Virus hit, now system sluggish

[deodiaus]

I was infected with a virus last month. I ran Symantec AntiVirus 2004
and repaired it damage. I also ran the Win2k install CDs to repair my
computer.
Howwever, now my computer is sluggish, especially after installing an
old verison of Norton Firewall to block the pop up messanger ads.
Also I see that even after I turn on AntiVirus real-time checking, it
gets turned off. I wonder if something (an undetected virus) is not
turning it off, or if there is another problem.
I must have gotten the virus from Kazaa lite, which I use to hunt
for home-made movies (not copyrighted stuff).
I think that there are several processess playing round robin, in that
if I kill one, they seem to be respawned by other ones. They seem to
spawn ones with a randomly generated name, so searching for them is
tough. How do I find who lanched a process, so that I can directly
kill that on the HD.

 

[Dan Seur]

There's the virus itself (easily detected and removed by a good
antivirus hunter-killer)...and then there are the files modified or
added by the virus if it ever executed (a much more difficult problem to
fix.)

You may have a leg up on the latter, which fits your description, if you
recall which virus infected your system. Good antivirus sites have good
descriptions and step-by-step instructions (and even sometimes tools) to
help undo the damage. You have some homework to do...

You might also run the System File Checker (sfc.exe), although that
won't identify all modifications (to DLLs, for example) or new
executable added by the virus.

 

[elle]

Amazing... this also happened to me referencing another
post "odd start-up problem" before I was able to stop its
damage to my system (my separate post under BLANK SCREEN
& BLINKING CURSOR). Not that I am a high-techie but I
would strongly recommend what Dan is recommending to
you.

Not sure if this matters either, but all my problems
began after re-boot. I would research the problem with
that virus and NOT re-boot until I did everything that
one of those sites recommend as steps to fix your
problem.

elle

 

[Enkidu]

I was infected with a virus last month. I ran Symantec AntiVirus 2004
and repaired it damage. I also ran the Win2k install CDs to repair my
computer.

Just running an antivirus product will not remove all traces of a
virus, often. Visit the Symantec (or other AV vendor) site and look up
your virus and its removal instructions. You may have to delete or
modify registry keys and delete left over files.

Cheers,

Cliff