Re: A teetering system!
From: Rock (rock_at_comcast.nospam.net)
Date: 09/26/04
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Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2004 13:36:59 -0700
Gillyches wrote:
> Greetings everyone!
>
> Sometime in July I seemed to pick up a virus/trojan/nasty and because my
> Norton Antivirus program didn't seem to be able to deal with it (the computer
> closed down whenever the scan was about half way through) and neither could
> Spybot (same thing happened!) - I became desperate and after trawling around
> on the internet found Xoftspy and downloaded and bought it. The problem
> seemed to have cleared up!
>
> The other day I wanted to change my favourite 'home page' and when I tried
> to access the 'Internet Options' I got a message telling me of 'restrictions'
> and to contact my system operator! Well I AM the system operator so that had
> me flummoxed!
>
> I was given some advice to remove the Xoftspy program as it was probably too
> aggressive - and to use Adaware. I downloaded Adaware - but it came with a
> message about some corrupted files so that it could be installed. I removed
> the Xoftspy anyway and tried to scan - but again it all closed down and I had
> to 're-boot'.
>
> I then read in a magazine (in answer to a question about this guy's claim
> that he'd still got two unaccountable 'bad/virus' files after scanning) that
> maybe there was something locked up in System Restore so it would be a good
> idea to unlock the restore function and see if the viruses could be removed.
> So, against my better judgement, I removed the 'restore' function (thereby
> removing any chance of rolling the system back to a previous date! Duh!!!!!)
> and tried scanning with Spybot - again the whole lot turned off.
>
> Added to which, I now find that I have automatic updates that show the icon
> - but which continuously shows 0% downloaded even after 20 minutes!
>
> Is there any hope of:
> a) being able to sort out this awful situation myself - re some sort of
> 'alien' resident on my computer?
> b) getting back to a stable system that I CAN scan for viruses, use Spybot
> and generally feel confident that I'm not going to see the computer version
> of the sinking of the Titanic?
The icon in the notification area has nothing to do with the malware
issues. That's probably SP2 in the queue for downloading to your
system. It can take many days for it to arrive because it comes in bits
and pieces, or it can come all at once. However, do _NOT_ install SP2
until your system is clean and running perfectly. Otherwise it's a
recipe for disaster.
To clean your system boot into safe mode and run the spyware and virus
cleaners. First start with Trend Micro's Sysclean. Download the
program and signature files, turn off system restore, boot into safe
mode (when the computer reboots repeatedly tap the F8 key after the BIOS
screen is displayed in the very beginning), and when the menu comes up
choose safe mode. Run the scan. Also run Spybot S&D.
Note: All virus and spyware cleaning should be done from safe mode.
It's most effective that way.
After that reboot to normal mode, turn system restore back on, and run a
full virus scan. At that point try installing Adaware, and the other
cleaners I list below.
Trend Micro Sysclean
http://www.trendmicro.com/download/dcs.asp
Trend Micro Signature File
http://www.trendmicro.com/download/pattern.asp
Run these programs to check for spyware/malware. After installing
update them, then boot into safe mode and run them. You should update
and run them weekly.
Cwshredder
http://aumha.org/freeware/freeware.php#cwshred
Ad-aware SE
http://www.lavasoftusa.com
Spybot Search and Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.org
Bazooka Adware and Spyware Scanner
http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10247783.html
Pest Patrol Free Pest Scanner
http://www.pestscan.com/ScanOrTrial.asp
If you’re still having problems after running these then run HijackThis
and post the log to one of the specialty forums, _NOT_ this one.
HijackThis
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=3155
Forums to Interpret HijackThis Logs:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/
http://forum.aumha.org/viewforum.php?f=30
http://forums.tomcoyote.org/
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/
After your system is clean use these programs to help keep it clean:
Spywareblaster
www.javacoolsoftware.com/sbdownload.html
Spywareguard
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sgdownload.html
IE-SPYAD
http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~ehowes/resource.htm
For viruses, run at least two of these online scans in addition to your
regular up to date AV program:
Online and Downloadable Virus Scanning:
Panda ActiveScan
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/com/activescan_principal.htm
Bit Defender Online Virus Scan:
http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/license.php
Symantec Online Virus and Security Scan:
http://security.symantec.com/ssc/home.asp
TrendMicro:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp
McAfee Online Virus Scan:
http://www.mcafee.com/myapps/mfs/default.asp
RAV AntiVirus - Scan Online
http://www.ravantivirus.com/scan/
F-Secure:
http://support.f-secure.com/enu/home/ols.shtml
- Next message: Rock: "Re: Upgrade ME --> XP: does it save a backup of ME?"
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- In reply to: Gillyches: "A teetering system!"
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