Malwarebytes' full version with malicious website blocker module has been rockstar for me. Kaspersky Internet Security has also been a favorite for antivirus - always seemed to use much less system resources than other AV and it has sandbox capabilities now.
Always keep windows on it's own HD if possible, or at least it's own partition - install programs and save things to a different partition or HD in case you need to wipe windows. It makes things so much easier. If you keep system restore enabled, save a rollback point right after you get done formatting, installing legit programs & updates. It's nice to fix some of the simple things when they go wrong. Making a system restore CD / DVD is always a plus as well.
Keep all of your protection updated and keep important removal tools on a thumb drive. As Rogean stated, ComboFix is a life saver. As is MBAM, tdsskiller and HijackThis if you know what you're doing with them. It's also wise to keep a boot CD around for when you can't get into Windows to try to use these tools - Hiren's Boot CD has always been good to me. Can't go wrong with a LiveCD of something like Ubuntu as well.
I'm sure that I've forgotten some things... oh well.
|