i was reffered here by a coworker... heres my story/problem:

i wa given a previously used/owned dell dimension 4600 with windows xp home edition...

im pretty confident that im infected with the conficker/dowandup worm. ive read through some stuff on this site and and if i understand correctly, ClamWin doesnt/cant remove this virus. so i went to the microsoft site and tried downlaoding the service packs 1/2/3 and the conficker removal thing and everytime i click on the download link i get this message saying 'internet explorer could not access this page' blahblahblah... and i know its not my internet b/c i have no problem accessing other sites [other than the occasional error reports / IE is teriminating ect]

i called the dell service people and they did a bunch of stuff [3hrs on the phone] and all i got out of it was "yes your PC is infected and its going to cost 120$ for us to remove it". okay, i work at a pizza place, and so does my bf who i live with. moneys tight, which is why we got a used comp and didnt buy a new one [which i would much rather have done. who knows what the previous owner did on this computter] but it was free, so we figured why not?

also, we have a really outdated version on mcafee on here, but its basicaly useless, and in order to upgrade it, its gonna cost another 100 some dollars that we dont have...

so basically i need any/all advice i can get on how to get rid of any/all viruses we have & how to protect from future attacks. i already know not to go to porn sites or download stuff youre not expecting, ect.

thanks again,
a pc novice

Here's my honest answer. The first thing to do is to get rid of McAfee. Uninstall it via its own unistall option if it has one. Access it from Start, Programs, McAfee and click on uninstall if it's available. If it's not available, use the uninstall option from Windows. Access it from Start, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs. Sometimes parts of McAfee are hard to uninstall. There's a program called RemoveMcAfee.exe. It's free and available at https://wareseeker.com/free-uninstall-mcafee.exe-1.0/ on the web. It and similar programs are also available at other places on the web.

Next run Microsoft's Malicious Removal Tool. It's probably already on your computer as MRT.exe in the Windows\system32 directory. It needs no configuration. If you can't find it, you can do an online scan with it at Microsoft's Cleanup Center at https://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/center/howsafe.htm on the web. It's the Protection Scan.

Then get Cureit, a free malware cleaning tool from Dr. Web. It is not a full-time antivirus but is a cleaning tool that is updated daily. It is available at https://www.freedrweb.com/cureit/ on the web. You don't have to install it, just download it to your desktop and click on the spider icon to run it. It does a good job at cleaning current malware and it needs no configuration.

Then install and run Malwarebytes' Antimalware program. It is available at https://www.malwarebytes.org/index.php on the web. They used to have a free version that did not have a real-time scanner and only scanned when you asked it to, but it looks like they have a trial version in place of it now. It does a good job at cleaning the trojan stuff that lots of antivirus programs have problems with. You will need to do some configuration.

Then for a permanent full-time/real-time antivirus, install the free Home version of Avast Antivirus, available from Alwil Software at https://www.avast.com/ on the web. You can't set up scheduled scans with it, but you can do an initial on- demand setup scan with it, and it offers very good complete protection from viruses, spyware, and other malware and includes email, instant messenger, and Web scanning protection as well. You will need to to some configuration.

You should also use a firewall. Windows XP and Vista come with a Microsoft a one-way (inbound) firewall that is decent, and if you keep malware off your computer, you shouldn't have to worry about having an outbound one. Many people use other firewalls, however. There are some good free ones available from PC Tool and Zone Alarm.

When your Malwarebytes' Antimalware trial period is up, the free Windows Defender Antispyware from Microsoft is a decent real-time antispyware program. Be sure you get it from the Microsoft Windows Defender web site, however, because there are some rogue Defender antivirus/antispyware products that can give you viruses. It does not conflict with other security software. It will need some configuration.

I'm sure other users can suggest other/better security software. This is just my opinion, but I hope this helps. Good Luck.

Regards,