Computer Security Advice Please

Foxy16

My OS is XPSP2 and I use IE, last Sunday I visited a site that uses google adsense, my Avast antivirus warned of a virus so I took the necessary action, and immediately came off the internet, on returning to desktop the background had turned bright green, and there was a big black box telling me that my computer was infected and not to use it, a little white box came up saying I had Trojan SPM/LX and to click OK for windows to download the necessary programme to get rid of this. This I could not do as I could not get on the internet. I ran avast again, again this virus showed and I took the necessary action, I also ran spybot and deleted files on there.I then turned my computer off hoping everything would be back to normal, on starting up I was taken straight to the blue windows login (never had this before, always straight to desktop), when clicking on my login, it said saving settings then logging off, that is all I could do. Spent a couple of days trying different things with no success, in the end had to insert the 'reset to factory settings' disc, obviously lost some important info.On searching the internet about the site I visited there was a problem, with a link to the following: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=trojan.js.redirector.ar&aq=f&aql=&aqi=&oq=I thought as I have Avast antivirus, Zonealarm firewall and Spybot search and destroy, I would be safe. Etrust antivirus is on the factory settings disc which I have disabled as I am using Avast, should I be using the 2 together.God forbid this never happens again, but if it does is there anything I can do, to prevent my computer getting trashed?Sorry this is long winded, and I hope it makes sense. Any help and advice greatly appreciated.Diane

Reluctant_spender

You should only use 1 anti virus product.

No one programme is 100% effect and keeping all programmes up to date will help to minimise such problems.

I would visit the windows update site and install all critical updates and SP3.

also for other programmes Secunia inspector - http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/online/

As for additional programmes I would install Spyware blaster - http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

Malwarebytes is good for reactive infections - http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam-download.php

fwor

The problem is almost certainly that your browser is set to allow websites to run active content (in this case JavaScript, which is what the trojan you refer to is based on) on your PC, and they will often try to install themselves as unwanted Browser Helper Objects which antivirus programs have trouble preventing.

There are several ways to make yourself safe from this type of attack. My preferred solution is not to use IE, but to install and use Firefox (it's free) with the NoScript add-on instead. NoScript will prevent any active content unless you specifically allow it as an exception, and it's simple to use.

There are ways to achieve the same effect in IE, but they are a bit more long-winded, and there's a general consensus that IE is inherently less secure than other browsers, because of the way it is integrated into Windows.

closed

Your service packs are out of date, which doesn't help. Should be sp3.

Backup using disk imaging software, and you won't lose all your data if it happens again.

debitcardmayhem

Reluctant_spender wrote: »

You should only use 1 anti virus product.

No one programme is 100% effect and keeping all programmes up to date will help to minimise such problems.

I would visit the windows update site and install all critical updates and SP3.

also for other programmes Secunia inspector - http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/online/

As for additional programmes I would install Spyware blaster - http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

Malwarebytes is good for reactive infections - http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam-download.php

Good advice I would also suggest you use Firefox and its Noscript addon, also make sure that you have not got S and D teatimer active.

Foxy16

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

Good advice I would also suggest you use Firefox and its Noscript addon, also make sure that you have not got S and D teatimer active.

Hi, I read about teatimer but don't really understand it, how do I unactivate it. Thanks Diane

debitcardmayhem

In Tools/Resident Uncheck Resident TeaTimer - you need to run as administrator

dogmaryxx

^^^

You need to be in advanced mode

Foxy16

I feel really thick now, searched spybot for the tools, but as it is the latest version it is now in the menu bar item mode, which I can't find either.I would like to thank everyone for their help and advice it is greatly appreciated. Since doing a factory reset, there has been over 100 window updates, 1 of which was SP3, so at least that is up to date.

closed

If you've lost anything important, you could try this to see if anything is recoverable (the more updates you install, the less likely your chances of getting anything back from before the restore)

http://www.runtime.org/