Well I was having one of my routine pokes around google for webgames etc and ran into something nasty, lots of alerts from AVG and shenanigans with processes running, so I ran several avg scans, (for both rootkits and viruses generally), but though it court some, I was still having gnarly things happening including warnings about addware.
So, I went to whitestic.co.uupk's downloads page and tried out malwarebytes, who's homepage is Here sinse I do recall people on this forum finding it useful in the past, and sure enough, nasties go bye bye, indeed Malwarebytes claimed slightly more nasties than Avg did, so possibly I had a lirking gremlin or two.
So, about Malwarebytes. I've been looking for a decent antivirus alternative, sinse from avg 2013 versions won't work on Xp (or at least they won't and leave a reasonable amount of ram), and furthermore where as in 2013 I bought the older version (which is still being updated), Avg sacked their decent customer care line and now there is no way to actually buy the new version because their tech and customer support are useless! Indeed, I'm sorry to say it looks like they outsourced to India and then proceeded to give all employees a bare minimum level of training (including in speaking English coherently).
So, if Malwarebytes will do viruses I'd be very happy as it looks like a nice replacement for Avg, indeed so would my mum who is in a similar fix.
if not and it's just specifically spyware and such, fare enough, I'll see about an alternative, even if that alternative involves hitting avg with a very big stick until they actually do their job as they should and sell me a working version of their bloody program which they're still supporting anyway! (hay, the address for the local Uk offices is where my parents live so I might just go down there and be inconvenient at them).
Still Malwarebytes does seem more complete even if it doesn't have things like the firewall and link scanner, plus it is cheaper .
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)