her pc has been acting real bad. i had her buy the norton antivirus. it has helped but, it keeps blocking attacks. i wonder if its too late.

Dani AI

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noted Norton is active and “keeps blocking attacks,” which is a good sign of protection but not proof the system is clean. Blocked detections show the AV is working, yet persistent malware (especially rootkits or components that reinstall themselves) can survive and hide. Isolation and careful diagnosis are the next priorities.

Recommended high‑level steps:

  • Isolate the PC from the network to prevent data theft or lateral spread.
  • Preserve important personal files by copying them to external media from a clean environment or a rescue OS; those copies should be scanned before being reintroduced.
  • Use an offline/bootable rescue scan and a separate “second‑opinion” scanner plus a rootkit check to find what an installed AV may miss.
  • Inspect persistent autostart mechanisms (startup folders, scheduled tasks, drivers/services and browser extensions) with a startup/process audit (for example, Autoruns and a current process listing) to identify items that survive reboots.

Following ’s advice to use the forum Read Me and post diagnostics will speed help from volunteers. Useful diagnostics include full AV scan logs, second‑opinion scan logs, an Autoruns listing, a list of installed programs and recently modified files, and a snapshot of active network connections/processes; redact passwords and personal data before posting. As pointed out, a second‑opinion scanner complements an installed AV but is not a guaranteed fix on its own.

If cleanup steps uncover rootkits, backdoors, or persistent reinfection, a verified clean reinstall from known‑good media is the most reliable recovery. Assume credentials might be compromised and perform password resets from a different, clean device. Imaging the disk before destructive fixes preserves evidence and helps if professional assistance becomes necessary.

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You can also install and use Malwarebytes Anti-malware with Norton antivirus. Malwarebytes is a powerful free malware blocker with high detection rates and scanning speed.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

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