Mega computer problems

[aero04 0]

Alright computer guru's, I'm having some serious problems and I don't know what else to do to fix it. Here's what's going on.
-Everytime IE is opened, a new homepage comes up.
-Media Player won't work at all. When it is clicked, nothing happens.
-In the Add/Remove programs, there are a whole host of new programs that I've never seen before. I've deleted them, but they keep on coming back.
-Hitting Cntl/Alt/Del brings up many things I've never heard of before.
-The internet page I'm on randomly changes to some other site.
-A page pops up briefly and before it disappears, I see something about how it is installing something.
Norton removed a couple of viruses and Ad-Aware got a number of files, but I just can't clear this problem. I'm about ready to just have the drive wiped clean, but I'd really like to avoid that if I can. Can anyone please give me some idea how to fix this?

[skydiver30960 0]

Can't think of much besides what you've done, but I'm not a guru, just a workaday bum. My only thought is to try other spyware programs to see if they can nail whatever adaware can't seem to find...

Elvisio "'puter semi-literate" Rodriguez

[ChrisL 2]

Windows is disposable. When it gets too fucked up
(as it ALWAYS will) just trash it and reload.
A better solution would be a real OS.
BSD, Linux, Solaris, etc.

You dont need a guru, you just need to do what
your instinct has already rightly told you needs to be done.
Wipe that disk and reload.
A more permanant solution is wipe the disk and reload with a more stable, less vulnerable operating system.

__

My mighty steed

[mwabd1 0]

Sounds like the saser worm, if you look you are probley missing alot of .dll files. Go to symantic.com and get the directions for removal.

[CrazyIvan 0]

Here is my suggestion:

1- Scan your machine for viruses here

2- Then, scan it for other bad stuff here

If the problem can't be fixed, you will need to reformat your drive and start from scratch.

__________________________________________
Blue Skies and May the Force be with you.

[bch7773 0]

get "skybot search and destroy" its a free program out there. I had some of the same shit going on in my computer, and norton and ad-aware would remove some of it, but it would come back... only skybot search and destoy killed it. it was called "coolWWWsearch" spyware/worm btw.

MB 3528, RB 1182

[skymama 37]

I had the same things happening to my computers. I loaded Spybot, Ad-aware and Pest Patrol. They could all find the problems, but they couldn't get rid of them on their own. On one computer, the problems progressed to it restarting itself every time I clicked on a user name in XP. It took computer techie friends to come in and wipe them out and it even took them a couple of hours to get my computers back to working normal. They said it was all spyware and not a virus.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[crwmike 0]

Quote

I had the same things happening to my computers. I loaded Spybot, Ad-aware and Pest Patrol. They could all find the problems, but they couldn't get rid of them on their own. On one computer, the problems progressed to it restarting itself every time I clicked on a user name in XP. It took computer techie friends to come in and wipe them out and it even took them a couple of hours to get my computers back to working normal. They said it was all spyware and not a virus.

PestPatrol is known to cause some false positives in combination with Spybot-S&&D.
If PestPatrol should detect cd_clint.dll (as a trojan) or zipdll.dll (as an exploit) in your Spybot-S&&D folder, please ignore them, and update your PestPatrol.


Michael

[TimHurford 0]

The CoolWebSearch trojan is very difficult to get rid of: Spybot and Adware both identify and remove, but not totally sucsessfully. The difficulty of removing CWS has grown from slightly tricky in the first variant to virtually impossible for the latest few. Some of the variants even used methods of hiding and running themselves that had never been used before in any other spyware strains.
There are dozens of (to date 39) variants of the CWS trojan. CoolWebSearch is part of a new strain of trojans that have recently been identified that all have one thing in common: they install through the ByteVerify exploit in the MS Java VM and change the IE homepage, search page, search bar, etc.


Try downloading CWShredder from Merijn.org
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/cwschronicles.html

[metalslug 36]

I have fantastic success using Tiny Personal Firewall.

Disadvantages:
(1) It cannot cure a PC that is already infected. TPF has to be installed directly after a new Windows installation.
(2) It takes a bit of practise and reading to learn how to use it properly. Not suitable for grandma.
(3) It's not freeware, you gotta buy it after the evaluation period runs out ($50).

Advantages:
(1) A single, small program, takes up about 10MB drive space and just a few MB of system resources.
(2) Monitors network traffic going in and out aswell as the execution of files and programs, allowing the user to deny, grant, or set a custom permission profile on any and all file execution and network traffic. New files on your PC are automaticaly detected and brought to your attention until you grant/deny them permission to execute and/or permission to connect to the internet.
(3) Using the above principles, it can protect you from pretty much any virus, trojan, spyware, unwelcome popup message, or combination of the above.
(4) If $50 is not what you had in mind, send me a PM and I can perhaps arrange something cheaper.

[gerrcoin 0]

Sounds like spyware or malware. The fact that IE is redirecting and resetting the homepage, and that Norton is still able to run is a good indicator that it's not a recent virus (one of the first things that might happen on virus infection is that Norton is disabled).
AdAware and the like might not be able to remove files that windows is currently using and these are being loaded at startup. AdAware may also get the malicious program but miss the process which starts it. If you have a good idea what should and shouldn't be running at startup then go to Start | Run and type MSCONFIG and go to the startup tab. Here you can disable what runs automatically. Also look in the registry at
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current version\Run and
HKCU\ " \ " \ " \ " \ "
(If you don't know about the registry then don't go there)
Disable anything suspicious and then run AdAware (updated). If that doesn't fix your problem then a reinstall may be required.

[EDYDO 0]

Caution. Reformatting and reinstalling Windows does not always work. I once had a virus in the boot sector of my hard drive and even reformatting did not wipe it out. I had the same problem after all of the work.

Make sure any virus is gone before you reformat or try any other solution.

Ed

[aero04 0]

Thanks for all the replies. I've tried the suggestions but the problems continue. My computer crapped out Saturday and this first time I've been able to log on. I'm going to give my comp to a buddy who owns a computer repair shop and let him get after it. Looks like a reinstall will be the way to go. Thanks again for the help.