AAAAAGH! Just found trojan horses on my computer

astonsmummy

No i dont know how to back things up - i dont know hardly anything about computers:o
I've had this one for about 6 years but it was out of use for a couple of them, plus my copy of windows aint even genuine (thnx dodgy father!)
Any advice would be much appreciated
tia xx

pchelpman

Hi antonsmummy

First off, I have to agree with the comments about free screensavers. They are a lure to get you hooked then get you infected. Similar coments apply to free smilies etc. from places like SmileyCentral. These are also usually a resource hog and slow your computer down dreadfully even if they work.

Also ... never download anything from FunWebProducts for the same reasons (and worse).

If you are certain it is a Trojan try the fully working trial version of Trojanhunter from here ....

http://www.misec.net/

Download it/install and run it. Let if fix anything it finds.

Hopefully it will fix your trouble.

As to backing up ...

"backing up" means putting copies of all your important files and data on to something else (CDs, DVDs, another hard drive etc.) so that, if the main hard drive fails, you can "restore" your information from the backed up copy.

This is a good little guide for the beginner ...

http://www.learnthat.com/courses/computer/windows/backup1.html

I used to use a natty free program called Back2zip from here ...

http://free-backup.info/

Note ... a backup solution like Back2zip will not allow you to backup programs. Only information and data. Should you need to restore from your backup you may need to reinstall programs from master disks.

Now, however, I have a second hard drive on my machine. I use Norton's "Ghost" program to copy everything (including programs) from my main hard drive to the backup hard drive.

I would not need to reinstall anything as the backup drive is an exact copy (a "clone") of my main hard drive.

Hope this helps a litle but do post back if you are still having problems.

PCH

Alfonso_Skinarelli

astonsmummy wrote:

plus my copy of windows aint even genuine (thnx dodgy father!)
Any advice would be much appreciated
tia xx

There is only one course of action for this machine and that's to backup any important documents you wish to keep and have the Operating System reinstalled with a GENUINE copy of Windows. Without a genuine copy, your machine will continually be infected with all manner of net nasties which increases the risk of infecting others.

You can get a genuine copy of XP Home for less than £60 these days. See here.

pchelpman

Thanks Alfonso ... missed that little fact. Need to get my brain out of "holiday" mode. :rotfl:

Agreed ... you must kit the computer out with a legal version of the O/S otherwise you can forget about ever being clean of malware.