everything is running great, and I really, really appreciate the help.....can i make any sort of donation or anything?
Glad to hear it. And although I appreciate the offer, a donation really isn't necessary.
I do have a question also....when the system was infected i had a hard time getting to my business info.....if i get an external hard drive and keep all my important info on there would that work?
I'm assuming there is no o.s. running on that type of drive that it is just for storage and if need be i can just unplug from virus computer and plug it into another computer i should be ok??
You're correct, an external drive typically doesn't have an OS. You can install one, but when you buy one new, it is completely blank and serves entirely as a storage device. I think getting an external hard drive is actually a very good idea. They are relatively cheap and hold a lot of information. And yes, you can simply plug it into another computer when needed. External hard drives can still become infected, but it is less common, and they are usually much easier to disinfect.
Also, you should get a decent firewall. You're vulnerable without one, so you should look into getting either
ZoneAlarm,
Kerio Personal Firewall, or
Comodo. They're all good free firewalls. Just be sure you only have
one installed at a time! Download the firewall of your choice, disconnect from the internet, disable Windows Firewall, and install your new firewall.
And since you no longer need ComboFix, go ahead and uninstall it. Go to Start > Run and type
combofix /u (note the space between combofix and /u) and click OK.
If that doesn't work, then download
OTCleanIt.exe and save it to your Desktop.
- Double-click OTCleanIt.exe.
- Click the CleanUp! button.
- Select Yes when the "Begin cleanup Process?" prompt appears.
- If you are prompted to Reboot during the cleanup, select Yes.
- The tool will delete itself once it finishes, if not delete it yourself.
