My freind got a virus, from amazon.

[Shemming]

My freinds telling me, over the phone she's just got a trojan and things. She cant use the computer at all, so firstly how can I help her? To get rid of the virus mainly, as Im not sure how when the laptop wont connect to the web.
Secondly, im now worried about my protection. I currently just use avast, and windows security centre. is this enough? any recommendations to immprove my computers protection?

 

[Jonluw]

I'm not really knowledgeable on this stuff at all, but you can always download malwarebytes and do a scan once in a while to clean stuff up a bit at least.

Other than that, I can't be of much help.

 

[Mayhaps]

Use a script blocker, don't browse fishy websites, don't download executable files from un-trusted parties.

I use avast free, haven't bothered with anything else. The only time I got a real virus alert was when I plugged in a friends usb, but it was taken care of by avast.

You don't really have to worry.

I heard MSE (microsoft security essentials) is a good anti-virus. If you do get a virus I'm told malwarebytes is a good option.
If it's serious malware, you'll have to wipe the drive to be safe.



To help her, if she knows anything about computers, either ask her to activate remote access or tell her do use malwarebytes. Otherwise I guess you'll have to go over there.


disclaimer:
I'm not a professional computer tech, I'm sure someone here is and can give better advice.

 

[Lucem712]

I'd suggest Malwarebytes in Safe mode.

I'd recommend WOT add-on for your browser in conjunction with your anti-virus.
The only way I can think of to have more security is to switch to a linux distro, though that's not for everybody.

(I'm not a tech either, just going off things I've learnt dealing with viruses myself)

 

[IrrelevantTangent]

I'd also recommend Malwarebytes; it's worked well for me in the past. Avast is pretty solid, though- I'd imagine you could get by with just that alone. And I'm sorry for your friend's mishap.

 

[mad825]

Amazon, huh? Why do I not believe that?

Scanning using a AV works...Sometimes. Best suggestion is to find out what virus it is first(via AV), google it and apply treatment as instructed. Personally, in this situation I would format a newer version of the OS on the computer. (you can use Linux to back-up any important data on a removable device).