A Close Call...

[elwoodblues91]

My new PC has been behaving oddly for the last week or so...running slowly,unable to access certain websites and sometimes my Google Chrome browser would not open up.
Then earlier this evening,I received an alert message from my Total Defense software,saying that my e-mail protection was not active.
When I went to re-enable it,it immediately was disabled.I then called tech support and had to deal with an Indian dude who spoke broken English terribly!
He explored my PC via remote access,followed by him running a special scanning program from their website,which revealed some sort of Trojan virus(but he said I had to contact Microsoft to get rid of it!?  
I could not tolerate his heavy Indian accent no longer,so I hung up and decided to deal with it myself.After dealing with tech support,the virus had become more aggressive and completely disabled my Total Defense security program!
I then decided to use Window 8's Refresh function,which is some sort of system recovery action.
It removed some of my programs(which I am in the process of re-installing)..but this method seems to have resolved my problem...though there was still one that remained...as my default browser was altered and I had to use an anti-adware program to eliminate this.
As it turned out,the Trojan infection was caused by a Driver Genius Pro download that I had on a USB stick.Funny thing is though,is that I did not download it...but rather,it was a download from a USB stick my brother had given me.
However though,I never uploaded this program to my PC(as I only uploaded the DVD Fab program that was on the stick)...but apparently,the infected Driver Genius program that happened to be on the same USB stick,made it's way onto my PC.

I'll never really now for certain,exactly how or where from,I got infected...nor will I know why my security program didn't snag & eliminate it...but now that I think about it...I seem to remember getting a warning to scan that USB stick...but none of it made any sense to me,because my borther had this USB stick for a long while...without any problems,so why did I get nailed with the infection and he never did??

I seem to be in the clear & all I have left to do,is to scan my external HD....

[MarioD]

FWIW- I discovered that Google stuff was adding a lot of junk crap onto my computer. I dumped Google Chrome and went to Firefox and I have had no problems since.  I also went to Mazolla's Thunderbird for my emails.  I highly recommend both programs.

Also I scan every drive and/or CD that I attach to my computer.  I believe that is a good habit to get in to.

One last bit if info; NO one anti-virus system can catch everything.  That is why I suggested that you run the free Anti-Malwarebytes. You can't have this on all of the time with the free version but it may catch certain bugs that your Total Defense misses if you run it once a week.

[elwoodblues91]

Mario,

Google Chrome was rated highest,in security & I really like the layout of it,which is why I stick with it.I had Firefox once...but I was constantly prompted to install plug-ins for the damn browser to work correctly & I got fed up with it.

The junk-crap you refer to(that I had on my PC)..i.e. the adware,was not from Google Chrome,but rather,it was from a free video converter that I downloaded(directly from the developer's website)...as supposed to downloading from CNET,but even still...all of that stuff comes with search browsers that override your computer's default search engine.

As for my Driver Genius Pro/USB stick situation(as it were)...ultimately,is was my doing,because several weeks ago when I had plugged my brother's USB stick in for the second time,I had got a warning to scan the drive(but I dismissed it) and just unplugged the
thing...as I thought my security software was just being overzealous & detecting something that wasn't there(so I had thought that if I unplugged and & plugged it in again,I would not get the warning...but apparently,that Trojan saw it's opportunity to infiltrate and did just that.
Like I had said,my brother's USB stick was used many times by him and subsequently by me...so I am thinking that this time,there was some communication between the USB drive with the Driver Genius Pro on it,& this program's infected website,that caused the infection.
All this being said,I think my Total Defense security program is the best program I've had to date...but the customer service,is a slightly different matter.