How to get rid of a computer virus

[HeyFellas]

Hey dudes, I've spent the last few hours trying to get rid of a virus called AntiVirus XP 2008. It pretends to be an antivirus program and runs fake scans saying you are infected, and there are many similar programs out there that do the same thing. After some careful searching I've found a great and fairly simple way to get rid of them.

1: Restart computer, and after first beep press F8. In the menu, find Safe Mode. If you cannot see the menu, press F8 again.
2: Select Safe Mode and press Enter.
3: Login as Administrator

4: Go to Start menu, select Run. Type in C:/Program Files/ and press OK.
5: Select Tools, then Folder Options, then View.
6: Click Show Hidden Files and press Apply, then OK.
7: Search the list for the program (virus) that you want to remove.
8: When found, right-click the folder and select Delete. Confirm by pressing Yes.
9: Go to Recycle Bin and remove folder (and any other unwanted items).

10: Restart computer as normal. To be sure, run any genuine anti-virus or anti-spyware programs you have before connecting to the Internet.

I recommend that you write this info down or print it for the future, it worked great for me and removes anything that causes problems. If anyone needs a little extra help with this method, just send me a PM if you can get online, although I advise you to use another PC to do this, don't get on the web with an infected machine, it could wreck your hard drive.

Have fun everyone, and I hope no-one actually needs this advice, but it may come in useful, who knows. :thumbsup: :wave2:

 

[Jason z]

thanks alot I will try that with my computer.. thanks again.

 

[Torre82]

Umm.. ::scratches head::

That wouldnt be a virus if you could simply delete it. That would be MalWare.

A real virus tends to infect the front or end part of most executables on their program start and continually spreads ad infinitum until you nuke the whole partition (and hopefully the MBR too, just to be safe.)

Spyware tends to simply install an executable somewhere in C:\windows that isnt impossible to get rid of sometimes.. but extremely annoying if you cant. Dropping IE is the first step. Wean yourself off it, PLEASE!

MalWare is just bullshit that you either shouldnt have downloaded and installed.. or something trying to be spyware but hasnt taken that extra step. Hell, if you just deleted the program directory there might still be residual applications hidden somewhere that'll just reinstall it later.

try running MSCONFIG and checking the STARTUP tab to see what you've got eating up CPU cycles and HD hits at.. STARTUP time.

Actually, it's not the best idea to fiddle with everything.. but if it isnt for your video card.. nVIDIA/ATI.. or your soundcard.. it's pretty safe to uncheck everything. Who needs yahoo messenger, realplayer, java updater and canon/xerox/whoever's photoshit softies running all the time?

I dont mean to sound like an ass by nitpicking, it's just that ACTUAL virii and spyware apps are not as simple as what you've described 99% of the time.

 

[gunslingingbird]

Along the same lines, does anybody have any idea why Mozilla Firefox keeps fucking up? It seems like every time I wanna do anything, the thing takes a shit and freezes for a minute or two, saying that the program is not responding, before resuming regular operation. I've tried running spyware checks, and virus scans to no avail. I'm quite fed up of it, but I really don't know what to do. Any ideas? :helpme:

 

[Aces&Jacks]

That is the most useless set of instructions in the history of computer virus removal. Most viruses replicate in multiple directories, change your startup files and alter your registry. Many turn off your virus protection and turn off your windows security, including updates notification. All are different and no single set of instructions will remove all viruses.

 

[Torre82]

Along the same lines, does anybody have any idea why Mozilla Firefox keeps fucking up? It seems like every time I wanna do anything, the thing takes a shit and freezes for a minute or two, saying that the program is not responding, before resuming regular operation. I've tried running spyware checks, and virus scans to no avail. I'm quite fed up of it, but I really don't know what to do. Any ideas? :helpme:

OH, absolutely.

http://www.opera.com/

Learn to configure it a bit and bam. Perfect browser.

Firefox is still bloated and nasty. Requires too many plugins to be useful.

 

[gunslingingbird]

OH, absolutely.

http://www.opera.com/

Learn to configure it a bit and bam. Perfect browser.

Firefox is still bloated and nasty. Requires too many plugins to be useful.

Holy shit. I just downloaded it, and I'm amazed at how different it is from the other browsers I've used. I mean, just the whole mouse gesture thing is gonna take some getting used to, but it's awesome! Thanks Torre! :hatsoff:

 

[Torre82]

Holy shit. I just downloaded it, and I'm amazed at how different it is from the other browsers I've used. I mean, just the whole mouse gesture thing is gonna take some getting used to, but it's awesome! Thanks Torre! :hatsoff:

Hold right(mouse) and hit left to go back. Hold left(mouse) and hit right to go forward.

