Recommended anti-virus?

Hi all,
Haven't been on here in a while. Recently google chrome started acting weird on me. Would constantly crash and I had to restart my laptop to get it to work again for a little bit. I disabled all my ad blockers and what not and reinstalled chrome. Got it working again, but now I keep getting this Volkswagen ad in my chrome browser every day. It will pop up like every 15mins opening a new tab. Even if I close chrome completely, it will launch it on its own just to open this stupid volkswagen ad.

Anyway I haven't had a virus or anything in YEARS, so I have no idea what to do. I thought I'd ask here for suggestions of any free anti-virus software I should use to try and clean this up, as well as any recommended ad blockers for chrome.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, cheers!

 

What Windows version are you using? I would also recommend to run a scan with https://www.malwarebytes.org/mwb-download/thankyou/

 

I'm running windows 10

 

adblockers,
i always use adblock plus, imo best one out there and available on all browsers i use , easy to add exceptions or block content that you don't want to see anymore.

antivirus,
i honestly never use anything else than MSE on Win 7, but i use a lot of common sense when it comes to websites, new software,....
i used to install AVG free on client's PC's, but i've had massive issues and bluescreens on M18x with AVG installed, so now avast free is the go-to antivirus i use, it has great tests aswell.

 

Well I think you got most of your answers already but to summarize things a bit:

1- If you suspect your system is already infected:
a- Run Malwarebytes Anti Malware.
b- Get a decent antivirus. IMHO, a free antivirus hardly does the job. I know the one I will recommend is going to get me some heat but I personally have been using Norton Security without a single infection. I also manage Kaspersky Endpoint Security in our office which is great as well (low impact on our workstations/servers. Although, scans, especially the one for vulnerabilities are slow and cause MASSIVE slowdowns. But I just schedule those to run during the night). I am not too familiar with their home solutions as the last one I used was back in 2008 I think. But I think the top 3 Antivirus solutions (as per many rankings) are the 2 I mentioned along with Bitdefender.

2- The important part now, PREVENTION:
a- Download a custom Host file. Google this. You can Hostman to make it easier to edit your Host file.
b- Get a very good adblocker. @maxslo Adblock is not supported anymore last time I checked. The one I use now and am very happy with, is : uBlock origin
c- Of course, make sure you get a good Antivirus (ideally with a built in firewall)...
d- Update ALL software, including Windows. I love people who disable windows updates because they somehow believe that M$ is out to get them. Security patches/vulnerabilities fixes NEED to be deployed. The update feature of any application is not a gadget.

 

I use bitdefender free edition, very lightweight and has good detection. That combined with adguard/adblock plus/ublock and common sense, and you shouldn't have a problem with viruses. I don't remember the last time I got infected with a virus (unintentionally at least)

 

i use avast.