Control Panel Missing

[Pat_hall]

I've had a nasty virus I've been trying (unsuccessfully so far) to remove for about 6 months!

Basically the profile I use on this PC is the only profile, but my control panel has gone missing. Every time I try to access things like it, I get message saying i'm not the system administrator and should contact the administrator.

I've read a few posts online from people with similar problems and they seem to be resolved by posting a "hijack this" log for other people to see and then give them a step-by-step gudie how to remove it.

Any help would be really appreciated as it's really beginning to get me down!

Thanks
Pat

 

[V_R]

Welcome to the forums.


Is a format out of the question then? If you have been struggling for that long i'd have just blitzed it and started over.


While we could read your HJT log, i'd suggest you pop over to Bleeping Computer who can assist you to a greater degree than we could here as they have more time and are professionally trained in malware removal.

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

Well, the first thing you should ALWAYS do when dealing with a virus is boot the machine into Safe Mode Windows. Depending on the virus, this should keep it from running. After 6 months time, however, you may have had it infiltrate Windows system files.

Boot to Safe Mode Windows by restarting your computer and pressing the F8 key repeatedly during the time when POST becomes Windows loading. This should bring up a menu with options such as:

1. Safe Mode
2. Safe Mode with networking
3. Safe Mode, command prompt
...etc

There will be a paragraph of stuff above this menu as well. Select Safe Mode using the arrow keys and press Enter. Safe Mode with networking should allow you to get to the internet and download updates for your virus software and such.

Once in Safe Mode, run your virus scanner software. At this point, I suggest several scans with at least two virus scanners and a malware scanner. Microsoft Security Essentials is pretty good at catching things, and it's free to download and update.

Depending on what virus you have, you may or may not have issues. Some viral infections will run even in Safe Mode due to the fact that it copies itself as a Windows system file.

If you have Antivirus 2008/09/10 or any of the fake antivirus software infections, you will need to download an application called RKILL.EXE to stop the software from running. I have not tested it on any other virus, so test it out if you want.

Remember, in the end, you can just format it and start over...it is already trashed.