Possible virus

[fbWldcat]

I haven't clicked on any site (although my parents have been looking on several house-hunting sites that I think are fishy). If it is a virus, it causes massive surges in CPU usage (Up to 100% at times). It just randomly occurred once a hardware diagnostics (which hasn't caused any problems before) hit 77% completion. HARDWARE DIAGNOSTICS. Honestly at this point, all I can say is that aside from that, the only weird thing is that my URL bar is black, not blue like it ws a couple days ago. I have not changed it.

It might also be noted that I was watching a very laggy youtube video at the time. (2010 fails compilation)?

This is acting like a virus, but I can't be for sure until I run a few more tests. Could it have been a house-hunter site or could a link in the youtube video infect my computer without me even clicking on it? Right now I'm at a loss that it could get past my anti-virus (although.... Norton does suck now).

[Chalenge]

Just restore your system to a previous state.

[fbWldcat]

The computer will only act weird every other day. Is this normal of a virus?

Also, I have not been able to isolate the virus just yet.

[TequilaChaser]

have you tried something like this:

http://www.eset.com/online-scanner


you did not mention if you had any type of anti-virus software ( edit - except your Norton, which I missed )


also, spybot is another good malware/spamware program ( that's free ) to use and check for stuff


be sure to fully read the instructions of spybot, though, if you decide to use it

spybot website:  http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html

hope this helps, good luck

[fbWldcat]

Thank you very much TC. I'll try it.

[fbWldcat]

Is it safe to install the required material to run the scan?

[TequilaChaser]

Is it safe to install the required material to run the scan?

yes Sir

the ESET online scanner gives you the option to leave it on the HD, or for it to completely un install once it is done ( or used to anyways, been a while since I used it on a relative's PC )

as for Spybot, you install it just like any other program
NOTE* I suggest thoroughly reading the setup tutorials.. and I suggest to not mess with anything other than checking for spam/malware
 invalid registry keys
  invalid short cuts
   tracking cookies

etc.......  don't mess with stuff like teatimer

use caution though. once you fully understand all the abilities of spybot, then you can decide if you want to tweak on it any later on....

best of luck to ya,