Strange messages started apearing - please help

pchelpman

angus1 wrote:

Ok pchelpman - will do that - if I do have to post a log for that account would be really grateful if you could look out for it as you've been that good over this one.

Yes, I'll help if I can but others here are also experienced at fixing infected PCs. Let me know by PM when you post anything you particularly want me to see as I don't look at every thread.

angus1 wrote:

Can I just check though, now that my computer is clean, do I need to keep all the sypware programmes etc I've downloaded - should I keep them and take turns with them to make sure everything's spotted? Should I run a check every day or every week? Maybe there's a thread on here about keeping the PC clean?

I'd say keep everything for the time being. You never know - you might need them again.

This is the help tutorial I usually recommend (althought here are plenty of threads and discussions on this site to help as well) .....

http://www.help2go.com/Tutorials/Protect_Your_PC/Avoid_Web_Browser_Hijackers.html

angus1 wrote:

Also, should I keep the children off things like miniclip or is it okay as long as I do virus and spyware checks very regularly? (Think will ban them off miniclip).

My kids go on miniclip (althought not all that often nowadays). Just make sure the PC and each user account is fully kitted out with protection, do the sacns regualrly and you should be OK.

Oh yes .... and don't forget to educate the offspring on what they should avoid. Pop up invitations for "free smilies " and "free screensavers" are the worst attraction to the young. Never, ever, click on them.

angus1 wrote:

Also, should I put system files etc back to being hidden or does it not matter?

Good idea .... I always forget that one. Yes, return them to "hidden" again.

angus1

Thanks - that's great.

I added another question to that post - what should I do about this bit as it says you should in Browntoa's 4 posts -


I've just been and printed out Browntoa's 4 posts as you said. It says in there about disabling system restore but I could see in that post there's a big debate as to whether to do that or not - what do you suggest I do as am v confused as to whether I'm supposed to or not?


Do I have to worry about cleaning out system restore points or anything like that? (hope not - sounds v technical..)

pchelpman

Disabling system restore ... hmmm ... yes .... that's up there with "Don't mention the war". Much debate. The reason - malware can hide in restore points meaning that it can return even after the main machine has been cleaned.

Me .... I take the view "a bad restore point is better than no restore point at all" so don't delete old restore points until you KNOW the user account is clean (as just done with your own). THEN delete restore points and create a new one immediately so you know you have a "clean" one to fall back on if things go awry again.

If you don't know the procedure for doing this here's my little speech on it ....

Turn off System Restore by Clicking Start > right-click My Computer and then click Properties. Click the System Restore tab > Check "Turn off System Restore" or "Turn off System Restore on all drives". Click Apply. When turning off System Restore, the existing restore points will be deleted. Click Yes to do this. Click OK.

Reboot your System.

To turn on System Restore by Clicking Start. Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties. Click the System Restore tab. Uncheck "Turn off System Restore" or "Turn off System Restore on all drives." Click Apply, and then OK.

Create a new system restore point immediately so that you have something to fall back on if it all goes wrong again in the future. I suggest you also make a habit of creating new system restore points regularly to mitigate any loss to data and programs.