My computer has soo many viruses and spyware its unbelievable. Would i benifit more from just getting a good virus destroying program or would it be better to format the entire computer then install the virus protection? I have all the drivers so i can install everything again. How would i go about formating it? Would this get rid of everything or would it somehow still be there? I have norton antivirus 2002, if i upgraded the the current antivirus and internet security package they have, would it work that well? Or would starting w/ a clean computer then adding those programs be better?
Format computer or just virus scan?
- Thread starter Bodge
- Start date
Zerotact
~SPONSOR~
- Dec 10, 2002
- 1,001
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reformatting is a surefire way of getting rid of viruses, and in some intanses it may be the only or the quickest way.
But try this, if you are hessitant of re-loading:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
and adaware from www.lavasoft.de
But try this, if you are hessitant of re-loading:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
and adaware from www.lavasoft.de
You can probably bring the computer back to life with Norton's and Spybot Search and Destroy, which can be downloaded from http://www.safer-networking.org/
I prefer Spybot to AdAware because Spybot is free open source and doesn't disable features unless you buy the 'pro' version.
However, formatting will completely remove any viruses or spyware you might have. But it will also destroy any files on the drive, you must backup when you format. Formatting and starting over will take 5-10 hours, depending. As for how to format, it depends on the operating system you are running. Which OS are you running?
I prefer Spybot to AdAware because Spybot is free open source and doesn't disable features unless you buy the 'pro' version.
However, formatting will completely remove any viruses or spyware you might have. But it will also destroy any files on the drive, you must backup when you format. Formatting and starting over will take 5-10 hours, depending. As for how to format, it depends on the operating system you are running. Which OS are you running?
I have both Adaware and Spybot, they will both find different things. Lately I've been deluged with spyware and can't seem to get rid of these things because they reappear every day :flame: Especially one called shopathome?????????
Anybody got any suggestions?
Anybody got any suggestions?
Formatting 5-10 hours?! If he has the drivers/apps, try 1-1.5 hours. Maybe 2 for a beginner. I do it in 45 minutes at the shop. Yeah, it'll get rid of everything. Personally I do it semi-regularly, just because it makes the computer feel clean :)
As far as not getting parasites on your 'puter:
NEVER click those grey boxes that come up, UNLESS you are expecting it and its signed by a company you "trust".
(Shockwave flash, microsoft's for updating windows, etc). Precision time/date, gator, and all those are crap. Never click ok. Click cancle or no.
As far as not getting parasites on your 'puter:
NEVER click those grey boxes that come up, UNLESS you are expecting it and its signed by a company you "trust".
(Shockwave flash, microsoft's for updating windows, etc). Precision time/date, gator, and all those are crap. Never click ok. Click cancle or no.
- Feb 9, 2000
- 3,715
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lol not much unfortunately. You better have a bootable CD for your operating system or a bootable floppy.
Ranoch, I think pdiddy meant 5-10 hours to get all his apps reinstalled, data copied back from some other place, get his desktop, start menu, favorites, etc all back the way he wants.
Norton Ghost is the bomb!
Ranoch, I think pdiddy meant 5-10 hours to get all his apps reinstalled, data copied back from some other place, get his desktop, start menu, favorites, etc all back the way he wants.
Norton Ghost is the bomb!
KineticPoet
~SPONSOR~
- Oct 22, 2002
- 47
- 0
KXTodd said:
That file is part of an adware application, and it wasn't completely removed. First, check for ShopAtHome or ShopAtHomeSelect in Add/Remove Programs. If it's listed,
click to highlight and choose Remove. Reboot. Then follow these other instructions. There's also probably going to be an ActiveX Control installed. (this is what keeps it coming back)
Clear out your TIF, other temp files and ActiveX Controls. Open the Control Panel
- Internet Options. Under the General tab click the Delete temporary internet files, choose to delete all Offline content. In Settings, set the size of your TIF folder between 5 - 10 MB. Choose View Objects tab. On the toolbar, choose View Details. If any of those ActiveX Controls are marked "damaged", remove them. Any and all ActiveX
Controls, can be safely removed. They'll be downloaded again as needed. To uninstall, right click and Remove. You may want to keep those by MS, Macromedia or Apple.
