computer update

[seventhe]

I've been running Spybot almost non-stop (alternating between Safe Mode and a regular boot), and I've removed almost all of the malware. A couple of the things seem to keep coming back, even though a run of Spybot will claim to have removed/"fixed" all of them. I'll even boot to Safe Mode, run Spybot and have it give my computer a clean bill of health, but then the next time I restart the computer, the shit is already back on there.

What keeps showing up is PWS.LDPinchIE, Smitfraud-C.gp, and Win32.Qhost.abh. I've already googled them all, and they look like really horrible terrible things that are going to be a real pain in my arse to remove and it kind of makes me want to cry a little bit. In all honesty I'm thinking of just saying screw it and going for the total reformat... although I'm afraid that they'd fucking stay in my registry.

That's the problem -- they seem to be in my registry files. And there's one thing in the Smitfraud virus that Spybot can't seem to remove, at all. There's a Smitfraud removal program available for free on the internet but forgive me if I'm a little nervous right now about just Googling and downloading shit without knowing whether it's kosher.

Here are the other indicators I've got going on:
- The computer takes an extremely abnormal time to log in after I put in my password. (Both in Safe Mode and regular boot)
- Sometimes when I restart the computer (normal mode) I have no desktop icons or anything. I have to go in to Task Manager, terminate Explorer, and then re-run Explorer to get my desktop to load. After I do this, though, my desktop [icons, toolbar, etc] loads normally.
- I continually get the Windows prompt telling me "No connection to the Internet is currently available [work offline] [try again]" -- without me doing anything connected to the internet. So something is still running in the background and attempting to connect to the Internet.
- IE does not run. I try to open it and a window pops up, but the program immediately closes.
- The computer isn't connecting to the Internet. I gave in and plugged it back in, hoping that I could install AdAware (and some of the other virus/spyware links I had) and then disconnect it -- but the computer couldn't get onto the internet at all. IE closes instantly after I open it, and Firefox cannot connect. (The modem seems to be fine because the laptop can find the wireless - hence this entry - although I've been disabling the wireless every time I try to plug in the other computer. Anyway, I don't think it's the cable.)
- All the problems the damn thing has been finding are in the registry. I think this is why they keep reinstalling.

Anyway. Things are much better... but the computer's still pretty unuseable. Without Internet I cannot even install AdAware. Tomorrow I'm going to move on to some other free spyware/virus software in the hopes that (a) it will agree to run off of a CD and (b) it might be better. I've got a set of links saved in my browser on this computer that I'm hoping will help. Next step is to purchase a Norton Badass AntiStuff Kit and kick the computer's ass with that. After that I might just throw myself out the window.

Comments

[heyheyrenay.livejournal.com]

Man, this sounds pretty much what happened to me the first time spyware buttraped my Windowx XP. I had to reformat and after that I pretty much, uh, never used IE again. At all. Ever! IT IS NOT WORTH IT.

Then I bought a Mac and I have never had a virus.

Um. If you can't solve the problem, buy a mac? >.> I mean, at least consider it before throwing yourself out a window. >.>

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

Haha, tell this to my "I DON'T NEED YOUR TRENDY INTERNET TOYS, IE IS FINE" boyfriend. >.>

I gave him the Firefox talk last night. "Look, honey, I know you don't really care, but all these websites say that Firefox is way more secure than IE, so maybe in the future, you could try to use that?"

guess who was browsing the computer when IT happened. hint: wasn't me.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

You can't uninstall IE from a Windows machine, but you can hide it -- take the icons off the desktop, out of the toolbar, out of the applications shortcuts in the Start menu, etc. -- and make Firefox the default browser. Maybe if he has to work too hard to find IE, he won't use it. We did this at the school where I used to work, and it cut down on virus problems a thousand percent. (Of course, after the change was made, I can't tell you how many students sat down at the computer and called me over after sitting and scratching their heads for 15 minutes. "Where's the Internet?")

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

Y'know, that's a good point. If I can get this machine back up and running, I'm taking IE off of everywhere I can find it.