>>>Hi everybody,
>>>
>>>What are the Windows 7 recommended malware and virus protection tools? I installed MS Security Essentials and also ran MS Security Scanner (the one you have to re-download every 10 days).
>>>
>>>Basically, what happened is yesterday when I was installing stuff I decided to also install Skype. I got to the very first link after searching by Google (don't remember what it was) and when I was installing it, I remember it asked me to accept lots of times. I didn't pay much attention (!) and accepted all of this.
>>>
>>>At the end I got Skype and a bunch of other crap. Through Programs and Features I uninstalled all of these extra stuff, but now I am not certain that my new PC is OK.
>>
>>Skype is now owned by Microsoft. I don't use it, but my guess is MS would not allow a default Skype installation to include any other 3rd party products and certainly not any grayware or malware.
>>
>>Your next step is to find out if you downloaded a legitimate Skype installer. If you did, by uninstalling the crapware you're probably at the state you want and you don't need to worry further - although it would have been better to opt out of the crap while you were installing.
>>
>>If you are not certain you used a legitimate installer, you must assume your computer is compromised. Trojaned repackagers of legitimate applications usually include stealth rootkits; it's usually easier to rebuild your system from scratch than to try to detect and remove these rootkits. If this is the case hopefully you have an image backup from a point not too far before you installed "Skype". Otherwise you'll need to rebuild your system.
>
>I think I grabbed it from not reliable source (it was one of the first links in google and I was not paying attention). I just restored to the previous image which I did before installing SQL Server, SOS and VS 2013, so I would need to re-install them.
>
>My question is - should I get something to check that early image to first?

If you restored a true system image, by booting from a System Repair disc and overwriting what was previously on the disk, then you should be OK. If you just used System Restore to roll back to an earlier restore point, that's probably not good enough.

As I pointed out to Craig, if you're in a corporate environment you will need to inform your sysadmins what has happened, they may have a policy you need to follow.