Hold right(mouse) and use mousewheel to scroll thru your open windows.

Hold right and gesture to the right to go forward.

and so on.. and so forth. It's the safest browser, it has some decent widgets.. nothing special but you dont really need much with Opera.

Enjoy, GSB.

 

[mongo18]

I've heard a lot about opera, I've got it coming down now. I haven't had a problem with firefox in the 5 years I've been using it, but I'm always willing to try new things.

On topic: I don't know if I'd promote that method too much, it looks like a good way for an inexperienced person to screw their apps or OS, and most experienced users wouldn't need it.

 

[Torre82]

I've heard a lot about opera, I've got it coming down now. I haven't had a problem with firefox in the 5 years I've been using it, but I'm always willing to try new things.

On topic: I don't know if I'd promote that method too much, it looks like a good way for an inexperienced person to screw their apps or OS, and most experienced users wouldn't need it.

On the techie side of things.. that was the uninstall process 50% of the time back when we used windows 95!! lol

Some apps used the Add/Remove programs method.. some had an uninstall link but it wouldnt work.. and the rest were DOS programs or just didnt care to use a control panel/Start menu uninstaller.

Then again.. it wouldnt have put the app in /Program Files a lotta the time. They were still fond of higher directories like C:\Adobe\PageFucker\and such.

 

[shayd]

Along the same lines, does anybody have any idea why Mozilla Firefox keeps fucking up? It seems like every time I wanna do anything, the thing takes a shit and freezes for a minute or two, saying that the program is not responding, before resuming regular operation. I've tried running spyware checks, and virus scans to no avail. I'm quite fed up of it, but I really don't know what to do. Any ideas? :helpme:

I've had a few issues with it running JavaScripts on a bunch of pages and locking up, and I've heard from some friends of mine who work for Mozilla that they're having some issues with Flash plugins, but I have the same problems in IE and Opera.

 

[maildude]

I've had a few issues with it running JavaScripts on a bunch of pages and locking up, and I've heard from some friends of mine who work for Mozilla that they're having some issues with Flash plugins, but I have the same problems in IE and Opera.

I have problems with MFF whenever I want to SAVE an image. There is always a LOOONG delay after clicking SAVE on the SAVE IMAGE window. I don't know why. :dunno:

 

[004]

My theory of getting rid of viruses.........












FORMAT HARD DRIVE


works for me

 

[mongo18]

FORMAT HARD DRIVE

To quote Ripley: "It's the only way to be sure."

 

[Torre82]

Virii mostly come at night. Mostly.

I always wanted to format Newt when I watch that flick.

 

[BlueBalls]

You know how I get rid of computer viruses, I throw the computer against the wall. Then I masturbate of the wreckage, and when im finished I take the computer to PC World and get a refund :hatsoff:

 

[extremeb]

You know how I get rid of computer viruses, I throw the computer against the wall.

Lysol kills 99.9% of virus in 5 minutes or less
You Might want to apply it on a damp rag as spraying it directly into your computer is not recommended.

 

[Philbert]

Actually, Antivirus XP 2008 is a fake antivirus program that hijacks the IE browser and trys to get you to buy the software which is probably bogus. I used SpyBot 1.6 and it found it, got rid of it, and everything was back to normal. Also 2 Trojans...

 

[Jason z]

yea the trojan spyware are the worst on my computer.

 

[HeyFellas]

Well, I got rid of the AntiVirus XP 08 program, but it changed most of the settings on my laptop. Spybot also picked out a few trojans, but now I'm having another problem. When I click on a link it often sends me to a completely different website, this is happening on the Freeones forum and even Google, is this a setup problem or am I still infected?

try running MSCONFIG and checking the STARTUP tab to see what you've got eating up CPU cycles and HD hits at.. STARTUP time.

I dont mean to sound like an ass by nitpicking, it's just that ACTUAL virii and spyware apps are not as simple as what you've described 99% of the time.

I'll try this and see if I find anything, I hope it helps.

You'll have to excuse me when it comes to the techie speak, I don't know the difference between malware and spyware or any other type of ware really, except perhaps tupperware :1orglaugh but whatever that program was at least my method gave me back control of my computer, instead of it freezing or sending popups all the time. But it's taking a while to get back to normal. Little help? :wave2: