Grim Views

Well after some friendly discussion and more dealing with the headache this as cause me I have decided to reach out for some friendly advice.

With all computer issues it pretty hard to figure out something without concrete knowledge of what is going on so I will try to best deliver the issues that are appearing for me. To my knowledge this is a virus since my gf's computer has had no history of malfunctioning, she has already checked and cleaned, and properly seated all device inside the tower. What I am experiencing is pretty persistent, its been effecting the computer with stop errors (all drivers are up to date by my knowledge) and memory cannot read errors for both mozilla firefox and WoW.

We had free Avira anti virus on our computer prier to this and noticed it started to effect our scans like crashing and restarting during full system scans. So we went back to a earlier date through the system restore tool and tried a scan which still crashed the computer. We did several of these even downloading Avast anti virsus to scan with it and sometimes we would find something, quarantine it, be fine for awhile then it comes back. All back in forth between safe mode and normal so I am at a loss. Now it seems to be taking counter measures, Avira is completely un-updateable, and a corrupt file keeps it from scanning (safe mode as well), Avast is quickly falling to this too, and system restore tool actually wont let us restore anymore.

Its been suggested it might be a dug in rootkit which I have read mixed strategies for. One is to use a program that scans the registry, but as unknowledgeable as I am dicking with the registry I fear might cause more problems. The other is full system reformat back to factory settings...which me and my gf would do but we are at a loss for a windows CD key. When we got both our comps we never had a Windows key for reformating, so we are stuck on a 30 day trail period.

Is there any steps perhaps I can take without resorting to reformating that might help my situation? If reformating is the best option to squash this bug does anyone know any good prices on windows out there? I appreciate any help that can be given, it will help me in future circumstances maybe and help me to get back to what I love to do. PvPing and melting faces! Peace through Annihilation guys!

Devinic

1) AVG - They keep their virus vault up to date and are pretty good all around. You'll be able to do a free scan.
2) Malware bytes This is good for finding Malware shit.

Run those two first and let them scan your HD. Let us know if the PC continues to crash and if so try and get the error codes.

Of course, if you have a rootkit, the only way to really remove it is either a) reformat the whole damn thing, or b) external read-only media boot of Linux, a registry editor, ClamAV, and a lot of commandline hackery.

As for pricing for Windows, it's pretty much a set price. If you're a student, look at your university to see if they have programs for discounted versions. Also, you may be able to net an OEM version through NewEgg if you buy enough "new computer parts".

Or, just grab a copy of XP, AntiWPA, and a bum key. I'll admit, I use that for my VirtualBox virtual machine on Linux, and it works for what I need it to do...

As for a good antivirus...Microsoft surprisingly makes one of the best ones now, and it's free. I can't remember it's new name, but Microsoft Security Essentials or somesuch.