My computer has been acting a little odd lately. Sometimes I’ll get redirected to another webpage for no reason. I could possibly have malware.
I know Spybot S&D is supposed to be a good scanner. So I have downloaded the latest free version and tried to scan with it. It will not scan because it wants updates. I update the program and it tells me that it is finished updating and that updates are available. Lather, rinse, repeat. It absolutely will not scan until it updates. I get a message that says no update log found and then while the actual update panel says: The antispyware signatures are up to date. The system scan panel says missing signatures! Signatures are not a part of your installation; they are downloaded as part of the update process.
Can I manually update it?
Is this an indication that yes I do have some malware going on?
Is there a reputable scanner out there I can use that is not susceptible to this?
Spybit S&D used to have a good reputation but its possible you have downloaded a clone which is spyware itself. Or there is a trojan which has written itself to the root (core) of your computer system.
No major issues found. Lots of cookies. There were a few items on the list that seemed like the program just being over-eager like MRU lists for the Media Player.
I have the day off tomorrow. I might just nuke and pave my computer just to be on the safe side.
Ccleaner is a good maintenace program, but it is in no way a good antimalware program. It is better to use Ccleaner plus a good malware cleaner like Malwarebytes Antimalware.
I used to use Spybot many years ago along with Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware but they stopped being effective for me and Malwarebytes has been my go-to program for a long time.