Serious virus/spyware problem?

1) Start your computer in "safe mode"

2) Scan your rig for spyware, using more than one program, until your scans come back clean.

3) Scan for viruses same as step 2.

4) Quit using Internet Explorer

5) Download and use Firefox or Opera and use them as your browser from now on with the popup stopper enabled.

6) Problem solved.

You have two options.

1) Restore your computer to factory settings, and lose everything you currently have on your computer

2) try to troubleshoot the issue - will take longer than option #1

Troubleshooting a problem such as this is not possible through yahoo answers. I'll give you a high level overview of the troubleshooting methods and if you need to save information on your harddrive and want to troubleshoot the problem, then please email me directly at: irishtek@yahoo.com and I'll walk you through the process.

I have experience removing this type of malware and knowing what to do can take anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours. Troubleshooting over e-mail will take even longer.

I'm assuming though that this is a Windows Operating System. Windows offers a "safe-mode" boot up that will prevent anything from running that is not required by Windows.

Once the computer is booted in this mode it will be possible to remove startup items and uninstall programs that are likely the culprit of your malware problem.

You should know what programs you have installed, but if you have doubt you can look up the program on the Internet to see if it is a valid program to have on your pc or listed as malware.

Once enough programs are uninstalled so that your system can boot into a normal mode you can run programs to help you detect what is on your computer. A program like Hijack This! can be used to tell you both good and bad items running. Careful analysis of their log file can help clear up further issues.

The task manager could be sued to close running programs and may be an alternative solution to safe-mode. Depending on the nature of the malware you have on your system.

If you cannot boot into Windows, then run it in safe mode instructions here: http://www.pchell.com/support/safemode.shtml and run a full antivirus and antispyware scan - make sure they have updated definitions.

Can you edit your post and post your current antivirus, antispyware, etc.

To stop the mass of popups from starting with your PC, you could look to see if they are in Windows startup.

Go to start > run and type "msconfig", then click on the "startup" tab, and post anything you think might be suspicious onto here.

You could also install a firewall, which I recommend you do. This should/will stop the spyware/adware/trojan from launching, and also stop it from connecting to the internet.

Next, I recommend you install a good antivirus and update it.

NOD32, Kaspersky, Avira AntiVir are all good. NOD32 and Kaspersky do a free trial version.

Next, download and install a good antispyware program. A-Squared free, SUPERAntiSpyware and AVG AntiSpyware are all good.

When the trojan/spyware has gone, I suggest you use a more secure web browser like Firefox ( http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/products/firefox/ )

The best way is to remove your harddisk from the pc and plug it into another computer.Make your infected harddisk as secondary storage.Update virus definitions and also antispyware definitions files.

Boot that pc into safe mode then perform a thorough scan to your infected harddisk.

However, if you can startup your computer:

I would advise you to boot into safe mode by pressing F8 during your pc bootup.

(solutions below also apply even if you plug in your infected hdd into other pc but just that deleting all the things in your infected hdd ONLY)

Then turn off system restore, delete all temporary internet files folder,prefetch folder,empty recycle bin, delete all cookies,unnecessary cache file and clean up all other unnecessary files by performing disk cleanup.

After that, press Ctrl + Alt + Del.Try to look for suspicious program.End the suspicious processes.

Try to download hijackThis and remove all unnecessary running applications which are suspicious.

Scan for viruses using antivirus software like Avira and scan for spyware using ad-aware se.You can get those softwares from 'download.com' and 'majorgeek.com' website

After removing the viruses/spyware, boot into normal mode and perform another scan to make sure your harddisk is entirely clean.

Boot into safe mode will disconnected from the internet. Safe mode is accessed by tapping the F8 key during bootup. Once in go to start, then run. Type msconfig hit ok. Go to the startup tab and uncheck anything that is not from microsoft and the maker of the computer. Uncheck quicktime, yahoo messenger, msmsgs, limewire, bearshare, myspace all that junk. then hit apply and ok. don't restart. Go to control panel and add/remove programs. Uninstall any programs you don't use or the computer doesn't need to run. then reboot into safe mode with networking. Now download spybot, and adaware. Install and update them then scan your entire computer with them right in safe mode.delete all it finds. Then reboot into regular mode and download and install AVG free. Update and scan with that also.

You have 2 options at this point: 1. reformat the hard drive and then reinstall your operating system. 2. Take it to a computer repair service. The problem you are having is extreme and your options are limited. I had a similar problem and ended up having to reformat. Know now however, reformatting erases everything on the hard drive, so hopefully, you backed up everything to an external disk or storage. Good luck, that's a tough issue.

Regseeker all the way. (look down for the links) It's not antispyware, nor antivirus, but can do a thing or two. Try this: Open this program, go to "startup entries" select anything it's not indispensable. Indispensable are the things that says "raid" if you have raid disk (if you don't know what this is, then you don't have it) and amd_dc_opt (if you have amd athon 64 processor). Try to open the antispycheck program, and when its window it's open, in the "task manager" look in the "applications" tab, if the name of the program is there, right button on it, choose "go to process" option at the bottom of the list, and then you will know the real name of the program. Then open "regseeker" and go to "Find in registry ..." and put the names of the program: Put a tick on all checkboxes, exept "match whole word" Push "Search!", when the search it's over, down, push "select" and choose "select all", right button and "delete" I hope this works.

If you are unable to boot your computer then you should take it to a reliable and qualified technician who can boot it and fix it or can save your data and fix it.

I would also recommend that you invest in a proper security suite (antivirus, firewall, antispyware, etc) from a reliable vendor (mcafee, norton, etc) and keep it updated and properly configured... as clearly whatever solution you have is either not reliable or was not kept updated or both.

Good Luck

Download Adaware, and Spybot Search and Destroy. Update both. Restart your computer and as soon as it reboots tap F8 to get into a screen that allows you to get into Safe Mode. Select safe mode and log in like you normally do. Run Adaware and Spybot.

This should help.

It's a spyware problem most likely. You should grab any one of the free anti-spyware mentioned here, update it and scan your computer:

http://pctonic.blogspot.com/

You may also have been infected by Smitfraud too, which cannot be removed by usual anti-virus and anti-spyware software. You should follow this procedure for removing a Smitfraud infection:

http://pctonic.blogspot.com/2007/11/combating-smit...

:)