Need serious help here...might have a virus!

[wherm]

Long story short... My wife decided to move our PC down to the basement, so I don't use it that much anymore.

That being said, I've been having internet issues lately, and noticed my computer slowing down and crashing a lot. I had McAfee security and everything was fine while I had it. I let the subscription run out because of the "DIY fix your computer" thread on this site. That thread seemed to fix my computer better than ever. Lately, not so much. I clicked the McAfee icon in the taskbar in the lower right, and it brought up the renewal screen but wouldn't let me purchase it.

Here's the big question... Will a virus stop you from being able to renew a subscription to McAfee? Or stop the McAfee website from loading in your internet browser? I find it strange that any site I visit I have no problems, except for sites that offer internet security.

What should I do?

[crazymikey]

I recently just had a ransomware trojan virus on my PC that would lock it from the desktop screen and render it unusable unless it was in safe mode.

I had no clue what to do, so I googled that particular virus on my phone and found a manual fix for it. I was unable to do it, so I called a tech line for one of the sites that talked about this virus. I went live with a tech support guy for 2 hours while he took control of my PC and manually removed the virus.

Cost me $72 for 2 hours worth of work they did, but my PC is back up and running as good as it was before.

[wherm]

That's cool mikey, glad it worked out. I received an email confirmation of my order from McAfee with a direct link to the download i needed. I finally got McAfee installed and I'm running a full scan now. I almost hope it finds something so I can justify the purchase lol.

I'm still hoping for an answer to my originalqquestion though, can a virus block you from anti virus websites?

[Tippey764]

backup your data and reformat the whole computer and install a fresh copy of windows whatever version you're running.

[Leung]

One method that has never failed me is to pull the hard drive from the infected PC and run it as a slave on another computer with fully updated virus and malware software. From that second computer, run the virus software OR use Trend Micro's Housecall scanner. Haven't had a virus or Trojan that hasn't been detected and removed via those two methods.

Also... you don't spend a dime to use those.

OP, why are you paying for antivirus software still when there are alternatives out there that aren't resource hogs and are much better while costing next to nothing? Personally i run Microsoft's Security Essentials. It's free and probably does everything that McAfee does.

[h22sparkle]

Ransomeware is a pita.