viruses Archives - Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Can I create a Restore Point for a time that’s already passed?

Posted on July 21, 2026

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Question from Barry: Rick, I desperately need to create a System Restore Point for last Monday.

What happened was I downloaded a couple of torrent files last Tuesday and now my Windows 11 PC is all messed up.

I tried doing a System Restore back to the previous Monday, but the oldest Restore Point I see is from over 2 weeks ago and I have some really important files that were created since then. Is there a way to create one for last Monday? [Read more…]

5 ways to get a second opinion after a clean antivirus scan

Posted on June 22, 2026

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Do you always get a warm, fuzzy feeling after your latest malware scan responds with “Scan complete. No malware found!“?

Most folks do, and I must admit that I feel pretty good about those “all is well” reports myself.

But I’m going to share a little secret with you…

[Read more…]

How to make sure your downloads aren’t infected with a virus

Posted on June 14, 2026

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Regular readers of this blog know I’m a huge fan of free software because I routinely recommend the use of freeware whenever possible to accomplish whatever the task at hand may be.

But as you probably also know there can be hidden dangers lurking behind the scenes every time you install a piece of free software.

The dangers range all the way from the installation of unwanted add-on software to installing viruses and other forms of malware right along with the programs themselves.

[Read more…]

Q&A: How can I completely remove Norton antivirus from my PC?

Posted on June 10, 2026

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Question from Dagan: I’ve been using Norton 360 for years, but it recently let a bunch of viruses slip through and get installed on my computer.

Norton removes a bunch of viruses every time I run it but they just keep coming right back.

I want to ditch Norton and install Malwarebytes Premium but I know you’re only supposed to run one antivirus app at a time.

The problem I’m having is I can’t seem to get all the Norton 360 files uninstalled so that I can install Malwarebytes. The Windows thingy that uninstalls programs gets rid of some of the Norton files but some of them come right back when I reboot the computer.

How can I completely uninstall ALL the Norton files from my hard drive? [Read more…]

Is your PC is acting weird? It’s probably malware.

Posted on March 18, 2026

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Has your computer started acting weird all of a sudden? For example…

Do web pages take forever to load?

Are you getting irritating pop-ups on a regular basis?

Does your browser load strange pages that you didn’t intentionally visit?

Has your home page or default search engine been mysteriously changed without your permission?

If you answered yes to one or more of the above questions, your PC is probably infected with malware. [Read more…]