Never-ending Viruses and Spyware..

X

xacrosstime

I'm not sure if this is in the right section. Sorry if it isn't.

My computer recently received a Trojan Horse or "Trojan.Dropper," to be
specific (virus?) that paved the way for tons of spyware including
programs, pop-ups and for the virus to spread into different files.
I've run Norton Antivirus but it can't delete everything that it finds.
Everytime I turn on the computer and log into an account, Norton gives
me a series of four messages that always say that it can't quarantine
the file or access the file, but it always ends with it being deleted
(I can't remember the third message). The files that the virus is in
always vary, sometimes a file name will pop up more than once but I've
never been able to recognize the file as something that i've heard of.


I've also run Ad-Aware, which also can't delete everything that it
finds. I'm constantly getting pop-ups that my Pop-Up Blocker can't stop
and new programs that I've never heard of keep appearing under my "Add
or Remove Programs" list. Some of them can be deleted permanently, but
many of them come back sooner or later and there is one program
specifically that comes back each and every time you turn the computer
back on. It's called "Command." Upon trying to delete it, Norton gives
me message saying that it is a high risk to open the file but you have
to in order to remove it. You must download a program that apparently
removes Command from your computer. After installation is finished, you
must reboot the computer but when it turns back on, the program is still
under the list.

New programs keep turning up and changing my homepage and Norton
settings. Does anyone have any idea of what I could do to get rid of
everything?
 
X

xacrosstime

Sorry, I meant to say that after UNinstallation is finished, you have to
reboot the computer. Just in case I confused anyone. =P
 
G

Guest

I think that others will provide you with some good advice. Howver, if it
were me, i would ensure that nothing is in the start up (run > msconfig >
startup > disable everthing ) then reboot. Your system may still act the
same way, but since there was nothing in start up to prevent the problem,
there coud have been something in there that was causing the problem. in any
case you have more mem and system resources now. Next download windows
defender frm microsoft.com, install and run and see what happens next. If
it is a known infection, the defender will kill it and possibly reset your
browser too. Ensure your firewall is turned on and has no exceptions.
Reboot and lets see what happens. Check back into this group and provide
some feedback of the results.... When you come back you will probably have
additional suggestions from others as well......
 
P

peter

I feel that you should do one of 2 things
1....take it to a shop and have them redo everything...format the drive and
start from scratch.
2...do it yourself....start with the XP CD in place and do a new
installation ...format the drive during the process.

the bad part about this is that you will lose everything that is on that
drive.If possible safe all of your work files to a CD/DVD and be sure to
scan them for virus before you move them.Then after the format reinstall you
will need to reinstall everything....before you hook up to the net be sure
to install your anti virus as well as your firewall.
peter
 
X

xacrosstime

Thanks for your help guys, I -think- I've gotten rid of the program. I
would be able to tell for sure if I hadn't run into another problem
along the way..

While dealing with the "msconfig" window in order to delete the Command
program, I rebooted the computer like it told me to after disabling the
things in the startup section. My problem now is that when I start up
my computer and log into my account, all I see is my desktop
background. No Start menu, no desktop icons - nothing, just the
background. Any idea of what I might have done?
 
G

G Winstanley

I'm not sure if this is in the right section. Sorry if it isn't.

My computer recently received a Trojan Horse or "Trojan.Dropper," to be
specific (virus?) that paved the way for tons of spyware including
programs, pop-ups and for the virus to spread into different files.
I've run Norton Antivirus but it can't delete everything that it finds.
Everytime I turn on the computer and log into an account, Norton gives
me a series of four messages that always say that it can't quarantine
the file or access the file, but it always ends with it being deleted
(I can't remember the third message). The files that the virus is in
always vary, sometimes a file name will pop up more than once but I've
never been able to recognize the file as something that i've heard of.


I've also run Ad-Aware, which also can't delete everything that it
finds. I'm constantly getting pop-ups that my Pop-Up Blocker can't stop
and new programs that I've never heard of keep appearing under my "Add
or Remove Programs" list. Some of them can be deleted permanently, but
many of them come back sooner or later and there is one program
specifically that comes back each and every time you turn the computer
back on. It's called "Command." Upon trying to delete it, Norton gives
me message saying that it is a high risk to open the file but you have
to in order to remove it. You must download a program that apparently
removes Command from your computer. After installation is finished, you
must reboot the computer but when it turns back on, the program is still
under the list.

New programs keep turning up and changing my homepage and Norton
settings. Does anyone have any idea of what I could do to get rid of
everything?

I recently had the same problem, and it turned out that a "root kit"
spyware program had infected it and subsequently done all the damage. It
was successfully detected by F-Secure Blacklight Beta, but sadly it
couldn't successfully remove the infection, so I had to reformat and
reinstall. If the infections keep coming back like this then you may be
in the same position. For what it's worth I found that AdAware does not
find as much as others (like Ewido: www.ewido.com) and for anti-virus I
have recently been recommended NOD32 (www.eset.com).

Stan
 
M

Mark Ritchie

Before you go and reformat your whole computer, have you posted HijackThis
logs anywhere?
There are alot of nasty trojans and spyware that will not simply go away,
they have to be manually removed.

--
Regards,

Mark Ritchie


**************************************
Computer Problems Dragging you Down?
Let us Fix it for you quickly and remotely!
http://www.livetechsupport.ca
(866)730-5403
**************************************
 
G

G Winstanley

Before you go and reformat your whole computer, have you posted HijackThis
logs anywhere?
There are alot of nasty trojans and spyware that will not simply go away,
they have to be manually removed.

Well I've already been through the whole process and
reformatted/installed/etc., but yes I did use HijackThis successfully to
remove a couple of critters, but sadly it didn't highlight the really
nasty one living in the darkest recesses of my computer's soul. Anyway,
it was time to wipe clean and start afresh. Windows gets so slow after a
while, and responsiveness has vastly improved since my nea install,
making it all worthwhile. Coupled with the bonus of not losing any data
I'm a much happier person now.

Critical to my current state of happiness is my original partition
planning, seperating all data onto a separate partition. This alone
seems to be one of the best ways of avoiding data loss is such
circumstances. The second happiness booster is the recovery CDs for my
Acer Travelmate 800. I've been very negative about my Acer in the past,
primarily due to their crap support when my DVD/CDRW drive lost half
it's functionality, but in this case their recovery CDs are reasonably
well put together, and gave me the choice to retain my current
partitioning without a problem. Ok, there were some curiously
un-user-friendly dialogs on occasion, but a techy background helps with
those.

Stan
 

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