Hello all. I did have a quick look at the FAQ, looking for an easy solution I confess.
This was where I was directed. I desire a 'home user' standalone malware scanner/cleaner and I don't know what's best. I used to go back and forth between two. Ad Aware got bought and busted. And Spybot just didn't behave. Komodo would install on my machine (forget which one), malware bytes alarmed me (forget why)... But I have acquired links (such as the link to ESET) to sites dealing with security. Ergo.
I have been using combofix. I have no idea whether it works. There's zero plain English help. Why on earth that is the case, I'll never know. It looks legit and it certainly acts fast. But my intuition is that even with combofix's unique angle, an additional more conventional, dedicated malware scanner/cleaner might be a good idea. Call it combocombofix.
I don't see 'products' here for Windows desktop/laptop. Yes, I'm blind. I was rather hoping to keep it lean and mean instead of robust. Robust is good, Don't get me wrong. But when everything on offer is robust, you're dealing with a lot of complexity and opportunities for mayhem, I suspect.
But if someone here tells me that I can safely use the smart security suite (and perhaps only operate the malware scanning/cleaning feature), I'll do it. I'm open to any other suggestions. I'm not tech savvy, but tend to pay attention well enough to sometimes appear as though I am. ;-)
I have two laptops. One is a Toshiba Sattelite C650 w i3 chip, 64 bit and 4 gigs of ram. The other is an Acer Apire, 64 bit, 8 gigs of ram, i5 chip.
Thanks in advance.