the scope of what I can explain on this forum as it needs a constant dialog of instructions and replies.

I don't know how these guys get the time to do it for free - I have to work for a living. I do the exact same thing, but it takes many hours even with the PC here in front of me and thankfully it pays my bills, rather than it being just for the warm, fuzzy feeling (except for when I work on close friends' machines for free :) )

sorry to have disappeared and thank you all very much for your advice (I think I need new glasses when checking for replies to my threads as I only just saw these now... )
After trying a million different things, it seems that what worked was the system restore!!! After that I run several different malware bots and antiviruses and they haven't found anything, whereas before they did find stuff, destroyed it but then it always reappeared on rebooting. Also I can now google things and click on links without being taken to random sites.
I am still a bit scared of doing internet banking or anything like that, as I can't believe the bloody thing disappeared just with the system reboot....
Once again to all

Let's just say I wouldn't be doing any banking on that machine, either, right now ;) but glad to hear that you've got rid of the browser hijack.

I know Lazydog, I am really suspicious too, but the MalwareBytes, Avast, AVG TDSS Killer and Spybot all say that it's not infected,