what is system defender ?

[daleryan]

Thanks for looking...Please bear with me as I am not too pc literate.

I have XP and installed SpywareDoctorAntiVirus after a security breech.

Things are much better now but still not quite normal.

1. I very often get notices popping up from SpyWareDocAV saying my request to visit system-defender.com has been blocked. yet I have never requested to go there.

2. I want to delete SymantecEndpointProtection but it is not listed in my add/delete program area. I am certain it is still present. I often have popups about it being screwed up which I just have to drag away w/out answering because they will continue to reappear. The Symantec ICON appears lower right of screen next to SWDAV.

3. My desktop background is ok after startup but soon The screen goes to a single color as soon as I begin making moves.

I have run Spybot and Spyware Doctor MANY times in the last few days. They delete things though they never appear to be the same items.

**Is it OK to keep Spybot AND SpywareDoctor both INSTALLED?

TIA for any thoughts

[haapy]

1. Re:System Defender You may have some latent pieces of that malware left. Try a scan with Malwarebytes Antimalware. www.malwarebytes.org See if that does it.

2. Re:Symantec. Since you are light technically, you may want some additional local support. Symantec can be very difficult to remove totally.

First, check your services. If you see Symantec, disable the services.

Second, check your startup programs do a start, run, msconfig. Uncheck any Symantec startups.

Third use Device manager to find hidden plug and play devices. You must perform the following procedure first

Before you do the following procedure check the Services to make sure no old services are still active. Many software utilities do a very bad job of uninstalling.

In order to show hidden devices:

1. Right click My Computer and Select Properties
2. Click Advanced tab
3. Click Environment Variables
4. Below the bottom Environment Variables window pane (System Variables), click New
5. For Variable Name, enter devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices
6. For Variable Value enter 1
7. Click OK. OK to close My Computer

Now re-open Device Manager, click on View, select show hidden devices from the menu. Most of the orphans will be in non-plug and play drivers and the icons will appear grayed out. You can right click the grayed out driver and click uninstall.

3. I am unsure of your desktop issue. Do you have the latest drivers? Is this a new problem or have you had it for awhile? It could be related to the malware. Let's see if further cleaning helps this.

Re:your scans. Different programs will find different things. In my opinion, Spybot is old technology. Malwarebytes is a much better backup scanner to use with Spyware Doctor.