[jono]

Hi guys,

Here's a tricky one, our PC seems to have picked up some sort of virus

Every half hour or so, a new internet explorer window opens on a seemingly completely random website, from diet pills to holiday homes to dating sites. What's more the internet explorer history has come bananas and has all sorts of sites listed from pet stores to golfing sites!!!

mrs jono and I are farily "sensible" surfers so don't tend to actually visit sites one would anticipate would fill up your computer with viruses but likewise aren't that computer savvy enough to know a) what's happened and b) how to get rid of it. We pay an annual subscription to "Macaffee" for virus protection and have run a scan but that says nothing wrong!

Any ideas what we can do without taking our PC to a repair store?

 

[jemsite]

if you can install this it probably will clean your virus.
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

i've used it to clean PCs infected running McAfee and Norton (those suck!)

if you can't install (explorer is launching spyware) try restarting and ctrl+alt+delete upon windows start screen to launch "task manager" and close all processes that are virus related. the key is to get task manager open before the spyware disables it... glen

 

[jono]

Thanks glen,

I'll try that right now.

 

[Putthecrossbetweenme&you]

Download malwarebytes.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

Install it, once it's installed and you open the interface you'll see tabs going from the left to the right: Scanner, Protection, Update, etc.

Click update, once the update installs, go back to the scanner tab and you'll see three types of scans you can select, make the green circle fill the middle option which reads perform full scan, then click the scan button below it.

You'll see a window that pops up that says full scan at the top left, inside of it you'll see all the drives on your computer, check mark all the drives and click scan on the bottom right. Now sit back, give it anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes depending on how much stuff you have on your pc or how infected it is, it'll find the problem, and once done it'll have the results and give you a button to click to remove the problem (you might be prompted to restart your pc).

Once that's done you can actually physically delete the file from the quarantine. This program is the best free spyware removal tool I have encountered so far.

 

[jono]

Appreciated that ones' next on the "to try" list!!!

 

[jemsite]

^ worth a shot but if MSSE doesn't help malwarebytes won't either... the PC is too far gone. The biggest obstacle is gaining control of windows shell to install product... glen

 

[jono]

MSSE to the rescue. No pop ups for a couple of hours.

Thanks glen, much appreciated

 

[Moht]

:twisted:Just boot your whole computer most easy way