PC help please - virus?

350nutter

I've been asked to look at a mates PC that's dying. The machine is a 2 years old Compaq not sure of model, running XP home.

Issues - can't connect to internet, 10+ minutes to book, error boxes galore as programs try and connect to servers.

What I've done/found - using MSconfig, put it on diagnostic start up so all the 'rubbish' doesn't start.

He uses AOL, this won't start - it says it needs to install some files, then restart but nothing happens on restart.

Device manager won't populate.

AV program won't start (Norton internet security 2006). Was thinking about taking this off and trying NOD32 or AVG.

I tried a router (netgear DG843) to attempt to connect via the ethernet port, but no data is sent, the PC can't even access the router set up page.

The computers recovery partition appears intact, but I cant access it, when trying via 'programs', it just throws the PC into a restart. F10 is also meant to access it on boot, but this just enters BIOS (as does F11 and F1)

His son's been using it and it appears to have a torrent program on there, so I suspect something nasty has been downloaded.

I'm close to wanting to wipe the HDD and start again - but obviously this has to be a last resort as it will lose the recovery information.

Can anyone offer some suggestions, please. Bear in mind that he can't access internet to download anything.

espresso

Try following the instructions in posts 1 - 4 of the Spyware?Malware removal guide sticky here

350nutter

That would be good, but I can't download anything to his PC, as the internet connection has been knocked out. I'm considering putting AVG and spybot etc on a USB stick to install them, but will be unable to download latest updates.

I forgot to say as well on the above post that system restore has been turned off as well.

chris667

Does it have anything important on it?

superscaper

chris667 wrote: »

Does it have anything important on it?

Whether you eventually decide to reinstall Windows or not, you should always be backing up in any case.

thomas01155

350nutter wrote: »

That would be good, but I can't download anything to his PC, as the internet connection has been knocked out. I'm considering putting AVG and spybot etc on a USB stick to install them, but will be unable to download latest updates.

I forgot to say as well on the above post that system restore has been turned off as well.

You can pre download the latest updates manually http://free.grisoft.com/ww.download-update . Also you can could boot off a live linux disc and download any important documents onto a storage device if you wanted to reinstall all of xp http://www.ubuntu.com/

Computer_Addict

If the recovery partition is still there you may find that the original manufacturers installation (in the form of an image file) is there in the partition. I don't know XP (using vista) but my hidden partition had the original OS there and I have played with that successfully. I think I used a copy of Puppy linux live cd to get to the hidden partition and from there I copied the OS image and went to work with it. My image was called OS.wim. If yours is also a *.wim (new microsoft image system) then I can maybe be of help.

350nutter

Nothing important on it, mostly their lads games etc. I've already told them to back up anything they want over the next couple of days.

I didn't know I could pre-download updates manually, that's useful. I could really do to restore the machine(to as new condition) from it's recovery partition, but at the moment I'm unable to do so.

350nutter

That's a good idea computer addict, I've got a ubuntu disc I use on mine, that'll run from CD. I'll give it a go when I'm next round.

chris667

Of course you should, but if you haven't, it's not nice to say "I wouldn't start from here".
If you haven't backed up, download Puppy linux onto a working PC. Burn it onto a CD, then insert into your Compaq. Switch on, and your computer will boot into Linux. Use a USB memory stick to back everything important up. Remember you need to click the icon that says "mount" on the desktop after you plug your drive in, and the different way disk drives are named (your hard drive will probably be /dev/hda1 and the usb drive will probably be /dev/sda1 instead of C: and ).

At least this will allow you to save your stuff if you do have to do a complete reinstall.
Wilder's is a good place to ask for advice about cleaning the PC.

Computer_Addict

Glad to help. If you need more help just post. I've only recently started playing around with this file cos my new computer came without recovery disk (supplier refused) so I made something for myself which recovers my system to the out of the box (minus the bloatware of course!) system. Steep learning curve but very interesting and having fun as well as pulling my hair out - bald as well.
Think I can do this a lot quicker now