Also, go to Start - Find - Files or folders - in the named box, type: *.tmp and choose: Edit - select all - File - delete. Empty the contents of the C:\Windows\temp folder
and C:\temp folder, if you have one. Empty Recycle bin. Next....
Download Spybot S&D here http://www.safer-networking.org/
Close all running programs, install then reboot.
Start it and go online and press 'search for updates' tab. (NOTE: if you have problems,
select the US or Australian mirror site to download updates from). Download all updates that aren't optional. Close all browser windows and run the scan. When it's finished,
'Check All', and fix everything SpybotSD labels in RED. Reboot.
Download 'Hijack This' here http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html
Unzip 'HT' into a new folder. Close all browser windows and run it offline. Double click the .Exe file to run it. Choose Scan. It'll display a list. Most of the things you see listed are necessary or required entries, so don't fix anything, until you know which items to fix. First, check the description of the entries in the log, check here: HijackThisTutorial http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/htlogtutorial.html
After the scan is finished, the Scan button will turn into Save Log. Press that and copy/paste the contents in a post. Before you post it, please be sure to check this below: Check this box to preserve your spacing....
To help prevent further problems, I recommend SpywareBlaster. Be sure to check for updates often and after you install it. SpywareGuard works well in conjuntion with it and is available here also. They're both freeware and available here: http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
marcusgunby
LIFETIME SPONSOR
- Jan 9, 2000
- 6,450
- 2
If you have loads of virus's etc, you may take them across in your backup and achieve little.I would try to get rid of them using adaware and norton etc first-if that fails then reformat.
- Thread starter
- #12
Well i was going to format it but my mom has lost the book that came w/ the computer so now i need an alternet way to learn what it is i need to do. I have windows xp and its a gateway computer. Where can i read on how to format this thing? Also what is a bootable CD ? Like an operating system cd or something?
KineticPoet
~SPONSOR~
- Oct 22, 2002
- 47
- 0
http://support.gateway.com/support/search/advanced.asp
You should be able to find what you are looking for there.
Is it the Win XP CD that came with the gateway?
You should be able to find what you are looking for there.
Is it the Win XP CD that came with the gateway?
KineticPoet
~SPONSOR~
- Oct 22, 2002
- 47
- 0
I would reccomend using spyware blaster.
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
I have not picked up anything spyware related since installing it. It runs in the background and just prevents any of that stuff from infecting your computer.(aside from cookies, which can be considered spyware) It has an auto update feature that will keep everything current.
Then I'd get Ad-aware and occasionally update and run that just to make sure anything has gotten through.
Here---> ftp://ftpx.download.com/pub/win95/utilities/aaw6.exe
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
I have not picked up anything spyware related since installing it. It runs in the background and just prevents any of that stuff from infecting your computer.(aside from cookies, which can be considered spyware) It has an auto update feature that will keep everything current.
Then I'd get Ad-aware and occasionally update and run that just to make sure anything has gotten through.
Here---> ftp://ftpx.download.com/pub/win95/utilities/aaw6.exe
Bodge said:
Nortons AntiVirus. It works, not too much of a resource hog (meaning that it doesn't slow your computer down too much).
I have used many different version of anti virus and Notons *seems* to be the best. The only anti virus I would totally stay away from is McAfee. I have seen it on multiple computers all running different OS's and different versions of McAfee and McAfee has cause nothing but problems. Like freezing, crashing, slow down, ect.
You can download the trial version of Norton's AntiVirus at:
http://nct.symantecstore.com/0142/NAV_2004_trailware.html
- Thread starter
- #18
Im going to go to bestbuy and get Norton AntiVirus 2004 - Windows. Thats the right one correct? Also if i were to just download the program off bestbuy.com would i be able to save it in anyway incase something happened? Do you ever do that w/ programs like this(as in expensive programs?)? Another thing, after i buy this will i be able to upgrade it for ever, like when it gets info on the new viruses or will i have it for a year and need to renew?
Bodge said:
Yup, Thats the one.
Yeah, I like to buy the actual cd. But if you were to download it, you could save it easy. Just burn the file you downloaded to a CD.
The way Norton's works is that you usually get 1 years worth of virus definition updates. Once a week, or month, or whatever, you can set NAV (Norton's AntiVirus) to download the updates. Like I said, the first year is usually free. After that you have to pay something like $15 a year to keep recieving the virus definition updates, so you dont have to buy the never version every year.
