Possible worm? or hardware failer?

[killafawk]

   Hi, Everyone recently i had problems with my computer and it might be because i clicked on a link to a site and possibly got a very nasty virus or mabe a worm, ive tired system restores reinstalling my C and D drives...couple of days ago i restored just the C drive because thats uselly where all the virus end up at when i get them and if it gets bad i usally do a system restore to the C drive...but after i restored C a couple days ago my computer started acting up again. when starting up the screen would stay black, some times it would say there was no power to the monitor, and basicly when i got it to get to the restore screen it would usally freeze during the process and on the screen it seemd to look like dead pixels on some parts of the screen....finally i got it to restore C and D drive and now here i am, and i dont think that fixed the problem.

   so im thinking i have a worm, ive had a problem like this before on my old dell computer and i called up tech support and after about 10 calls someone on the phone actually knew something about computers and walked me threw  steps of what he said was basicly cleaning out the drives? i basicly had to type in a bunch of commands and after that the problem was fixed. but my question is...anyone know what exactly the steps for basicly wiping your entire computer threw commands? not sure if thats understandable, but he basicly walked me threw and told me /commands that fixed my computer...

and now my computer is showing signs of acting up again, just now i started up my computer and it tried to make me go into safe mode...anyone please help?

need help asap thanks for your help!  

[dl65]

 killafawk......  Ok , for openers , what anti virus do you have installed and is it up to date?
Never use your system restore when you are infected ...that probably the worst thing you could do .
When you answer the question , we can proceed to clean up your machine .
BTW , what O/S are you using ?


dl65  

[killafawk]

currently AVG which i just downloaded yesterday... i usally have norton which comes with the computer but i think norton is a joke. i ran AVG yesterday with no viruses

[killafawk]

xp

[killafawk]

well i justed tried to update avg and it said it was damaged and i need to reinstall so im pretty sure theres a big problem with my computer

[dl65]

 killafawk......  For the record ..... Norton is a very good anti virus .......

I would suggest you D/L and install the following .....
CCLeaner   http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/
Ewido V3.5    http://www.filehippo.com/download_ewido/
Spybot  http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,22262,00.asp

Once you have these programs installed and have the latest updates.......
please do the following .....

1 Turn off your system restore .
2 Go into folder options..."view" and make sure that the hidden files and folders are being shown.
3 Run CCleaner ..... in Normal mode ....run both the "cleaner" and "issues"
Delete anything that it brings up.
4 reboot into SAFE mode and run a full system scan with Ewido ......
Remove anything it finds .
5 Run Spybot in Safe mode and delete anything it finds .
6 Finally run a full system scan with AVG .......... remove anything it finds .....
Report back the findings .........
We will go to the next level if necessary .

dl65  

[dl65]

Do you have a floppy drive on your pc ........ If you do D/L stinger and run it .

http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/     ...if you dont D/L it to your desktop and run it from there ....... go -off line while you run stinger ......... then see if you can uninstall AVG and then D/L it and reinstall it .......

dl65  

[killafawk]

quick question what do you mean by turn off system restore?

[dl65]

Click start/control panel/system ........when system properties opens ......click on the system restore tab ...... and puit a tick in the box where it says turn off system restore on all drives ..... then click apply and ok
Bugs , particularly trojans love to hide in the system restore files .......... and then you simply reinfect your machine all over again .

dl65  

[killafawk]

ok last night i ran it in safe mode and did all that you said and the scans came up with nothing....infact, today i opened up my computer and the video card was very very hot, i actually think i blew my video card because i left the computer on to scan last night and i left the computer on and i turned on the monitor today only to find the screen dark and bunch of what looked like dead pixels, i checked the video card and the fan isnt on there anymore, i took it out because i was gonna throw my old video card in there to check but i couldnt find it...so i let it cool off and put it back in and tried again, in less than min. the video card was extremely hot again, then the screen starting to go dim and dead pixels came up everywhere i moved the mouse so i dont think i have a worm or virus, i think i might have just blew my video card, but i still have to make sure...by the way do you guys think my video card can be repaired? i spent 250$ on it bought it on newegg so dont think there is a warrenty so you think its possible to repair it?

[GX1_Man]

If you bought it fairly recently and have the receipt I would contact Newegg. They are very good with RMA's for covered problems. If the fan was not working, that could sure ruin the card. Best to get that issue resolved, then we can move forward, if needed.

[killafawk]

ok well i think the whole problem was just my video card over heating and now it finnaly died out, but as i was writing my last post i was on my sisters computer...its a peice of junk 128mb type dell computer and i shut it off and was going to put my ram into the computer to make it faster while this computer is out but now it says the monitor has no power or something...basicly the computer starts up but there seems to be no connection between the monitor and computer...i was kinda having the same problem with this computer anyone have any idea what it might be?

oh and another quick question....the fan fell off my video card and there is some wires that need to be put back, it over heats very fast now and i was wondering if it can be saved? i can replace it for like 100$ now but i bought it for 200$ last year and i dont wanna have to pay extra money if i can get it easily fixed for couple bucks..thanks again.

[Fed]

AVG has had an update on the 2nd of May, I think you just missed the new one.
I've seen AVG throw up error type messages in the past when they have a program update.
Download the latest version & you'll be ok.
Program Version # 7.1.392

[Pcfreakske2000]

Well, you could do an online virusscan just to be sure.

Here are some good sites for that purpose :

Panda ActiveScan --> http://www.activescan.com

Trend Micro HouseCall Antivirus --> http://www.trendmicro.com

If you suspect spyware/adware being installed on your computer , install these apps to scan for spyware/adware.

1)  Spybot Search & Destroy  1.4 --> http://www.spybot.info

2)  Ad-Aware SE Personal 1.06 --> http://www.lavasoft.de or http://www.lavasoftusa.com


To prevent spyware/adware from being installed , install these apps :


1) SpywareBlaster 3.5.1 --> http://www.javacoolsoftware.com

2) SpywareGuard 2.2.0 --> http://www.javacoolsoftware.com



Oh , one more thing : Don't install Norton or Mcafee as a anti-virus protection , it does suck as you said.
I use Panda Platinum Internet Security 2005 and it works well here.


If you have scanned your system for virusses , spyware/adware and it doesn't result in finding it, I would suggest downloading Hijack This 1.99.1 --> http://www.merijn.org and post it on this forum or another one. Then specialists can have a look at it and tell you what you can delete from the log and what you don't need to delete.

Warning : Hijack This is not a program to play with ! Only for advanced users !


I hope I have helped you with all of this. If not , just send me a PM or an e-mail.