virus, trojans, malware oh my....

[SirOlwyn]

once again that dog didnt hunt. but oh well they wont have a clue what it is anyway.
once again evil you have saved the day.  although this is increadibly more difficult than mine was. I think most other sites would have ignored me after the first day of work, but you never waivered, I have spread the word on Computer Hope and hopefully the world will appriciate it as much as I do. Thank You once again.

[evilfantasy]

It's what were here for. Glad it's running better now.

Final instructions/advice.

Set a New Restore Point to prevent possible reinfection from an old one
Setting a new restore point AFTER cleaning your system will enable your computer to roll-back to a clean working state if needed.

• Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools and click System Restore
  
• Choose the radio button marked Create a Restore Point on the first screen then click Next Give the Restore Point a name then click Create.
  
• The new restore point will be stamped with the current date and time. Keep a log of this so you can find it easily should you need to use System Restore.
• Next go to Start > Run and type Cleanmgr
  
• Click OK
  
• Click the More Options Tab.
  
• Click Clean Up in the System Restore section to remove all previous restore points except the newly created clean one.

You can find instructions on how to enable and re-enable system restore here:

Windows XP System Restore Guide or Windows Vista System Restore Guide
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Use the Secunia Software Inspector to check for out of date software.

• Click Start Now
  
• Check the box next to Enable thorough system inspection.
  
• Click Start
  
• Allow the scan to finish and scroll down to see if any updates are needed.
• Update anything listed.

.
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Go to Microsoft Windows Update and get all critical updates.

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To prevent unknown applications from being installed on your computer install WinPatrol 2008
* Using Winpatrol to protect your computer from malicious software

I suggest using SiteAdvisor. SiteAdvisor rates sites on business practices and spam. Safety ratings from McAfee SiteAdvisor are based on automated safety tests of Web sites.

SpywareBlaster - Secure your Internet Explorer to make it harder for ActiveX programs to run on your computer. Also stop certain cookies from being added to your computer when running Mozilla based browsers like Firefox.
* Using SpywareBlaster to protect your computer from Spyware and Malware
* If you don't know what ActiveX controls are, see here

Check out Keeping Yourself Safe On The Web for tips and free tools to help keep you safe in the future.

Also see Slow Computer? It May Not Be Malware for free cleaning/maintenance tools to help keep your computer running smooth.

[SirOlwyn]

One final question, what do you think of sp3? ive read both good and bad and dont know if i should install it on my gf's mom's comp or not.

[evilfantasy]

You should be fine. The main people who were having problems were running MS business software.

[SirOlwyn]

Back agin    i took the comp to my gf's mom and pluged it in. she logged on to one of the logins (the one i didnt check) and poof back to crap.  this time it wont let explorer do anything. it will bring up the window but when you try to go to a website it opens another explorer and that has just a white screen on it. gonna try safemode admin and see if i can get explorer to work.  K safemode admin is a no go, But thanks to the systems restore i can get back into the working login.  Now i need help trying to get the other login defunkified. Evil...... its back to driving you nuts....btw the only way i know to get on admin login is through safemode so if i need to do something else let me know. or should i start a new topic?

[evilfantasy]

Try creating a new user account and see how it works. If needed delete the account(s) that are messed up and use the new one(s) instead.