questkid44 :
hi, I was using my father;s computer, and i noticed a program that he had installed called driver detective. Is this a virus? to me it seems very suspicious. I scanned with Kaspersky and MBAM, and they both came up clean.
Surprised I haven't seen anyone mention to boot to safe mode and then check device manager and also some suggestions for the running of a couple of other Malware detection tools.
My assumption, and yes it is only an assumption would be that this is driver related.
The short and sweet version:
Keep the driver program uninstalled...
... run a few free virus and malware scans from reputable vendors to be safe (SUGGESTIONS FOR OTHER: Trend Micro HouseCall, ESET Online)...
...then visit the manufacturer site -> enter the model, serial and / or whatever else is required to get the right downloads and then manually check the latest supported versions on the website against those listed in Device Manager (right click device -> Properties -> Driver -> Driver Version) -> update as required
The somewhat longer version:
I have used a similar program in the past but to be honest I think they are garbage and the best way to get the latest supported drivers is from the manufacturers support website.
My reasoning behind this first of all is the fact that the program could have been installed unknowingly along with a required piece of software...that is get the software you want and forget to uncheck an installation option for a bundled piece of junk which MAY then act like malware.
Second, and as previously mentioned I am talking from personal experience, these driver updating programs
even if not bundled with malware can tell you they have found a driver of the latest version for you but it may well be an incorrect driver which will then cause a crash....this was many years ago now but in my case the program found a bad graphics driver and auto installed it which caused some major headaches.
If uninstalling the program fixed the problem then sweet, if not think about trying the above mentioned.
Good luck with it all.