Mari said:
I've done everything I know to do. I just ran diagnostics for two
hours and nothing shows up there. I'm defragging now. I was ready
to do a system restore and see that I have no restore points (my own
fault.)
I'm on a fairly new Gateway and using XP Home Edition and have DSL.
If someone has time today who could list a troubleshooting list, I
would really appreciate it. It would be great if you could copy me
via email at
1) Expect a significant increase in SPAM email. Never give your email
un-munged. Know that Microsoft will not be sending you emails with patches
or links to patches and/or you should never open unexpected attachments in
emails.
2) Yes - here is a list to better secure/clean up and keep clean your PC -
you will want to do some of this periodically.
You may have spyware/adware infesting your machine, follow the
appropriate section for that, making sure you use at least
THREE of the tools I list to scan and clean your machine AFTER
updating them. Cleaning up spyware/adware/malware usually
solves home page hijackers as well.
Make sure you have all the updates (critical) installed from:
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
(Scan for updates, Review and Install)
Get rid of the spy/ad/mal-ware..
(Yes - using MORE than one of these..
I recommend at least the first three. Also..
UPDATE the definitions for them before using.)
Spybot Search and Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.net/
Lavasoft AdAware
http://www.lavasoft.de
CWSShredder
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html
Hijack This!
http://mjc1.com/mirror/hjt/
I also like "The Cleaner" and "SpywareBlaster" and "SpywareGuard".
-
http://www.moosoft.com/
-
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/
The first is a PAY product, but useable for 30 days - it has found and
eliminated problems in the past the others did not. The latter two are
prevention mechanisms. I like SpywareGuard for those with enough processor
to have something running like antivirus software - and it prevents browser
hijacking quite well. SpywareBlaster is a FANTASTIC free product, I suggest
getting this after you cleanup and keeping it updated as well....
And Assortment of Others:
http://spywareinfo.com/
Once clean, please IMMUNIZE using Spybot Search and Destroy and
SpywareBlaster.
Empty your Temporary Internet Files and shrink the size it stores to about
80 to 120MB (seems to be an optimal size for the normal user)
- Open ONE copy of Internet Explorer.
- Select TOOLS -> Internet Options.
- Under the General tab in the "Temporary Internet Files" section,
do the following:
- Click on "Delete Cookies" (click OK)
- Click on "Settings" and change the
"Amount of disk space to use:" to something between 80MB
and 120MB. (Betting it is MUCH larger right now.)
- Click OK.
- Click on "Delete Files" and select to
"Delete all offline contents" (the checkbox) and click
OK. (If you had a LOT, this could take 2-10 minutes or
more.)
- Once it is done, click OK, close Internet Explorer
- Re-open Internet Explorer.
Uninstall any software you do not use often/ever. (If you have something
installed but never use it, uninstall it.) If you go through Control
Panel -> Add/Remove Programs and see things you seldom if ever use, it is to
your advantage to remove it.
Also, if you are tired of Web Page Pop-Ups/Unders.. You could try the
Google Toolbar.
http://toolbar.google.com/
Stop loading applications at logon.. run MSCONFIG and look under the startup
tab for things you DON'T want to startup! Search the Internet with Google
to discover what things are safe to remove and what things may even be
malware infecting your computer.
Better control your email and lessen the amount of time you spend dealing
with SPAM:
SpamBayes
http://sourceforge.net/projects/spambayes/
or
Spamihilator.
http://www.spamihilator.com
Hope that helps...
