Help! No Virus--where to go?

[JPMorg]

Dear folks,
I am posting here because I don't know where else to go; if you can advise
me where I can get some help, I'd certainly appreciate it. The folks at HP
and MS have been of no use at all.

Yesterday I finally got around to uninstalling Kazaa. I also deleted some
shortcuts and ran Spybot to get rid of cydoor et. al.

When I went to empty the recycle bin. A dialog box warned me that it
couldn't read the disk or device. I went into HP help to find out what was
going on, and it said I was fine. I used their utility to delete the items
in my recycle bin. I went back to the recycle bin and clicked "delete items"
(although nothing was visible in the folder) to see if hte warning was still
there, and a dialog box popped up and asked if I was sure I wanted to delete
Windows.

I've tried system restore--nothing. I literally haven't got a hardware
history previous to today. My recycle bin looks empty, but it says there are
items in there (and I have gone in to make sure that hidden files and system
files are visible). I'm afraid to delete anything because I can't see what
I'm deleting, and I don't want to lose anything valuable (although it
appears I already have).

Where do I turn?
Thanks much
Morgs

 

[CalamityKen]

JPMorg typed:

Dear folks,
I am posting here because I don't know where else to go; if you can
advise me where I can get some help, I'd certainly appreciate it. The
folks at HP and MS have been of no use at all.

Yesterday I finally got around to uninstalling Kazaa. I also deleted
some shortcuts and ran Spybot to get rid of cydoor et. al.

When I went to empty the recycle bin. A dialog box warned me that it
couldn't read the disk or device. I went into HP help to find out
what was going on, and it said I was fine. I used their utility to
delete the items in my recycle bin. I went back to the recycle bin
and clicked "delete items" (although nothing was visible in the
folder) to see if hte warning was still there, and a dialog box
popped up and asked if I was sure I wanted to delete Windows.

I've tried system restore--nothing. I literally haven't got a hardware
history previous to today. My recycle bin looks empty, but it says
there are items in there (and I have gone in to make sure that hidden
files and system files are visible). I'm afraid to delete anything
because I can't see what I'm deleting, and I don't want to lose
anything valuable (although it appears I already have).

Where do I turn?
Thanks much

Morgs, when you ran file (music) sharing applications like KaZaa then you
got infected by all kinds of nasties in the downloaded files.
This is the new prefered method of virus/worm/trojan spreaders to get into
your system and there will be no detection nor removal capability for
days/weeks.
The spreaders count on this time to do their nastieness and create new
nasties that are not detected.

Have your operating system CD handy as you will need it. A Format clean
install will fix the mess.

 

[GSV Three Minds in a Can]

Dear folks,
I am posting here because I don't know where else to go; if you can advise
me where I can get some help, I'd certainly appreciate it. The folks at HP
and MS have been of no use at all.

Yesterday I finally got around to uninstalling Kazaa. I also deleted some
shortcuts and ran Spybot to get rid of cydoor et. al.

When I went to empty the recycle bin. A dialog box warned me that it
couldn't read the disk or device. I went into HP help to find out what was
going on, and it said I was fine. I used their utility to delete the items
in my recycle bin. I went back to the recycle bin and clicked "delete items"
(although nothing was visible in the folder) to see if hte warning was still
there, and a dialog box popped up and asked if I was sure I wanted to delete
Windows.

I've tried system restore--nothing. I literally haven't got a hardware
history previous to today. My recycle bin looks empty, but it says there are
items in there (and I have gone in to make sure that hidden files and system
files are visible). I'm afraid to delete anything because I can't see what
I'm deleting, and I don't want to lose anything valuable (although it
appears I already have).

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm, look for 'repair recycle
bin'.

If that doesn't get it there are plenty of other known problems, all
with fixes. Google is your friend, try 'groups.google.com' or
'www.google.com' with a search string of something like 'windows XP
recycle bin corrupt'

 

[Richard S. Westmoreland]

JPMorg typed:

Morgs, when you ran file (music) sharing applications like KaZaa then you
got infected by all kinds of nasties in the downloaded files.
This is the new prefered method of virus/worm/trojan spreaders to get into
your system and there will be no detection nor removal capability for
days/weeks.
The spreaders count on this time to do their nastieness and create new
nasties that are not detected.

Agreed. You're still infected with a lot of stuff.

Your only option without reformatting is to run HiJackThis and show the log
to someone who knows what to look for. You're welcome to sign up on the
forum here if you don't want to post your system information to newsgroups:

http://www.antisource.com/forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=9

Or download HiJackThis, copy it to a dedicated folder on your C: drive,
create the log, and copy/paste here.

 

[Richard S. Westmoreland]

Agreed. You're still infected with a lot of stuff.

Your only option without reformatting is to run HiJackThis and show the log
to someone who knows what to look for. You're welcome to sign up on the
forum here if you don't want to post your system information to newsgroups:

http://www.antisource.com/forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=9

Or download HiJackThis, copy it to a dedicated folder on your C: drive,
create the log, and copy/paste here.

I just remembered that a contributor posted a link to a removal utility
specially made for Kazaa spyware. Check out the article:

http://antisource.com/article.php/20041012121550865

It's called KazaaBegone. I haven't personally tested this utility, but if
it could save you from a reformat it's worth a try.

 

[JPMorg]

Dear folks,
I am posting here because I don't know where else to go; if you can advise
me where I can get some help, I'd certainly appreciate it. The folks at HP
and MS have been of no use at all.

Yesterday I finally got around to uninstalling Kazaa. I also deleted some
shortcuts and ran Spybot to get rid of cydoor et. al.

When I went to empty the recycle bin. A dialog box warned me that it
couldn't read the disk or device. I went into HP help to find out what was
going on, and it said I was fine. I used their utility to delete the items
in my recycle bin. I went back to the recycle bin and clicked "delete
items" (although nothing was visible in the folder) to see if hte warning
was still there, and a dialog box popped up and asked if I was sure I
wanted to delete Windows.

I've tried system restore--nothing. I literally haven't got a hardware
history previous to today. My recycle bin looks empty, but it says there
are items in there (and I have gone in to make sure that hidden files and
system files are visible). I'm afraid to delete anything because I can't
see what I'm deleting, and I don't want to lose anything valuable
(although it appears I already have).

Where do I turn?
Thanks much
Morgs

Just a follow up--
Thanks for all of the advice--this group accomplished more in a few hours
than HP / Microsoft Support provided in three days! The corrupted bin is now
fine and all systems are stable.
Thanks again.
Morgs