Anyone know of a program that will completely nuke my hard drive and active mem?

[sonambulo]

ok ive been fighting a damned variant of cool web search for months now. cwshredder, spywaredoctor, ad-aware and spybot dont make a dent in it. it just keeps respawning, so i've given up. i want to wipe everything and start again.

anyone know a program that can nuke it all?

 

[Malak]

fdisk

 

[gsaldivar]

Boot from your XP CD, delete partition, create new partition, quick format > install... :beer:

 

[firerock]

go into safe mode and run those programs again to see if that wll eliminate your problem...also, you can try the new MS Antispyware as well.

 

[randumb]

format c:

 

[oboeguy]

Originally posted by: firerock
go into safe mode and run those programs again to see if that wll eliminate your problem...also, you can try the new MS Antispyware as well.

 

[corkyg]

It regenerates because it is created by a website you can't seem to do without.

 

[kreactor]

giant antispy was great

company acquired by msft

 

[mechBgon]

If you're re-setting-up WinXP, then start WinXP Setup from CD-ROM, get to where it shows the drive partitions, delete them all, then hit F3 twice to exit Windows Setup. Now start WinXP Setup from CD-ROM again, create partitions and carry on.

This keeps your boot process from having a screen showing two instances of WinXP to choose from. Bigger picture: to help with your CWS problem,

1) firewall(s)

2) up-to-date, current-model antivirus software fully configured to play hardball (all options, all files, all the time, no asking the user what to do). Keep it updated. Any more, I would update daily if the vendor has that option (Symantec's daily Intelligent Updaters for example).

3) keep up-to-date on your Microsoft patching, and run Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer to help with some stuff Windows Update won't help you with.

4) use a Limited account for your daily-driver activities, it lacks the power to install junk (and that applies to anything trying to subvert the Limited account's powers, too)

5) give all your system's Administrator-class accounts strong passwords such as sonambulo@AT for example.

6) do not be a stupid-head. No warez, pr0n, or other stuff you don't know where it really comes from, that would make a logical vehicle for malware.

edit: one more thing, personally I leave System Restore disabled. It usually has to be disabled to remove viruses anyway, not that I'm having any firsthand experience with that

 

[SagaLore]

format c:

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: corkyg
It regenerates because it is created by a p2p program you can't seem to do without.

Fixed. If he reformats, he'll most definitely end up with it again.

For anyone else not familiar with removing coolwebsearch, the cwshredder is a cleanning tool just for that.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: corkyg
It regenerates because it is created by a website you can't seem to do without.

Even if you disconnect from the Internet, it'll regenerate itself - CWS employs hidden files, and registry entries that instruct Explorer not to show them. They serve to regenerate the executable.
But yes, some site(s) you are visiting keep re-infecting your PC.

 

[yukichigai]

You probably have this one. Apparently CWShredder still can't delete it automatically.