Vista and Viruss

higgers07

Hi All

I'll cut to the chase. Got a virus - should I disable system restore, start in safe mode, run antivirus & malware software? Then reboot?

If this doesn't work - how do I reformat and reinstall Vista (premium) as Dell sent me my laptop with it pre-installed and no other discs.

If I reset it to factory settings, is this likely to remove the virus as well? Is resetting to factory settings just the same as reformatting and re-installing vista?

Thanks

aliEnRIK

I dont understand people who look to completely formatting their computer JUST because they have 'a' virus!

anyways ~

Download MALWAREBYTES (Make sure you click 'DOWNLOAD NOW')
http://www.download.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html
UPDATE and FULL SCAN
Post the log here AFTER youve deleted everything it finds


reboot

Download HIJACK THIS (Make sure you click 'DOWNLOAD LATEST VERSION')
http://www.filehippo.com/download_hijackthis/
Click DO A SCAN AND SAVE A LOGFILE (Takes seconds) then post the log so we can see whats running
(do NOT do anything else with Hijack but scan and post the FULL log)

kwikbreaks

aliEnRIK wrote: »

I dont understand people who look to completely formatting their computer JUST because they have 'a' virus!

Depending on what backups you have and what you use the particular computer for restoring an image can be the quickest fix. I've done it myself a couple of times after catching a dose visiting a seedier part of the internet and/or being foolhardy/stupid.

Lum

aliEnRIK wrote: »

I dont understand people who look to completely formatting their computer JUST because they have 'a' virus!

Depends on how critical the machine is. In a sensitive business environment, that machine would now be considered "compromised" and there's no way to ever be sure it's 100% clean.

For a home users, yes it's probably best to just remove the virus, but for some people who don't have much data on there, removing a virus properly is much harder than just wiping and reinstalling.

kwikbreaks

Lum wrote: »

For a home users, yes it's probably best to just remove the virus, but for some people who don't have much data on there, removing a virus properly is much harder than just wiping and reinstalling.

Being certain the damned thing really is history is also a factor.

donnajunkie

pcs that have vista dont come with discs because there is a facility within vista that allows you to make a back up yourself. you will also be able to make a boot disc. unfortunately it is that long ago that i did mine i cant remember how to do it. someone here should know.
take note i believe when you make the backup of vista you can only do it once. you need two dvdr discs for the backup and one cdr for the boot disc.
so after you have got rid of the virus make a backup.

Lum

Or if you know someone who already has a Vista DVD, just go and make a copy of the thing. One thing Microsoft do that I really like is they don't care about you copying their discs, all they care about is that you use a valid product key (the little sticker on your machine, if you bought it pre-assembled) and authenticate that key with them online.

Unlike XP CDs, Vista DVDs contain all the different editions of Vista and just ask you which one you are licenced for at install time, no more faffing around for us techies having to carry 6 different XP CDs that will only accept certain keys.