HELP! Computer pros!!!!!

[babylady4]

Over the course of 2 days my kids managed to infect BOTh the PC and the laptop with viruses. I re-formatted the hard drive of the laptop since there was nothing of importance on it; but I would REALLY like to NOT do that to the PC. I have run Malwarebites, spybot, Microsoft Security Essentials, and the virus is still on the computer. I do not remember the name of it but it is a trojan and what it does is shuts down your browsing session unexpectedly and it re-directs you to unknown sites along with ask.com

Can anybody help me get it off the computer? I have been keeping the PC off and offline as much as possible until I can get some assistanse that will permanently remove this 'bug'

Thanks! I do appreciate the help!

 

[debilorrah]

Ok here we go!

Uninstalled Java
Go to ccleaner.com
Run that about 5 or 6 times until nothing comes up
Reboot
Reinstall java
Reboot again.

 

[ivan3]

What browser(s) are you using? I.E., Firefox, etc.?

 

[babylady4]

Sorry, using IE and have Win XP with all the current updates.

 

[PurpleChicken]

Start with avgfree.com - It may have problems with XP.

trendmicro.com has a free scanner called housecall that has worked ok for me too.

 

[ivan3]

On your menu bar: Tools: Internet options: Programs: Manage add-ons: (just to check to see if anything unfamiliar looking has been added recently - can diable any `ask' related). This could be a quick and dirty fix. If it is something nastier then it is probably time to run Hijack This. or the like.

 

[babylady4]

Thanks! I ran the Hijack this and the ccleaner suggestions as well as removing Java and disabling the add-ons that looked fishy. So far so good, it is doing a sweep right now to see if there is anything left.

I'll keep you all posted!

 

[LizFM]

I had my new laptop less than an hour before it got infected. Our dept. tech's advice was that the combination of PC and IE was deadly. Once it was cleaned up and I went back to Firefox, I haven't had problems. After you get it solved, I'd never use IE again.

 

[Tala]

Quote:
LOL
My laptop still has IE6 and it's never had a serious virus problem.
I think it has more to do with what kind of websites you're visiting

One program that I can recommend is Stopzilla, it works, at $40 per machine! It also makes your computer really slow to boot up, which is why I uninstalled it, but if you are having problems with a bad virus it might be worth the wait. It picked up 1000 spy/adware type things on DH's computer, but only 44 on mine! Toldja it had to do with the types of websites you frequent

Currently I use Avira free version. I don't know how good it is because it's never found anything on my machine, but I saw it block a trojan on DH's computer as he was surfing, so I guess it works. A hacker/computer geek recommended it to me so that's why I got it. The free version gives you one pop-up per day, and it automatically updates itself daily at that time.

 

[harryg6167]

Lots of Trojan's have the .dll extension. This file will be ignored by the
virus software and will not be removed regardless of what antivirus
software that you use.
If you actually knew where that .dll extension file was located you can
go to it and remove it yourself.
If not, formatting will be the only way to get rid of it.
It is sometimes possible to do a system restore. Do it for
a date and time you know the system was clean.