virus problem

[rorpan]

I'm working on a friends computer. He has win xp pro + norton antivirus. Computer will not hook up to the internet. He has nothing in quarentine because he deleted them . However, in the history log I noticed about 14 entries Ran Norton again but didn't pick anything up. Can't get online to download any updates. Ran spybot and adaware killed all the spyware nothing showing but still no net. I could spend hrs on this thing and get no where. Wondering if I should just back up important files and reformat? What do you think?
thanks for any help

 

[CreativeTom]

are you sure at this point it's a virus causeing you not to get on the internet??? have you checked all other issues that could cause that??? also try to download CWshredder from another machine and put it on disc and run it on that machine.

 

[mechBgon]

Also try Winsockfix, there's a link on this page along with other stuff you might find handy, like the Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta. It's good, try it as well as the others.

Good job looking in Norton's reports section. Could you post the names of the stuff so I can see what he's gotten attacked by? Also, what year of Norton is it, because if it's older than 2004 he should get something newer (Norton 2003 and earlier don't detect "expanded threats" even with up-to-date definitions).

edit: if backing up and reformatting is an option, that's a sure cure. The security during Windows setup and the page about ongoing security might help. If you do, then when you run Windows Setup the first time, delete all the disk partitions and then press the F3 key twice to EXIT from Windows Setup. Now start Windows Setup a second time and carry on. This keeps your bootup from having a screen with two WinXP's listed that you'd have to choose from.

 

[BadThad]

Originally posted by: rorpan
I'm working on a friends computer. He has win xp pro + norton antivirus. Computer will not hook up to the internet. He has nothing in quarentine because he deleted them . However, in the history log I noticed about 14 entries Ran Norton again but didn't pick anything up. Can't get online to download any updates. Ran spybot and adaware killed all the spyware nothing showing but still no net. I could spend hrs on this thing and get no where. Wondering if I should just back up important files and reformat? What do you think?
thanks for any help

What do you mean by "no net"? Do you mean Internet Explorer won't display pages? Check for network connectivity: START>RUN>CMD. Then type PING WWW.GOOGLE.COM and see if you get a response. If you get a response, then your browser is just hosed.

mechBgon is all over it, good advice. You may need to repair the winsock and/or reset all the internet settings.....which MS Antispyware is good at.

 

[rorpan]

thanks for the help back on line however, explorer home page getting hijacked by about blank doing some research to fix ran shredder in safe mode will see what happens. However, that will have to do for now