Virus filled LapTop. Any way I can get it fixed.

[necro007]

Hi guys,

My uncle's LapTop has some viruses.

He used it to go online and didn't have any Anti-Virus or anything on it for protection.

Anyway he asked me if I had any software so I downloaded and installed a copy of "Avast", "Zone Alarm", "MS Defender", "Spy Bot" for him.

Avast did a scan and picked up a virus. One mainly is linked to a file in " System " folder. and just want to know if I remove it, will the laptop work.

Is there any way I can fix this problem?

Also I have already backed everything he wants, and its working fine on my PC( Virus free).

So what are my options?

Thanks for he help.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

There should be an option to "clean" the infected file, so you could try that first. I'm not sure what effect deleting that file would have, but I would think it would be a better idea to roll back to a restore point when the laptop was not infected.

The most effective (though most time-consuming) thing would be to simply wipe the hard disk and reinstall Windows - you already have the important data backed up.

 

[Commodus]

If the virus isn't buried too deep, removing it will be fine. Occasionally you see viruses that require booting into safe mode and scrubbing clean the registry or similar files. Those can be touch and go, but even those are usually recoverable without wiping the hard drive clean.

 

[googly]

In over 10 years of going on-line, with no "virus protection" at all I've never got one. Where do these people go to get them?

 

[Rottie]

Originally posted by: googly
In over 10 years of going on-line, with no "virus protection" at all I've never got one. Where do these people go to get them?

Yea right I don't believe you! I know you do have some kind of protections on your computer.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: googly
In over 10 years of going on-line, with no "virus protection" at all I've never got one. Where do these people go to get them?

I just installed W2K Pro on a Fujitsu lappy. Everything worked fine until I used the dial-up modem.

10 minutes later, it was infected with this NASTY VIRUS -- took hours to find it. By then, it had done its damage, soooo.

I formatted the drive this morning and tried again - same %$#^ thing happened, except this time I installed Avast! and ZoneAlarm...

They got rid of the virus before it did any damage, but now this doorstop P3 64MB Fujitsu is running at a crawl - running off virtual memory.

Haven't had any problems on broadband 'cause I run a DMZ, plus NAT acts as a natural firewall, so called. With dial-up... well, you know...

Anyway, it DOES happen!

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: googly
In over 10 years of going on-line, with no "virus protection" at all I've never got one. Where do these people go to get them?

How would you know if you had one, without any protection? Just something to ponder.

 

[wwswimming]

How would you know if you had one, without any protection? Just something to ponder.

one way to know is when you have pop-ups
galore and web pages loading that you never
clicked on.

at some point, the most expeditious thing
to do is to back up ap. files & re-load the
OS.

i made the mistake of not following good
security procedures like MechBgon's guide.
i didn't have much choice but to re-load the
OS and beg 3D Studio Max for another
auth. code.

http://www.mechbgon.com/build/security2.html

 

[necro007]

Thanks for the help, deleted the virus. Everything seems okay.

Will let you guys know if anything comes up.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: googly
In over 10 years of going on-line, with no "virus protection" at all I've never got one. Where do these people go to get them?

If you are not downloading things thing spyware is all you have to worry about usually. Most of the time people have programs helping them and they don't realize it.

I have only gotten two viruses and one was a fat-fist when I popped a known virus disk into my machine and accessed it.

This has been since 1982ish. Now my machines at work I support, even with our firewalls and trend running on them...people have jacked them up.

 

[VinDSL]

I'm not going to try and twist anybody's arm on this one - everybody has their favorite AV software, but...

In my experience, detecting viruses, and so forth, is no big deal. Any AV will do that! Finding a program that will get RID of them is a totally different matter, however...

The best one I've found for removing viruses is F-PROT.

For simply detecting viruses... take your pick. Avast! is as good as any...

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: alkemyst
I have only gotten two viruses and one was a fat-fist when I popped a known virus disk into my machine and accessed it...

LoL! That brings back memories...

Speaking of F-PROT, a friend of mine kept getting this ^%$& Jerusalem-B virus. Norton & McAfee would both find it, but couldn't get rid of it...

So, I would go to his house, install F-PROT, get rid of the virus, then uninstall F-PROT (which is registered to me).

This went on (and off) for about 3 weeks, until he discovered that every time he plugged a certain disk into his ZIP drive, the virus would come back.

My friend smashed the ZIP disk into pea-sized pieces with a claw hammer - end of problem!

 

[IlllI]

i like nod32. doesnt use a lot of resources either

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: clandren
i like nod32. doesnt use a lot of resources either

Thanks for restoring my faith in mankind!

How is 'nod32' at removing viruses?

 

[googly]

The only time I had an "unexpected" pop-up was on Anandtech!!! Something called Registry Clean (or some such) popped-up and offered to do some house-keeping for me. It couldn't take NO for an answer, so I re-booted. End of story.

I don't get SPAM, I don't get unexpected bills on my credit card. Only nandtech led to a scary moment. Make of that what you will.

Frankly, it's all bloody silly. Just stay away from sites that offer "free" something, simple...

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: googly
Frankly, it's all bloody silly. Just stay away from sites that offer "free" something, simple...

I would suggest...

You've been extremely lucky! Let me tell you another true story:

2-3 years ago, I noticed my LAN was running extremely slow. When I was surfing, a lot of sites were timing out - pics and graphics took forever to load, yada, yada. This went on all weekend long.

On Monday morning, my DSL account was turned off!

When I called my ISP, they said that my account had been "red flagged" because I was sending out spam - they had received reports from several "Internet cops" - and I was the only person using that IP for the last 30 days. They said, when I get the problem fixed, they will turn my account back on.

I went down to a local grocery store and got a *FREE* for 30 days AOL Trial CD - the ones they always have at checkout stands.

When I got AOL up and running, and got back on the web, I ran a packet sniffer on my LAN and discovered 100's of spams (per minute) flowing out of my Slackware web server - a machine that is NEVER used for surfing! It's basically a dumb terminal...

I fixed the problem, canceled AOL, called my ISP, and they re-enabled my DSL account.

Anyway, my point is, there are any numbers of ways to get a virus/worm/trojan. It doesn't have to be through 'free sites' with your browser, opening attachments in email, et cetera...

If you're connected to the web, you're at risk - period.

NOT running any AV software is bloody silly!