infected toolbars

[krktoday]

I accidently ended up with a toolbar called conduit and it took over my IE and Google Chrome complelely. Somehow by accident after several month's I got rid of it then I think while trying to download a free user manual to my cell phone one latched onto my computer called babylon that did the same thing. This time I had AVG 12 free , superantispyware free edition and malware bytes paid edition. I thought by installing all of those I wouldn't get thing's like that. When asked on the computer what babylon was it came by it is malware. I had to take my computer to Best Buy to get rid of babylon. Is there yet something else I can ad to my computer to prevent from making these mistake's?

[daledoc1]

Hi, krktoday:

Many computer problems (especially infections) start with the part of the computer between the chair and the keyboard.

Items such as toolbars (and their bundled crap, some of which is innocent, some not) typically require user input to install them.

They often come bundled with other programs and/or install themselves in such a way that they can be a real pain to remove.

IOW, it's a bit of social-engineering, where the user clicks OK to install some sort of toolbar or browser plu-gin or extension, without carefully reading all the dialog boxes to opt out of the bundled stuff.

Many of these are quite sneaky, and if one isn't careful, it's all too easy to end up with some annoying program (legit or not) on one's system.

In general, most 3rd-party toolbars are really not needed in the first place.

So, it's best NOT to install them in the first place.

You might find this helpful post provides some excellent tips on how to prevent infections.

The basics include keeping Windows up to date, running a robust anti-virus (free or paid) that is kept up-to-date, adding in a layer of protection with a specialized anti-malware tool (such as MBAM PRO), some sort of firewall (hardware and/or software) and, as one of our more expert members says, practicing "safe hex".

I'm sure many of the other, more expert members will have some other suggestions!

HTH,

daledoc1