Strange XP issues

From: Relaxification (relaxification_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 09/21/04 

Date: 21 Sep 2004 16:05:09 -0700

Hi.

Gateway 1.8 Ghz box with a replaced DVD RW drive and a second 120 gig
drive added. Started to notice some system slowdown, ran ad aware and
spybot to discover I was massively infected with crap. Deleted it all
repeatedly.

My internet connection (verizon DSL) started getting very
intermittant. Popups opened, even on pages like google. I decided to
clean install.

So I did. From the original discs that came with the comp.

It appears I still have spyware or something, despite having formatted
the drive (the slow way, not using quick.)

MS Messenger keeps popping me up saying I have spyware. I don't even
have a messenger account. Clearly the popup is a result of spyware,
and not a warning about it.

Can't connect using IE. I can ping yahoo.com etc thru DOS.

Questions:

1. I backed up a bunch of stuff onto the big drive, which I
disconnected before the clean install, then reconnected. Is there any
way something from this drive could install spyware? I would have
thought not, but who knows?

2. Could it just be that, as soon as I reconnect to the internet,
because I don't have SP 2 or any updates (it's XP home from 18 months
or so ago that I reinstalled) I just get wormed? I've downloaded SP2
here at work and will do another clean install, install it, and THEN
plug in the DSL modem.

3. Is it possible to store any malware somewhere where a format won't
touch it? In other words, could it be stuck in firmware somewhere?

Does anybody have any ideas? I can provide much more information, but
I'm at work and kind of doing this from memory right now. Other
things I plan on trying tonight include ipconfig release/restore, and
netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt

Also, I'm going to investigate winsock2 problems.

Thanks,

relax

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Clean Install
    ... that you look at posts where users attempted to do a clean install.. ... > didn't do what you are suggesting for him to do now. ... >> You will also need to download Spyware removal software.. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: SP2 download?
    ... if you insist on a clean install ... I been cleaning infected machines for friends & family for over a year. ... > Bazooka Adware and Spyware Scanner ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics)
  • Re: I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO
    ... "Clean Install" of Windows XP. ... Here's what you can do to enhance the security on your PC ... Spyware and other unwanted software ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Outlook Express 6, All hyperlinks point to about:blank
    ... There is NO spyware on my system. ... Giant Anti ... installed and this is a clean install of system less than a ... work but at times, strangely enough when I copy a problematic link, it ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6.browser)
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