[GrannyGodley]

Dec. 28 or 29 I had a major infestation of something that crashed my computer. So I spent $200 at Best Buy with the Geek Squad. Yesterday, I was greeted with something similar. I had firefox up and running so I was able to maintain accessibility to the internet. I couldn't open IE and my other programs were virtually dead.

I eventually reloaded windows xp and IE. I got things up and going again but things were a bit quirky and difficult. So finally I contacted AT&T support and got some real tech help. They did their stuff and I am up and going again. (Yes, I had to pay for this, too, even thought I pay for the AT&T McAfee virus protection.)

Question: how in the world do I prevent this in the future? Someone has said they have completely stopped printing coupons because they almost always have some form of virus or trojan attached.

Suggestions?

[sevenchickadees]

Ummm, get a Mac?
I LOVE mine!

[scamelo]

Its simple, don't connect to the internet!! Just kidding, but seriously really really watch what website you go on, don't click on email links, no facebook games and the list goes on.

[Painter815]

I've never heard of getting infected from printing coupons - at least from legitimate sites. I know some of the coupon printing software that you have to install - I believe it is the smartsource kind - does show sometimes if you run a virus scan with Norton or McAfee. But it isn't malicious to my knowledge.

As far as prevention, I used to use Norton but I now think they charge a ridiculous price for what the program actually does. I know at one point it completely shut off my access to the internet and I had to remove it. I use this now Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File. It isn't a program and you manually have to update it every so often but it's the best thing that I've found. It's better for viruses and the like never to be on your computer instead of have a virus program remove them once they're there. It also is a great way to prevent kids from going to sites you don't want them to. I've done this for about a year now and have not had one further issue.

There are also several freeware programs that are just as good or better than expensive "name" programs.

[scamelo]

By the way, I have no viruses and I print coupons all the time. Hubby is computer geek and checks for them weekly, so its not the coupon sites, its other sites you or someone using your computer goes on. Even facebook games and email links can have viruses. all it takes is one click and your done.

[Kayline]

Download Malwarebytes or other anti-malware program and run a scan at least once a month.

[GrannyGodley]

I do have Malwarebytes and I have McAfee. I have the McAfee for real-time security and I run the Malwarebytes every week or so. Actually, I had just done a manual scan on both of these the night before I was hit this time.

I have always felt that coupons.com and smartsource.com were safe. I use them and redplum.com for coupons as well as the manufacturer's sites such as Dove, Tide, Arm and Hammer. I do not play FB games. I do not play computer games at all (except when Food Lion has one of their's that offers a coupon). I do print the FB FLIPs.

Just I have heard others say that printing coupons is not good or safe.

More suggestions?????

[joshmamabear]

if its just to surf the web, read emails and one doesn't print coupons,

I found that installing Linux OS removes all threats of viruses and all nasty stuff on your pc.

best part, its free!

[Coupon Mommie]

My SIL used a free forum (MalwareRemoval.com) to help clean up my MIL's pc when it almost shut down. You submit a forum post with the issues you have and someone works with you to clean up your pc. It really helped her pc and it was free.

My MIL uses McAfee and always had computer problems. I personally use the Free AVG Antivirus (AVG.com) program and paid for the firewall upgrade. No problems on my end! HTH

[tnmommy]

I had probs with mcafee and feel norton is better. i have never had a virus get past norton. i still use malwarebytes and was shocked at what it found the first time i ran it. computer ran faster after removing all that malware! hth

[Tara]

SpywareBlaster - Spyware Blaster

I've used it for about 3 years with no ad/ mal ware issues at all

Do you sign up for alot of freebies? Sometimes those pages are not good.