Strange Problem

[dtro]

Laptop running XP SP2 and McAfee Virus software

Basically a web browsing machine that uses FireFox exclusively.

I usually keep the FF widow with various tabs open 24/7.

This morning I went to use the laptop and it had restarted on its own (at least I think) all the widows were closed. I tried to open FF.... nothing... tried Outlook and it opened, but couldn't send or receive. I tried to shutdown and got a no response popup about xpcom event reminder (never heard of it). I ended task manually and restarted. Same thing, and cant' get FF to open.

Started in Safe Mode and everything works fine.

Downloaded Spybot and cleaned out 121 entries.

Downloaded AdAware and tried to install, got a message saying that I cannot install due to the system administrator polices (never...ever got this message before).

Another thing I tried is System Restore. When I open the calendar, it only gives me one option to restore to which is today. I cannot go back to a previous month and there are no other days to select from in Aug.

I am now in Safe Mode trying to resolve this.

Could use some help with this one.

[dtro]

also I can post a HijackThis log if it would help.

[dtro]

Well since I couldn't get any suggestions on the issue, I uninstalled Mcafee and the problem is gone. Just posting for anyone else who might run into this.
Now I need to decide if I should try to reinstall Mcafee.

[shadowpr]

i know that tehre are quite a few other alternatives to mcafee, and they're free.

might want to try avg, avast, or avira. and just couple that with some type of anti-spyware

[dataDude]

yeah, AVG has a free home edition, though Grisoft is really pushing to get people to go for their other versions that you have to pay for. Grisoft also has AVG antispyware, but it has to be registered after a period of time (can't remember if you have to pay or not for registration). I use Avast, which seems to be working pretty well. I've never really even heard of Avira. Is it good?

Norton and McAfee lately have been reminding me more of the development process that Microsoft has been using for their software (e.g. Windows) - make it functional but don't mind the small bugs. McAfee and AOL are also working together. I always try to avoid any company that sees AOL as a good product. Just my opinion, but AOL sucks.

[glc]

AVG Antispyware does not have to be registered. All that happens if you don't is after 30 days it shuts off the autoprotect and autoupdate functions. It's still manually updateable and a manual scanner.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by dataDude I've never really even heard of Avira. Is it good?

It's on par with AVG and Avast!...in some test reviews it comes out better than AVG and Avast!, in other test reviews it doesn't. Depends who's doing the testing and what they're testing for.

I use it on one of my computers and I think it does a slightly better job at virus detection than AVG (which is on my other computers). AntiVir is light on system resources (like AVG) and I didn't notice any performance loss after I installed it.

I haven't used Avast! in years so I really can't make a comparison there.

Cricket