Need alternative virus scanner

[Madmaxneo]

Actually I am not sure if it is malware, a virus, spyware, or what. But something is going with my computer. Sometimes when the computer starts I get a "installing unknown device driver software" messaage. And there are no unknown devices connected to my computer. Then when I task killed (from the control panel) the device installation I couldn't access my media player. So I decided to let the device installation run but open device manager to see what it was. When I clicked on device manager I got the little timing circle indicating it is processing, but my device manager never came up. Then I had to force restart the computer. Also, sometimes when I restart my computer it takes forever to shut down (longer than a few minutes). Other times when I try to restart my computer I get an error indicating it can't shut down because to many "16 bit" programs are running. I have to force restart it then. I have AVG 2014 and it recently found a bunch of tracking cookies after I did a deep scan when my computer kept freezing up for a second at a time (sometimes repeatedly). After that scan and removal of the cookies it hasn't done the 1 second freeze since. I am running windows 7 ultimate 64 bit. Please advise.
Please note that it is possibly a device I have installed but doesn't seem to work correctly. It is a logitech G13 game pad. But I did not have that device connected when this all went down because I disconnected it as it wouldn't work for a game.
Bruce

 

[Effeectt]

I recommend you either use AVAST! or ESET. I've used both of these programs and they are great at detecting malware, much better then AVG.

 

[Alvendam]

+1 for Malwarebytes, because it's free and it's doing some job and a vote for Kaspersky from me.

 

[Madmaxneo]

I have used Malwarebytes and now my trial is up. The free version didn't find anything. Neither did another deep scan by AVG. I just got a notice for updates for my windows 7 so I am downloading them now. I think they are all some kind of security updates so maybe these will fix whatever is wrong.

 

[jnewegger23]

If you try avast, run the boot time scan. That often finds things in a base cpu language mode that prevents viruses from tampering with the anti-virus removal process. Once downloaded you can run avast boot time scan in normal mode. It will automatically restart your computer. You will see a black background and white font. It can take a couple of hours depending on how fast your machine is. Once done, if it finds anything it will give you a number list of what you want it to do. Choose fix all. I forget the number on that. Good luck! Even if all looks good, consider backing up your important data and get prepared for a factory reset. Always good to be prepared.

 

[Alvendam]

OP wanted me to bump the thread for him.

 

[Madmaxneo]

I don't know who picked Effeectt as having the best solution but it wasn't me. The truth is the solution to my problem wasn't my virus scanner it was the fact that I needed a new motherboard. Which I did get and it all runs great now.

Bruce