Recently I had trouble with the req.dat trojan on my computer. I had Nortons Anti-Virus 2004 installed (with the latest updates and current subscription), but even full scans didn't pick it up. Somewhere I read that Grisoft AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition could pick up viruses and trojans that Norton misses. So I downloaded and installed it, and bingo it straight away found 6 problems on my computer that Norton had never noticed. I've quarantined the 6 problems and my computer performance has improved, even though I am now running two anti-virus softwares simultaneously. Can anyone advise if this is an ok thing to do? Or are they likely to conflict with each other? luckypingudog at hotmail.com

Two anti virus programs are not advisable by any of the vendors. I had at one time done the same thing myself in order to do what you had done; I uninstalled the other one afterward. However ,,, No Vendor of any anti virus recommends doing so.. and Most will suggest that before installing You uninstall any other anti virus in order to ensure that the virus scanning engine is not, corrupted or cross linked with the other scanning engine. The signature files or any other files could reduce the effectiveness of the anti virus software... If you can prevent one from Loading at start up and keep it from running You May seem to be getting away with it for a while ... But I wouldn't trust It for a protection method solely On the problems that could occur.... MSI 845e mb 768 mb ram and a p4 2.4n running xp ,win 2000 advanced server and win 98 SE alot to learn and I know so little !!!!

I agree with quacked on this! IN THE MATTERS OF STYLE, swim with the current; in matters of principle, STAND LIKE A ROCK

Sorry to burst your bubble Jet but based on all the info I've read on "req.dat" dropper, you still have it in your system. the easiest way to remove the reg.dat file is to :- Download Killbox. Extract it from the zip file then double-click on Killbox.exe to run it. Click on "Delete on Reboot". In the "Full Path of File to Delete" box, type or copy and paste C:\WINDOWS\system32\req.dat and click on the button with the white cross in a red circle. You will get a question "File will be Deleted on Next Reboot" Answer "Yes", followed by "File will be Removed on Reboot, Do you want to reboot now?", answer "NO" then follow the same procedure for the following files :- C:\WINDOWS\system32\req.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\req.exe Once you have entered the last one, when it asks "Do you want to reboot now" answer "YES" it will then reboot your computer and remove the files. Run HJT and remove the reg.dat entries with "no file" beside them. Hard lessons learnt are not easily forgotten.

Thanks Quacked and Lurkswithin for your helpful comments. I've uninstalled AVG as a result (will probably continue with Norton until my subscription expires, and then revert solely to AVG). Thanks also Justme for your instructions, which I have followed. The only problem is the final step - "Run HJT" - what is this? Regards, Jet luckypingudog at hotmail.com

HijackThis is a program that will tell you which bugs if any you may have. You can read about it and download from here: www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html You can then have the log analysed online here: http://hijackthis.de/index.php?langselect=english Hard lessons learnt are not easily forgotten.

there is no problem with using two different av programs. I suggest using them from a bootable cd.