VIRUS REMOVAL:
this is a realll P.I.A. !!!
there ISN'T any magic "Silver Bullet" to do it all in one step.
this will take time,effort and dLOTS of patience!!
THE 1ST PART YOU NEED TO DO offline:
boot up and press f8 till you get safe mode option
boot up in safe mode
run anti-virus program
run anti spyware program
shut down System Restore
clear cookies
clear temp files
clear history
clear pre-fetch folder
clear out ALL emails starting at 2-3 days ago or when you 1st knew you were infected in:
ALL folders
sent
trash
junk
bookmarks or favorites folder in I.E. or Firefox
as you can see,there's QUITE a bit of work ahead of you.
shut down System Restore:
virus/spyware can hide in your system restore points so we shall delete all previous restore links hiding places by turning system restore OFF.
later,when we finish,we'll turn it back on,set up a new [ CLEAN ] restore to work from in the future.
hopefully,lol,you'll never need it !
XP Home:
start
all programs
accessories
system tools
system restore
settings
drive [c]
settings
check the OFF link
VISTA:
start
control panel
performance and information tools
open disk clean up
select o.s. [c]
select more options
select system restore and shadow copies
select clean up
XP Home & Vista:
start
control panel
internet options
general
clear cookies
clear temp files
clear history
and set history days to keep to 0
clear temp files
not all your temp files will be removed so easily,so we need to do this manually as well.
start
my computer [ or just computer in Vista ]
windows
temp
file
click view
select all
press delete key on keyboard to delete all
Vista:
in those 2 folders,click name,that selects all files
press delete key to delete
Clear Pre-Fetch Files
start
my computer [ or just computer in Vista ]
windows
prefetch
file
select all
press delete key on keyboard
Vista:
check name to highlight all files
press delete key on keyboard to delete all
empty recycle bin
run anti-virus and anti-spyware programs again
Spybot
AVG anti-virus
AVG anti-rootkit
Rootkit Revealer
http://browseraddons.friendpages.com
when your protection programs find any pirates,DELETE them,do NOT quarantine !!
should you NOT have ANY protection programs installed:
Avast--anti-virus
AD Aware--anti-spyware
Spyware Blaster--anti-spyware blocker
Rootkit Revealer--anti-rootkit
Arovax
PC Tools Firewall--firewall to replace MS's deficient firewall [ turn that sucker OFF ! ] and replace with above.
replace windows firewall with PC Tools firewall
install Arovax protection and choose protection for internet explorer if you use it,firefox if you use that or opera if you use that
install spyware blaster and set for internet explorer and/or firefox protection
should you choose to install Firefox web browser [ and you SHOULD ]
here are some Firefox Security Extensions to install
CallingID Link Advisor
Finjan Secure Web Browsing
No Script
Dr. Web
SafeDownloads
http://browseraddons.friendpages.com
now it's time to set up your new [ clean ] restore point
XP Home:
start
all programs
accessories
system tools
system restore
settings
drive [c]
settings
check the ON link
Vista:
start
control panel
back up and restore center
create restore point
create restore points on selected disks
select drive
click create
apply and ok
FINALLY....
SECURE COMPUTER:
NEVER !! :
open an email from:
anyone you do NOT know/trust
anyone purporting to be/from:
Microsoft
your bank
your creditors
your government
your financial company/ies
even your lawyer/s or church UNLESS you have a prior agreement with them
online petition
contains attachment/s
Spy Sites
Stop Web Sites from installing Spyware, Sleazeware and Cookies on your PC
SpySites includes a database of over 4,600
known Spy/Sleaze sites and guides you
through the simple process of including them in
Internet Explorer's Restricted Zone and setting policies
to prevent them from performing intrusive acts on your PC.
By setting the policies for the Restricted
sites zone to a very high level of security,
you can be assured that any web sites added
to the Restricted sites zone cannot do
certain things which could compromise your privacy
and security such as installing and/or running:
Spysites
http://camtech2000.net/pages/spysites_pr...
Pre-Fetch File Cleaning
pre-fetch files are "cached" or stored copies of files/websites you visit each session
after a period of time,these files hog up a LOT of disk space
for this reason,i advocate the deletion weekly of those space hogs
some claim that windows will automatically remove files older than 7 days
I have found MY pc does NOT perform this task so I do it manually
what happens is,when you go to a website,your pc looks into your pre-fetch file/folder
to see if that website is "cached",stored there FIRST
this gives you a faster website load,BUT,you get the "cached" version and NOT the NEWEST version
unless you have "check for newest version" checked in internet options
it may take that website 1/2 a second longer to load
but,you'll get the newest version loading each time
as added security,spyware removers often miss these files,so delete them manually.
My Computer,disk drive [c],windows,pre-fetch,view,select... all,select delete
same situation with Temp files:
Temp File Folder
i use Disk Clean to clean up extraneous files i no longer need
however,every time i use Disk Clean,it DOESN'T clean out c:\windows\Temp Files!
solution?
My Computer,local disk drive [c],windows,temp
you can safely delete each temp file there.
i leave the most current [that day] alone.
also,do not delete any FOLDER there
folders have a folder icon,leave alone
[ Vista,it's Computer ]
Firefox Web Browser:
tools
options
content
check block pop ups
load images automatically:
exceptions:
enter those websites addresses that show up on pop ups that appear AFTER you close a browser window
also add those same urls to
Privacy
Cookies
Exceptions
there are a number of kewl Security add on firefox extensions i use and they are:
CallingID link advisor
Dr. Web [ link checker ]
Finjan Secure Web Browsing
No Script
SafeDownload
http://browseraddons.friendpages.com
Step #1: Remove spyware with Windows Add/Remove Programs utility.
Sometimes all it takes to get rid of spyware say like AntiVirGear, is to remove the program using the Add/Remove Programs control panel in Windows.
In Windows XP Professional, click on Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs
In Windows 2000 Professional / Windows ME / Windows 98, click on Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs.
In the list of programs, search for the software you want to remove. If you see a program you don’t recognize or don’t recall installing, look it up in Google to learn what it is.
Select the questionable program and remove it with the Remove button.
Step #2: Kill spyware using the Windows Task Manager
To kill any spyware process that has infected your computer, you will need to use the Windows Task Manager to check by process, highlight the process in question, and then end the task. To do this:
Press CTRL+ALT+DEL or CTRL+SHIFT+ESC on the keyboard.
Click on Processes Tab to see all active tasks. For easier detection, left click the process under the heading Image Name.
Find and kill all spyware processes:
Once you’ve identified the spyware process, press DEL on your keyboard or click End Process to kill it from your system.
Step #3: Use PsKill to Kill a Process
Sometimes a parasite can disable your Windows Task Manager so you can use pslist and pskill (a third party application by Mark Russinovich) to list and kill the unwanted processes.
Download PsKill or PsList.
Extract the program from the .Zip archive.
Move pskill.exe to your C: drive.
Open a command window and click Start > Run.
Type cmd and click the OK button.
In the command window, type C:pskill.exe and the name of the process you wish to kill, then press Enter. For example, if you wanted to kill the process for AntiVirGear, you would type: C:pskill.exe AntiVirGear.exe.
If the file was successfully removed, PsKill will say “process spyware.exe killed”.
IF you follow all the above suggestions,you'll not have the Fort Knox of computers,but Dammed close !