Foo - Help! Adware/Spyware/Virus on my home PC

Foo Geeksters....

I think my home PC has a virus or something messed up. I went to log into Explorer earlier and I'm getting tons of popups and warnings.

I tried the anti-virus and anti-spyware on my PC (the free stuff from my internet provider), but it won't let me delete some of the adware and there is some other stuff that says 'downloader' that I can't remove.

Is there anything out there that can help? I think my stuff is compromised.

HELP!!

Live and learn, then buy a Mac?


Try system restoring back to 3 days ago. If that doesn't work... I dunno.

spysweeper and lavasoft adaware might be able to help you. both are available online and free I believe.

I'd try NOD32 (www.eset.com). It's probably the best AV (and does spyware stuff now too). You can download it, run it free on the 30-day trial.

AdAware...Spybot Search & Destroy....CCleaner................Fdisk

AntiVar (german company) and avg have decent freeware ant-virus programs, you can try installing and running those

Also, go to your msconfig and turn off the stuff you don't need at start up, otherwise find a geek who can stop by and spend some time cleaning out your registry.

Superanti spyware ~ http://www.superantispyware.com/

Work in safe mode too.

You have no other firewall, anti-virus, anti-spam, or anti-spyware software than the free stuff????????

You have no other firewall, anti-virus, anti-spam, or anti-spyware software than the free stuff????????

Well to be fair, I only use free software for this kinda stuff, theres nothing wrong with only using free-ware, as long as you pick good ones, set them up right, and keep them updated.

http://www.getfirefox.com

Meantime, go to www.trendmicro.com .

Get their free online scan and cleanup! They are a Microsoft partner company and have rescued my computer several times after Crazylady DL'd a game or something loaded with Malware.

thanks for the suggestions everyone. jsharr got here first, so I'm running the spysweeper right now.

is it a good idea to use more than one?

First, If going back a few days doesn't do it, a complete wipe and reinstall is the only way to be certain you have got rid of the infection. Second, Once reinstall is done, make sure you have a firewall, (software, hardware, or both) RUNNING BEFORE YOU CONNECT THE NETWORK CABLE. I don't mean before launching the browser, but before making a physical connection. Good free combo is AVG, ZoneAlarm, and Spybot Search and Destroy. You can get them from www.download.com. If you are going to do a reinstall, then spend an hour or two as an experiment with PCLinuxOS. it comes as a live CD. which means stick it in and reboot. Within 5 minutes you have a working system running from your CD. Nothing is done to the HD until you tell it. If it seems OK, go ahead and click on the install, takes 20 minutes. Like I say, if you're gonna wipe anyway, give it a shot, costs almost nothing (cost of cd) and if it works for you, then you can pretty much forget virus infections.
If you stick with Windows use Firefox instead of Internet Exploiter.

My local geek dumped Norton and installed Avast & Windows Defender, both free anti-virus/anti-spyware programs. WD is a Microsoft program, as you can tell by the name. Avast has a boot-time scan you can run where it scans your computer before you open anything, so it'll tell you when you've got something potentially harmful before it can do damage.

You made need the services of a local geek before you get back on track...that really sucks, and I'm sorry for your troubles.

thanks for the suggestions everyone. jsharr got here first, so I'm running the spysweeper right now.

is it a good idea to use more than one?
Spysweeper is a good program as well! Keep that Trendmicro link though, it'll come in right handy for post even cleanup!

thanks for the suggestions everyone. jsharr got here first, so I'm running the spysweeper right now.

is it a good idea to use more than one?

Yes.

I have 2 anti-virus programs running at all times, and when I clean out spyware I run at least 2 different programs. They all have slightly different lists and/or criteria for what counts as virus's or spyware or malware or etc. so if for example you had 20 spyware programs on your system, adware might get 15 of them, and spybot would get a slightly different set of 15, and combined hopefully you get all 20.

Carefully follow the directions listed here: http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html


For procedure #2, I uploaded the multi_av executable from my PC to the link below, as the site that the above link gives for obtaining it seems to be down. I understand if your wary about using an unknown executable though, especially since you are already dealing with a virus.

http://upload2.net/page/download/tCpcsuGtRwtvMJO/Multi_AV.exe.html

I would also try Nod-32 trial, per King Termite's suggestion, it is a great AV program, and you won't have a hassle uninstalling after the trial period, if you decide not to pay for it. (McAfee and Norton AV apps are notorious for that).

Yes.

I have 2 anti-virus programs running at all times, and when I clean out spyware I run at least 2 different programs. They all have slightly different lists and/or criteria for what counts as virus's or spyware or malware or etc. so if for example you had 20 spyware programs on your system, adware might get 15 of them, and spybot would get a slightly different set of 15, and combined hopefully you get all 20.
:eek: How slow is that computer?!?!?!

This thread is so ridiculous.

Buy a Mac already. Jesus.

:eek: How slow is that computer?!?!?!
Not slow at all, they aren't scanning the entire hard drive constantly, just read/write activity. Then they both do a full scan at some point after I go to bed.


This thread is so ridiculous.

Buy a Mac already. Jesus.

Yah, 5% of the market can't be wrong.

It's not a good idea to have more then one anti virus programs running in the background on a PC, it can cause conflicts. Having an anti virus and an anti spyware app running in the background is OK tho, assuming your PC has enough horsepower not to get bogged down.


One thing I will add about "procedure #2" per my above post. The McAfee portion of that app won't work if you don't have a McAfee license, but the other three apps (Sophos, Trend, and Kapersky) should work. Using those three should be thorough enough.

The best thing I've ever done is (doing this from memory so may be off a little) go to your control panel/ administrative tools/ services and disable the remote registry service. All my problems disappeared.

Yah, 5% of the market can't be wrong.


Your logic is stunning.

Sunbelt Software's Counterspy and SpySweeper are two programs I use. Counterspy especially.

Finally, go to www.zonelabs.com and download Zone Alarm. You can get the pro version or just the freeware version. Either way, your pop engine will have to request permission to access the internet. You tell it no, click the "Remember this setting" and it'll always block that program again.

At least that way you can surf in peace while you look for a good AV removal tool.

You definitely need to remove the offending software, however, so it's not sitting there chewing up CPU time.

NOD32 - Best, Lightest, and most efficient antivirus

Look 'n' Stop - Best, Lightest, and most efficient firewall

Sbybot Search & Destroy - Best, Lightest, and most efficient spyware scanner.

I work in IT and specifically with the abuse dept. The above 3 are all you need for PC protection. Norton & McAfee are bloatware and cause more harm than good.