How likely is it that if a virus somehow managed to initially get past my anti-virus programs, it could further avoid detection by all three virus scanners? Also, if there was a virus on my computer, would it always show up under the running processes listed in Task Manager?
I would say it could be very likely all three could show clean but you could still have something on there. AdAware especially is not the program it used to be. Avast and Spybot both are very good programs but there ARE certain Trojans which are not picked up by those two.
No, if there IS a virus or Trojan on the computer
it will not always show in the task manager,
it would have to be running at the time to show in the task manager. There are some that only run at start up and then shut down. There are others that would only run when specific programs are used and if you don't happen to be using those programs at the time then the infection would not be running and wouldn't show in the task manager. There are some which place themselves into your task scheduler and only run at specified times in order to download more infected files.
You all ready have run two programs which show nothing and that it great, but since Avast did warn you then you know that you were "under attack", to be very safe then I would suggest the following:
download
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware (MBA-M) to your Desktop.
* DoubleClick
mbam-setup.exe and follow the prompts to install MBA-M.
* Be sure a checkmark is placed next to Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, then click Finish.
* If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version.
* Once the program has loaded, select
Perform full scan, then click Scan.
* When the scan is complete, click OK, then Show Results to view the results.
* Be sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
* When MBA-M finishes, Notepad will open with the log. Please save it where you can find it easily. The log can also be opened by going to Start > All Programs > Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware > Logs > log-date.txt.
Reboot the computer
Download and run a Full System Scan with
HiJackThis. Save the log and post back here with the MBA-M log and the HiJackThis log.
It is better to be safe than sorry.