I'm working on my A+ certification, and am the main support tech for my parent's computer and network. They run WinXP, and their system is certainly getting old. I've fixed, upgraded, and replaced what I can, but I'm positive it's about to die. All of this is complicated by the number of times they've been infected with trojan software such as XP Security Tool 2010 and XP Defender Pro. Despite my attempts to teach them, my parents are not very compatible with computers of any kind, and these trojans are tricky to educate them against. They continue to unknowingly run these programs by trying to close their popups. I've been able to fix their problems, but every time I need to run Malwarebytes, their computer is essentially unusable for hours at a time. All I can assume is that the horrible state of their system, and the condition of their HDD is causing these scans to run at this sluggish pace, thus tying up the entire system for a day or more. The problem is that I only know how to work with Windows systems, and they're dead-set on moving to Mac because they believe they'll never get a virus, despite anything I say. They say that if this computer dies because of viruses, they'll get a macbook. Is there any sort of security pack or anything else in the works by Microsoft to fix this, or am I doomed to learn how to support Mac OSX?1 person needs an answerI do too

Reformat the computer and reinstall Windows XP. Install all available updates, including service packs. Install a good antivirus and an anti-malware product. Also, install the MVPS Hosts file to help block bad sites: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm Unfortunately, there is nothing yet available to protect the hapless computer from its greatest enemy... the person sitting in front of the keyboard. I'm sure they would soon find a way to infect a Mac as well. ;) See if you can teach them to use the Alt F4 key combination to close pop-ups. Best of luck to you with your parents, and with your A+ certification exams too.

I'm working on getting a 1T external HD, and plan to back up all of their data before doing anything too drastic. They have Malwarebytes, AVG free trial, and SpywareBlaster, but you're certainly right about the real problem being in the chair, not in the computer. Also, I've heard that Mac systems CAN get certain infections. I haven't been able to look into it, though. Thanks for the advice, and all the good lucks (passed the 601 :P) I'll see if Alt+F4 is too far over their heads or not.

You're very welcome. Congratulations on passing the 601, and good luck on the next one.

You should NOT put more than one Anti-Virus in same PC, I recommend you to install http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/ in those PC and then also make sure they are using Internet Explorer 8 and SmartScreen Filter is on then it should detect these fake Malware. If you face to any Virus problem you always could ask your parent to contact Microsoft Support. About Virus for Mac, you might see: http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2001-060806-1018-99 There are more .

I know Norton and AVG don't play well together, and while Malwarebytes will show AVG as being there, it knows not to remove it. I haven't had any problems with the scans. However, I have been trying to show them Alt+F4, and there's a problem. The programs (any one of these: AntivirusSoft, XP Security, XP Defender, etc.) will not always close with Alt+F4, Task Manager, msconfig, or even through CMD commands. So far, the rkill program will close them all, but only for a short time. If they're left alone for too long, any .exe that I try to run spawns a million new popups, and an error window telling me that the file can't run because it's infected, click here to resolve the problem. Obviously, I know not to click it, so I have to shut everything down and run virus scanners as soon as everything boots up. I will be bringing their HDD into my class on Monday to back everything up and upgrade them to Windows 7, and to have the others here at least *see* the problem for future reference. At this point, all I can do is hope that anyone else with this problem might see this and try what I have. Who knows, maybe it'll work for them. Thanks for all the help, everyone. Certainly coming back if I'm ever stumped again. ^_^

When a computer is this badly infected, you cannot expect to clean it up entirely and still have a normally functioning computer. Either the malware will have caused damage to the operating system, or removing the malware will have caused damage, or perhaps both. Something like this calls for a reformat and reinstallation of the operating system. If you are planning on installing Windows 7 on this older computer, please first run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor to make sure the machine is capable of running Windows 7.

Thank you, but I've been sure to check everything on the computer in question, and while it's admittedly an ancient system with very few upgrades to the hardware, it does fall within the specs for Windows 7. I have also been watching for damage to any core system files and such due to the amount of scans I have to run (I think my A+ instructor for hammering that into my head), and while I'm no expert, everything seems to check out fine.

Good luck.

Try Spybot Search and Destroy; that worked great in getting rid of Microsoft Defender Pro and all that. And don't be doomed into getting a Mac; they're pretty good and if you install a program like Parallels or VMWare Fusion, you can run Windows XP and 7 and such on them. And they do get viruses, it's just not as common, since people usually write viruses for Windows and not Mac OS.

Have you tried ending the process in Task Manager? Right-click on the application and select "Go to Process." When you get to the process, select "End Process." Also try disconnecting from the Internet, as most of these sleazeball applications run off of the web or through the Temp folder. Run a Disk Cleanup or manually clear the temporary internet files and temporary files folders (C:\Documents and Settings\[USERNAME]\Local Settings\Temp or Temporary Internet Files). Before doing so, you will have to temporarily enable hidden fie viewing (Open any folder, click Tools-Folder Options, View tab, and click "Show Hidden Files and Folders," uncheck "Hide Protected Operating System Files," and click Apply, then OK.) Try Spybot Search and Destroy; that worked great in getting rid of Microsoft Defender Pro and all that. And don't be doomed into getting a Mac; they're pretty good and if you install a program like Parallels or VMWare Fusion, you can run Windows XP and 7 and such on them. And they do get viruses, it's just not as common, since people usually write viruses for Windows and not Mac OS.