Malware on my pc - help!

[ny biker]

I didn't wait for automatic updates -- since it was a brand new pc and I knew it would take several hours to install all the updates, I went ahead and did that first.

My laptop adventures have continued since my last post. I ordered one directly from HP and it arrived with a hole in the box courtesy of UPS. So I called them and said I wanted to return it. I am still waiting for them to approve the return. For some reason it takes up to three business days to send a return label.

At that point I was beside myself. I'm still waiting for the refund from the first laptop, I've got a second one waiting to be returned and I need to buy a third one. That's three laptops charged to my credit card and they won't be refunded before I get my bill, so I'll have to pay for them and then wait a month to get the credit on the bill. And I still had no working laptop.

I decided I needed to remove shipping from the equation. A co-worker had recommended Micro Center to me, since they have a store not far from our office. I looked at their website and found a laptop that had good specs, was in stock and had a lot of good reviews from other customers. And it was on sale. I bought it on Friday. When I got it home it told me it had 150 updates to install. It downloaded them all, but then many failed to install and the network adaptor stopped working, even when it was plugged in with an ethernet cable. So I exchanged it for another one on Saturday. For that one I only chose to install the 144 important updates, not the 6 optional ones. Three of them failed to install, and one had an error message that said a file was corrupt. I called the store and they said I could exchange it again. But by then a snow squall and dangerous high winds had moved in so I couldn't go anywhere. So I went back to the Micro Center website, had an online chat with a tech support person, then called their tech support and had one of their people remotely connect to the pc. He fixed the problem -- kept installing additional updates, then removed one update that was not needed and was causing an error.

Since then I've been trapped in my house thanks to the very cold weather and icy roads, so I spent much of the day yesterday using the laptop. And it's working well!!

The big lesson here is: shop at Micro Center.

[smilingcat]

??? three laptops getting infected. I wonder if your router has been hacked with malware. Unfortunately, this can happen. Just glad that your laptop from Micro Center is working fine.

I always wondered what an average PC users have to do or what they do to get the problems fixed. You are the fifth person or so who had major major problems with PC. One gal took her PC to a PC guy and spend $$ get it fixed. Norwegian next door had a contract and paid a monthly fee to have his PC running.

I also do not like McAfee. I use Malwarebyte. It updates often. And I do a complete scan. One downside is that there are few malwares that target the Malwarebyte software.

Never did like HP for PC. Printers and test equipment thumbs up but not their PCs. I prefer ASUS PCs and monitors.

[Pax]

People like me who can't fix anything on a computer... buy macs. Or in my most recent case, buy a chromebook. PC's are a nightmare for me, I end up spending endless hours online with unhelpful tech support.

[ny biker]

Only the first laptop had the malware problem, and based on the absence of protective packaging by the online store I bought it from, the spontaneous rebooting was probably due to damage from mishandling. I never opened the box on the second one, because UPS delivered it with a hole in the box and I didn't want to waste time with it only to find out it is also damaged. With the third one, the main issue was with the network adaptor.

A bunch of people have told me to just get a Mac. But we've got an active thread here about problems that people are having with updates to their Mac OS, so they're obviously not trouble-free. And I really can't afford a Mac, not even a refurbished one.

As for antivirus software, I looked into several of the other popular programs but they all have pros and cons. I've been using MSE for years, since a local tech columnist recommended it. The tech support person at Micro Center who helped me told me that he also uses it. This latest laptop came with MSE already installed instead of McAfee, and I've decided to keep using it.

Throughout this whole experience, I've actually been impressed by sales and tech support people at HP. The people who handle returns for them were far less helpful. My mother and I have used their tech support before for her pc and they've helped her, too. And my old laptop is an HP, and it's lasted for years with no troubles.

I am rather mystified by the Windows update errors, and why the pc would download updates that it does not need and cannot install without errors. I don't argue that Microsoft has its issues.

My next project will be to set up the new monitor and keyboard with the old laptop so I can use it at my office. Due to network issues at work, I've only been in the office a handful of days over the past few weeks, and also wanted to wait for the maintenance people to fix the lock on my office door before I set up the monitor. We're expecting "major snow" tonight (4-8 inches!!! How will we ever survive!!!) so I will have to work from home again tomorrow. I'm hoping that by Wednesday I can get to the office and get everything set up. In the meantime I'm using the new laptop as much as possible to make sure there are no additional problems.

[Irulan]

??? three laptops getting infected. I wonder if your router has been hacked with malware. Unfortunately, this can happen. Just glad that your laptop from Micro Center is working fine.

I always wondered what an average PC users have to do or what they do to get the problems fixed. You are the fifth person or so who had major major problems with PC. One gal took her PC to a PC guy and spend $$ get it fixed. Norwegian next door had a contract and paid a monthly fee to have his PC running.

I also do not like McAfee. I use Malwarebyte. It updates often. And I do a complete scan. One downside is that there are few malwares that target the Malwarebyte software.

I have a friend who did not secure her wifi and got all sorts of bad stuff from the folks who were using her connection.

I'm PC all the way; macs do not make sense to me. But you ask, how do people do it? Every computer I have purchased since 1997 has been a custom build. First from my neighbor, then my son, and now a local computer store. These are clean running systems, loaded with only the operating system and drivers, and my requested software. I run the full Malware Bytes programs. I have had very few issues over the years. I have bought all the laptops from this local computer place: they reformat the OS with a clean, bloat ware free install.

Now, we did try one local place that was like a geek nightmare: unkempt gamer types in stained clothing....eek! Then we found place that started with office machines way back when ,and then just kept up with the times, providing full services from custom builds, repairs, networking and do I .

[ny biker]

FWIW, I bought my old laptop from Best Buy during a back-to-school tax holiday. I have documents on it dating back to February 2010, so I think I bought it in August 2009. It's old enough to have come with Vista, which I am still using. It was an ordinary laptop that they had available in the store, with a normal amount of bloatware. I bought it because it was on sale in addition to the sales tax holiday. And I really have had no problems with it until the screen developed the black splotches last month.

The biggest lesson for me through this whole adventure is that computer equipment is not something that I want to buy from an online store. It is too fragile, is not handled carefully enough in shipping and is not easy to return when there is a problem. It's worth buying from a local store, even if you have to pay a bit more.