Computer virus...

[Justin]

Download and run Adaware. www.lavasoft.com (Free download, top right hand side.)

[AncientPaths]

Originally Posted by Justin

Download and run Adaware. www.lavasoft.com (Free download, top right hand side.)

I'd do Malwarebytes first.

[NotforSale]

Got this advice from a full time computer expert who maintains/troubleshoots the entire College computer program in our County.

First, all of these downloads are FREE!! You don't have to buy anything.

Download AVAST (Antivirus), do 3 full scans, rebooting after each scan. Then SPYBOT, Search and Destroy (Malware), do 3 full scans, rebooting after each scan.

He told me this would work, and it did on my daughter’s computer. If for some reason this doesn't, a new Hard Drive may be next.

This scanning will take some time, so if you choose to do this, be patient. Like others have said, you may need to access your computer in Safe Mode to perform these scans.

A hint to anyone who reads this; Bad emails are the number one cause of computer viruses. Good luck!

[RandyWayne]

Originally Posted by NotforSale

Got this advice from a full time computer expert who maintains/troubleshoots the entire College computer program in our County.

First, all of these downloads are FREE!! You don't have to buy anything.

Download AVAST (Antivirus), do 3 full scans, rebooting after each scan. Then SPYBOT, Search and Destroy (Malware), do 3 full scans, rebooting after each scan.

He told me this would work, and it did on my daughter’s computer. If for some reason this doesn't, a new Hard Drive may be next.

This scanning will take some time, so if you choose to do this, be patient. Like others have said, you may need to access your computer in Safe Mode to perform these scans.

A hint to anyone who reads this; Bad emails are the number one cause of computer viruses. Good luck!

For one thing you only need a new hard drive if it is physically bad or damaged. If not in a worst case, just reformat and start over.
I'm also in charge of an entire (private) school and am frequently fixing hard drives. We have a ton of Mac's so it doesn't tend to be virus removal so much as data recovery and hard drive replacements. And yes, the Mac's are being sent to Applecare constantly.

I personally like and use Malwarebytes and do NOT like Spybot. You usually have to run it in Safe mode since quite a bit of malware will prevent it from starting in the first place. In a really bad case I will physically remove the hard drive and connect it via USB encloser to another computer and run that PC's antivirus software on it.

[NotforSale]

Originally Posted by RandyWayne

For one thing you only need a new hard drive if it is physically bad or damaged. If not in a worst case, just reformat and start over.
I'm also in charge of an entire (private) school and am frequently fixing hard drives. We have a ton of Mac's so it doesn't tend to be virus removal so much as data recovery and hard drive replacements. And yes, the Mac's are being sent to Applecare constantly.

I personally like and use Malwarebytes and do NOT like Spybot. You usually have to run it in Safe mode since quite a bit of malware will prevent it from starting in the first place. In a really bad case I will physically remove the hard drive and connect it via USB encloser to another computer and run that PC's antivirus software on it.

Come to think of it, my friend told me the same thing about the Hard Drive. Thanks for the correction.

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by RandyWayne

For one thing you only need a new hard drive if it is physically bad or damaged. If not in a worst case, just reformat and start over.
I'm also in charge of an entire (private) school and am frequently fixing hard drives. We have a ton of Mac's so it doesn't tend to be virus removal so much as data recovery and hard drive replacements. And yes, the Mac's are being sent to Applecare constantly.

I personally like and use Malwarebytes and do NOT like Spybot. You usually have to run it in Safe mode since quite a bit of malware will prevent it from starting in the first place. In a really bad case I will physically remove the hard drive and connect it via USB encloser to another computer and run that PC's antivirus software on it.

The only thing I use SB anymore for is to immunize browsers, though it does have nifty features for killing programs or startups...but I suppose Hijackthis is better

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by NotforSale

Got this advice from a full time computer expert who maintains/troubleshoots the entire College computer program in our County.

First, all of these downloads are FREE!! You don't have to buy anything.

Download AVAST (Antivirus), do 3 full scans, rebooting after each scan. Then SPYBOT, Search and Destroy (Malware), do 3 full scans, rebooting after each scan.

He told me this would work, and it did on my daughter’s computer. If for some reason this doesn't, a new Hard Drive may be next.

This scanning will take some time, so if you choose to do this, be patient. Like others have said, you may need to access your computer in Safe Mode to perform these scans.

A hint to anyone who reads this; Bad emails are the number one cause of computer viruses. Good luck!

I can promise you that the above won't work. The above is what you should have done BEFORE the infection.

There are specific "targeted" tools to use once you are infected. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is one of them.

SuperantiSpyware is far better than any antispyware program for free and even removes root kits.

One of the better ways, in case you can't get into Windows even in boot mode, is to use a boot disk. There is one you can download and use that will make a bootdisk that will run WinXP in RAM and has several antimalware programs installed. You have to have your own copy of WinXP though and do this on a machine that works obviously

[Praxeas]

Here is another tutorial
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tuto...torial101.html

the two main tools I am using now is Malwarebytes and SuperantiSpyware. I just talked a friend through the procedure over the phone using these two. The cool thing about Superantispyware is the have a stand alone program. It does not need to be installed, though if you do not have the latest download you will need networking as Randy points out

[Phoenix]

You might also want to consider running back ups regularly. That's how I fixed my last nasty virus. I just went back a few days to before the problem and it was all better.

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by Phoenix

You might also want to consider running back ups regularly. That's how I fixed my last nasty virus. I just went back a few days to before the problem and it was all better.

A "good" virus won't be fixed that way. By "good" I mean one that was well written.

This is why another technique when all else does not work is to empty the recycle first, turn off system restore first THEN run Malwarebytes or whatever else. Some viruses are smart and clone themselves and hide them in places where they can't be removed even by a system restore.