No single product is 100% foolproof and can prevent, detect and remove all threats at any given time. The security community is in a constant state of change as new infections appear. Each vendor has its own definition of what constitutes malware and scanning your computer using different criteria will yield different results. The fact that each program has its own definition files means that some malware may be picked up by one that could be missed by another. Thus, a
multi-layered defense using several anti-spyware products (including an effective firewall) to supplement your anti-virus combined with
common sense and safe surfing habits provides the most complete protection.
As a
general rule, using more than one anti-spyware program like Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, SuperAntispyware, Spybot S&D, Ad-Aware, etc will not conflict with each other or your anti-virus if using only one of them for real time protection and others as stand-alone scanners. In fact, doing so
increases your protection coverage without causing the same kind of conflicts or affecting the stability of your system that can occur when using more than one anti-virus. The overlap of protection from using different signature databases will aid in detection and removal of more threats when scanning your system for malware.
However,
if using all their real-time resident shields (TeaTimer, Ad-Watch, MBAM Protection Module, Spyware Terminator Shields, etc) together at the same time,
there can be conflicts when each application tries to compete for resources and exclusive rights to perform an action. Additionally, competing tools may even provide redundant alerts which can be annoying and/or confusing.
sijie123, if there are no more problems or signs of infection, you should
Create a New Restore Point to prevent possible reinfection from an old one. Some of the malware you picked up could have been backed up, renamed and saved in
System Restore. Since this is a protected directory your tools cannot access to delete these files, they sometimes can reinfect your system if you accidentally use an old restore point. Setting a new restore point AFTER cleaning your system will help prevent this and enable your computer to "
roll-back" to a clean working state.
The easiest and safest way to do this is:
- Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools and click "System Restore".
- Choose the radio button marked "Create a Restore Point" on the first screen then click "Next". Give the R.P. a name, then click "Create". The new point will be stamped with the current date and time. Keep a log of this so you can find it easily should you need to use System Restore.
- Then use Disk Cleanup to remove all but the most recently created Restore Point.
- Go to
> Run... and type: Cleanmgr - Click "Ok". Disk Cleanup will scan your files for several minutes, then open.
- Click the "More Options" tab, then click the "Clean up" button under System Restore.
- Click Ok. You will be prompted with "Are you sure you want to delete all but the most recent restore point?"
- Click Yes, then click Ok.
- Click Yes again when prompted with "Are you sure you want to perform these actions?"
- Disk Cleanup will remove the files and close automatically.
Vista and
Windows 7 users can refer to these links:
Create a New Restore Point in Vista or Windows 7 and
Disk Cleanup in Vista.
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