Trouble Downloading from some sites

Question

I am trying to download the new Microsoft Security Essentials but when I click on the Download button instead of getting the Download box popup nothing comes up. The progess bar at the bottom shows it doing something then when it reaches 100% nada. I can down load from HP (Drivers) and sites like Majorgeeks with no problem. I also have this problem on the Adobe download page when trying to get the shockwave and flash player.

I am fixing my Granddaughters laptop that she got from someone else. There were over 26 Trojans listed on it when I installed AVG and they would not go away. I used CCleaner and HiJack This and deleted everything I could and wiped the freespace. Then ran AVG again and this time after finding a few Trojans and deleting them the system was reported as clean.

IE8 then would not connect to the net so I used my computer to DL a copy and put it on the laptop, after that I was able to use the laptop to connect to the net and download a driver to get the sound working again.

Laptop HP dv4000 XP Pro

Answer 1

If there were really 26 viruses, after such a large infestation it's not infrequent to rather reformat the hard disk and reinstall Windows.

Antiviruses are not perfect, and sometimes they destroy part of Windows while cleaning up. HiJackThis is especially dangerous, because most of what it shows is legitimate, so in effect you may have erased software that's required for running your computer. The same goes for CCleaner in a lesser way.

If a restore cd came with your machine, you can roll it back to its state as when bought. Save first any data that needs saving. If you don't have a restore cd, there are other threads on here that deal with that situation.

Answer 2

Try using Internet Explorer if you're not already - sometimes Microsoft downloads are mysteriously incompatible with non-Internet Explorer browsers.

Answer 3

Malware often blocks the download of security software. I would suspect that something is preventing your download specifically to keep you from removing it. If you can't reinstall Windows, your best bet is to download the fix on another PC and transfer it using a CD-ROM. Do NOT use a USB drive, which would risk getting the viruses on the USB stick.

Answer 4

If you have 26 infections, you really need to boot in to some sort of magic-bullet type environment, however I have not seen one for years.

Malware has the habit of trying to disable you from downloading anti malware software. I would advise you boot into safe mode, and take a look at your hosts file -

c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

and see if there are any fake entries - unless you have a reason for it being there, there should only be 1 entry (or 2 if you also use IPv6).

You may have problems installing anti virus from safe mode, but I would try it. You can also use a USB stick to have a copy of the AV, however you will risk infecting it, so if it has a write protect switch - use it!

This all being said, if I was you, unless there is good reason for it, I would take an image / copy of everything and just install Windows from scratch - sometimes it is just easier.