I've tried several times in the past couple of years to use Housecall, Trend Micro's online virus scan, but it never works. It gives an error message to do with the kernel and just goes nowhere. How do I get it to work? Chris Hernon
Housecall has worked hundreds of millions of times, and if it doesn't work, I suspect that is most often because a PC has a virus or Trojan. Housecall 6.5 now has two options - a browser-based ActiveX control and a Java applet - so try both (housecall.trendmicro.com). It may help if you turn off other anti- malware programs during the scan.
If it still doesn't work, try Panda's ActiveScan (pandasoftware.com) or the Symantec Security Check (security.symantec.com).
Also try running your anti-virus checker in Safe Mode or during a reboot, so that the scan starts before any malware is loaded into memory.
If that doesn't find anything, try running a program you have not used before, such as Ewido (AVG Anti-Spyware) or Windows Defender or Kaspersky. All anti-malware programs have limitations, so you should always run more than one -- though not at the same time!
