New anti-virus program won't start up

I know I am going to get some negative feedback here but Norton and McAfee are garbage! Some people will claim to there last breath that they are OK, but over the years and with many articles on how they do nothing but bogg down your OS and  excuse the OMG, Don't catch ____!, your better off starting in safe mode and running Malwarebytes which everyone is almost using to see if that will snag it. I have had success in that area although there are some nasty ones out of Russia as a matter of fact that are circumventing Malwarebytes and actually telling you Malwarebytes is harmfull but is not. Not sure what type of problem you are getting. Is it a bonafied Virus or is it one of those Fake virus alerts from those idiots in Russia?

If malwarebytes does not catch your problem and it is in fact a virus I would recommend googling the following:

avast (free)   Install this and run first

Advanced System Care

AVG (but advast should do the trick)

I have had no problems with the ones I recommend. Not to say others have not, but they work for me on all my systems. I would also run these in safe mode to prevent anything from locking or embedding itself in the background. Also do a search of whats popping up and you may also find solutions.

JD

G'day JD,

Thanks for the quick reply, I'll try your suggestions and get back to you.

Cheers,Gabe

JD,

1) your use of "French" is a violation of DELL's TOS (Terms of Service) for this forum.   I suggest you remove that character-substituted-expletive, or else you may find that your entire post has been removed by a moderator.

2) I'm assuming you meant to suggest "Avast!" rather than "advast".

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Gabe:

MalwareBytes is really intended to run in NORMAL mode rather than SAFE mode.   Since you've indicated that it is being blocked from running in NORMAL mode, then yes, it's reasonable to try running it in SAFE mode, as JD suggested.  If it turns out that MBAM can run in SAFE mode, and it finds/removes some issues, then after rebooting into NORMAL mode, you should try running MBAM again in NORMAL mode.

Sorry didn't know it was soooo sensitive here. How many people do you know really read TOS's? Edited for those you may be offended. And yes I was to quick on the trigger it was avast.

Garth, I recently uninstalled a McAfee Security Suite from the control panel and installed Avast on a friend's computer. What I found was that Avast would not run until I used a McAfee uninstaller to rid the computer of all the remnants of McAfee.   Make sure McAfee is completely uninstalled.

The comment that I was replying to was deleted before I could post. Must have been another TOS violation.
It is not good to have more than one realtime anti-virus on a system. Obviously the malware keeps disabling your security, so cleaning that would be the thing to do rather than installing multiple AV's. The remnants from multiple AV's will only make cleaning more difficult.

Gabe, if you need to remove Avast!, like Norton and McAfee, use Add/Remove and then run the removal tool to be sure all the remnants are removed:
http://www.avast.com/eng/avast-uninstall-utility.html

Here are the step-by-step instructions for using the removal tool:

How to uninstall the software using aswClear.exe:

   1. Download aswClear.exe on to your desktop
   2. Start Windows in Safe Mode
   3. Open (execute) the uninstall utility
   4. If you installed avast! in a different folder than the default, browse for it. (Note: Be careful! The content of any folder you choose will be deleted!)
   5. Click REMOVE
   6. Restart your computer

You will need some detailed step-by-step instructions for removing the infection(s). We are short of help on Dell's Malware Removal forum presently, so you might be helped sooner if you post at one of the other forums that handles malware removal and file attachments (if necessary).

I suggest posting a HijackThis log at SpywareHammer.There are instructions HERE for posting at SpywareHammer. The site has many Microsoft MVP's on staff and helpers there may be able to assist you sooner than we can here.

Additional forums that offer malware removal can be found at this link in the recommended sites section on the left side of this page: http://hjt-data.trendmicro.com/hjt/analyzethis/index.php

Please post at only ONE so you do not tie up two or more helpers working on the same issue. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

To JD,KY,Joe and Bugbatter,

Guys, just want to say how much I apprechiate your help. I've tried Avast, and at first it looked like

it's fixed the problem. It's managed to scan the harddrive (even the BIOS) and  found a few bugs, but the computer

still behaved in a funny way. It would only go to certain websites, anti-malware/spyware/virus programs would start but wouldn't update themselves and occasionally at

start up I still get the blue screen of death. At the end I've had enough, beaten and  broken took it to

a PC  shop to get it done. The guy there seemed to know what he was talking about when we discussed the symptoms.

Today I got the PC back ($200 lighter in the pocket), he talked about intelligent viruses, hijacked  programs and registries.

He also said something about some DNA ,and to be safe, he basically had to reinstall XP. Now I've got Kaspersky running fine and it looks like everything

is back to normal. I tell you what, I've learnt a lot from this experience - computer side of things- and would recommend this forum to all my mates.

Again, thanks everyone, and I'm sure I'll be back with an other problem soon.

Gabe