What's wrong with my computer?

[physics_ninja]

Last Friday I picked up a computer virus (one of those you've got viruses! buy this 2009 programs). I ran Stopzilla which dealt with the program. Everything seems good.

When I picked up the virus I was doing two things a) clearing cookies from my and B) resetting a password for another forum (freelunchroom dot com). So I had my hotmail open and the FLR open. I don't expect to get a virus from either site. Anywas when I clicked on the link in hotmail for the FLR password reset that is when the windows changed and I got the "youve got infections!" messages.

That my be more info than you need to know. After this I find that I can no longer access certain websites. I get a server cannot be found message. If I go to another computer the websites shows up just fine.

Any ideas?

FYI it is an old computer (10+ years) running windows 2000 sp4 and IE 6.

 

[Vascant]

I had something close to this happen to me last month, after 2 weeks of trying to figure it out I just blew away the drive and did a fresh install.

You may not have what I had though.. check your host file though, usually the cause of such problems

 

[XCorvis]

You've probably still got a virus/malware. Try Malwarebytes.org .

 

[Rackhir]

Nuking the computer from orbit (ie. reinstalling) IS the only way to be sure, but you might find this thread useful.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/softwa...tilities/241326-advice-getting-rid-virus.html

Malwarebytes is a good suggestion. I have found it useful.

 

[Merkuri]

Yeah that's a nasty virus. My boyfriend got it a few months ago. That's my thread that Rackhir linked to. We ended up getting rid of most of it by sticking the hard drive in a clean machine and virus scanning it from there. This can be dangerous, though. If you have a clean machine and decide to do this make absolutely sure that you do NOT boot from that infected drive and you do NOT open or run any files from the infected drive.

To this day he still can't set his screensaver (the tab is hidden), but he doesn't use one anyway. And there are no other signs of the virus.

 

[physics_ninja]

Ok, I downloaded the malwarebytes and it found a trojan and a hijacker, unfortunately it didn't solve any of the problems my computer now has. I'll try AVG next. (already have spybot and ad aware).

Also backing up to prepare for a reinstall. Fortunately, I backed up most of my stuff months ago.


I have never done a reinstall before. Is it just a case of popping in the disks again?

 

[Thanee]

Pretty much, but you need to wipe the hard disk (i.e. format it, which removes all the data (at least on the surface); you better have a boot cd/dvd for that), otherwise it won't really help.

If you have never done that before, you better ask a friend who has, or look for a good tutorial to help you with the details.

Bye
Thanee

 

[physics_ninja]

Hmmm . . .

I'm pretty sure I don't have a boot disk. The computer was given to me by a coworker when he upgraded. He did give me a bunch of disks with it so I will check.

 

[Rl'Halsinor]

Before wiping out your HD and reinstalling I strongly suggest checking out TechSpot forums and read their Virus & Malware Removal forum, particularly their stickies. It is an excellent place for getting help.

 

[Rackhir]

Hmmm . . .

I'm pretty sure I don't have a boot disk. The computer was given to me by a coworker when he upgraded. He did give me a bunch of disks with it so I will check.

Boot Disk is another name for your Windows CD. If you don't have one of those, then you will need to buy a copy first.

Computers from the big manufacturers (HP/Dell/etc...) often have a customized windows/installation CD. Typically with a lot of junk software (most often "trial" versions) already installed. But it should say on the disk something along the lines of "Windows" or "Restore". They will usually have drivers for what ever custom hardware the computer has (if any) and these may or may not be present in a retail copy of windows. So you might have to track them down on the manufacturer's web site.