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Zante, once you have reformatted your computer, here are some tips to help keep it clean in the future:
Make your Internet Explorer more secure This can be done by following these simple instructions:
From within Internet Explorer click on the Tools menu and then click on Options.
Click once on the Security tab
Click once on the Internet icon so it becomes highlighted.
Click once on the Custom Level button.
Change the Download signed ActiveX controls to Prompt
Change the Download unsigned ActiveX controls to Disable
Change the Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe to Disable
Change the Installation of desktop items to Prompt
Change the Launching programs and files in an IFRAME to Prompt
Change the Navigate sub frames across different domains to Prompt
When all these settings have been made, click on the OK button.
If it asks you if you want to save the settings, press the Yes button.
Next press the Apply button and then the OK to exit the Internet Properties page.
Set correct settings for files that should be hidden in Windows XP
Click Start > My Computer > Tools menu (at top of page) > Folder Options > View tab.
Under "Hidden files and folders" if necessary select Do not show hidden files and folders.
If unchecked please checkHide protected operating system files (Recommended)
If necessary check "Display content of system folders"
If necessary UncheckHide file extensions for known file types.
Click OK
Use An Antivirus Software and Keep It Updated - It is very important that your computer has an antivirus software running on your machine. This alone can save you a lot of trouble with malware in the future. It is imperative that you update your antivirus software at least once a day. If you do not update your antivirus software, then it will not be able to catch any of the new variants that may come out.
Visit Microsoft's Windows Update Site Frequently It is important that you visit Microsoft Windows Update regularly. This will ensure your computer has the latest security updates available installed on your computer. If there are new updates to install, install them immediately, reboot your computer, and revisit the site until there are no more critical updates.
Install SpywareBlaster SpywareBlaster will add a large list of programs and sites into your Internet Explorer settings that will protect you from running and downloading known malicious programs. An article on anti-malware products with links for this program and others can be found here: Computer Safety on line Anti Malware
Use the hosts file: Every version of windows has a hosts file as part of them. In a very basic sense, they are used to locate web pages. We can customize a hosts file so that it blocks certain web pages. However, it can slow down certain computers. This is why using a hosts file is optional. Download mvps hosts file Make sure you read the instructions on how to install the hosts file. There is a good tutorial HERE If you decide to download the hosts file, the slowdown problems can usually be avoided by following these steps:
Click the start button on the task bar at the bottom of your screen
Click run
In the dialog box, type services.msc
hit enter, then locate dns client
Highlight it, then doubleclick it.
On the dropdown box, change the setting from automatic to manual.
Click ok..
Use an alternative instant messenger program.Trillian and Miranda IM These are Malware free Instant Messenger programs which allow you to connect to multiple IM services in one program! (AOL, Yahoo, ICQ, IRC, MSN)
If you are using Internet Explorer, please consider using an alternate browser:Mozilla's Firefox or Opera. If you decide to use either FireFox or Opera, it is very important that you keep them up to date and check frequently for updates of the browser of your choice.
Update all these programs regularly Make sure you update all the programs I have listed regularly. Without regular updates you WILL NOT be protected when new malicious programs are released.
If your computer was infected by a website, a program, IM, MSN, or p2p, check this site because it is Time To Fight Back.
Follow these steps and your potential for being infected again will reduce dramatically.
Here's a good website to read about Malware prevention:
Umm new problem O_O while doing a restore, her computer froze up WHILE restoring. They took a picture of it and posted it on photobucket: Anything we can do with this? Her other friend took a pic of it and put it on and now I'm stumped...Can you help? x_x
This happened during the reformatting of the computer? At what part did it happen during the process? Did it happen when Windows was being reinstalled or some other time? Have you tried reinstalling Windows again or does it freeze every time at the same spot?
Or by "restore", do you mean you tried doing a System Restore and the computer froze up? If this happened, can you still boot up the computer normally?
Unfortunately the picture doesn't really give me any clues, such as any error messages.
Zante has forcebooted the computer; now it's stuck like this: Normally, all Windows XP computers display this for a few seconds, but her computer won't pass this... I fear the virus(es) may have been installed to the recovery partition and made it stop restoring her computer before Winboot.exe was copied over. She has tried rebooting it again, nothing. She's going to try restoring again... I hope this won't screw it up more... If this helps anymore and you can give me any info about this, that'd be great. EDIT: Sorry the pictures so dark but the _ in the upper left hand corner is blinking ._.;
Hmmm..I'm stumped on what could be the cause of this. Of what I saw in her logs Zante posted, I didn't see anything that could cause this. She had Websearch but it looks like MalwareBytes' removed that and Websearch shouldn't cause what's happening to the computer. There may have been something deep within the computer that I couldn't see that could have caused this, not sure.
Hold off on restoring for now, let me ask some of my fellow helpers to see if anything can be done or not.
Alright- But she needed to go somewhere; don't know where to, but she should be back in a while, I'll tell her when she gets back. Thanks for your continued help ^_^ EDIT: She tried to restore it earlier; it gave her some kind of error with a code and said Restore Failed.
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