You're welcome!Thanks for all your help! My pc seems to be running better than ever. I appreciate all of your help.
Next:
Congratulations your computer now appears to be malware free!
Now I have some tasks for your good self to carry out as part of a clean up process and some advice about online safety.
Importance of Regular System Maintenance:
I advice you read both of the below listed topics as this will go a long way to keeping your Computer performing well.
Help! My computer is slow!
Also so is this:
What to do if your Computer is running slowly
Download/Run OTC:
Please download OTC and save it to desktop.
This tool will remove all the tools(and logs created) we used to clean your pc. Any left over merely delete yourself and empty the Recycle Bin.
- Double-click OTC.exe.
- Click the CleanUp! button.
- Select Yes when the "Begin cleanup Process?" prompt appears.
- If you are prompted to Reboot during the cleanup, select Yes.
- The tool will delete itself once it finishes, if not delete it by yourself.
Note: If you receive a warning from your firewall or other security programs regarding OTCl attempting to contact the internet, please allow it to do so.
Reset the System Restore points:
Create a new, clean System Restore point:-
- Right click on Computer and select Properties > System protection. > Create.
- Give this restore point a descriptive name and click Create.
- When done, click Apply >> OK.
Note: Do not clear infected/old System Restore points before creating a new System Restore point first!
Flush infected System Restore points:-
- Right click on Computer and select Properties > System protection.
- (untick) Vista C system box an click Turn off system restore then Apply >> OK.
- Restart your computer.
Now some advice for on-line safety:
Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware:
This is a excellent application and I advise you keep this installed. Check for updates and run a scan once a week.
Other installed security software:
Your presently installed security application, AVG automatically checks for updates and downloads/installs them with every system reboot and or periodically if the machine is left running providing a internet connection is active.
I advise you also run a complete scan with this also once per week.
Keep your system updated:
Microsoft releases patches for Windows and other products regularly:
- Click on Start(Vista Orb) >> All Programs >> Windows Update.
- In the navigation pane, click Check for updates.
- After Windows Update has finished checking for updates, click View available updates.
- Click to select the check box for any found, then click Install.
- When completed Reboot(restart) your computer if not prompted to do so.
Be careful when opening attachments and downloading files:
- Never open email attachments, not even if they are from someone you know. If you need to open them, scan them with your antivirus program before opening.
- Never open emails from unknown senders.
- Beware of emails that warn about viruses that are spreading, especially those from antivirus vendors. These email addresses can be easily spoofed. Check the antivirus vendor websites to be sure.
- Be careful of what you download. Only download files from known sources. Also, avoid cracked programs. If you need a particular program that costs too much for you, try finding free alternatives on Sourceforge or Pricelessware.
Stop malicious scripts:
Windows by default allow scripts (which is VBScript and JavaScript) to run and some of these scripts are malicious. Use Noscript by Symantec or Script Defender by AnalogX to handle these scripts.
Avoid Peer to Peer software:
P2P may be a great way to get lots of seemingly freeware, but it is a great way to get infected as well. There's no way to tell if the file being shared is infected. Worse still, some worms spread via P2P networks, infecting you as well. My advice is avoid these types of software applications.
Hosts File:
A Hosts file is like a phone book. You look up someone's name in the phone book before calling him/her. Similarly, your computer will look up the website's IP address before you can view the website.
Hosts file will replace your current Hosts file with another one containing well-known advertisement sites, spyware sites and other bad sites. This new Hosts file will protect you by re-directing these bad sites to 127.0.0.1.
Here are some Hosts files:
Only use one of the above.
Finally a educational source:
To learn more about how to protect yourself while on the internet read this article by Tony Klein:
So how did I get infected in the first place?
Some consider this article outdated, personally I still think it bares relevance and the author is well respected in the Anti-Malware community and by myself also!
Any questions, feel free to ask? If not stay safe!
