Virus running in the background -- Norton doesn't help

[streetrepair]

Hi Folks,

Was trying to fix a friend's PC last night. She's running XP Home and uses a cable modem for access to the internet. As soon as you boot up the machine, dozens of Internet Explorer windows start running in the background, flooding the system, and thereby grinding web performance/access to a halt almost immediately.

I ran Norton Anti-Virus 2005 and it found no problem. I also ran AVG anti-virus software and that too found no problem. If anyone has ideas on what I can do to kill whatever it is that's running in the background, causing this, I'd be most appreciative for your suggestions.

Many thanks...

[gortklattu]

What, in the Mac, is comparable to a P4 running 2 gHz? What should I have in memory?

[Publius6961]

OK. My useful input from experience. I will try to limit my help to the actual problem presented (unlike some of the tiny minds here).
There is a short term approach and a strategic one.

The short term approach may no longer work, since some of the newer viruses and trojan horses actually disable spybot and adaware as part of their damage, as well as McAfee and Norton. Some actually reinstall themselves after being "cleaned out" on rebooting, if the job isn't a thorough one. The only possible solution after that requires an experienced user who is comfortable with the registry and painstakingly removes anything and everything that looks like it doesn't belong. Same with the start up folders, all of them. Can't remember if there are two or three.
If this works, it is essential that the hardware firewall on the router is activated with a real password, not the default! I use a combination of upper and lower case: i.e. ZzYZyxX42

With XP, the option as a last resort is to take your computer back to a previous state, assuming the user has been careful to take a snapshot before every time he/she has added new software. Most people don't do it as often as they should. If this doesn't work then a new install is the only option

The strategic solution involves Ghost. This great software allows an image to be created when you know that your system is clean, and in less than a half hour you can replace your infected Operating System with a clean one.
But. This requires a little thinking ahead. At least two partitions or two hard drives are essential. A small one, for the operating system and software, and another exclusively for data. Presently a 50 Gig C drive and 160 Gig D drive work for me. If all of the C drive is ever used, this would require 11 DVDs to create a ghost image. After a year, my C drive backup only requires two.
Before every new software installation I make a Ghost backup. presently it takes about a half hour, either to back up or restore. I can see it taking an hour or more, but the computer does all the work while you watch a movie.

Hope this helps.

[jwalsh07]

Thanks for your response. One of her friends disabled the firewall and turned off the system restore function months ago

Well heck, make him fix it then. :-}

Good luck.

By the way I use McAfee, Zone Alarm and PP and my machine stays clean. Don't know why but I'm not arguing with success.

[rdb3]

Would removing than reinstalling IE help---esp. if the spyware is in the IE file folder?

I'm not sure if IE can be removed from Windows (2000/XP/2003 Server).

[streetrepair]

"I'm not sure if IE can be removed from Windows (2000/XP/2003 Server)."

Just wondering that myself! I did some research online and it looks like I have to reinstall WINDOWS XP if I want to reinstall IE. Therefore, reinstalling IE will be last resort!

[GunnyB]

God help me I am trying not to do this but I cannot resist. Try getting a Mac. It will make such a difference. I know I know - but there I have said it.

I highly recommend getting a Sun - try running the secure, flexible, and free Solaris operating system - no adware, viruses, malware - ever...

[streetrepair]

Thank you, thank you!!! I appreciate you taking the time/effort/thought to type all of that out. I'll be printing off this thread later. So many good suggestions.

[Read2Know]

" wasn't impressed with Pest Patrol, despite how highly it's touted. Pest Patrol found Bonzi Buddy registry keys when, in reality, none ever existed. I'm not sure if Pest Patrol's basic free scan finds Bonzi Buddy on everyone's computer, just to get them to purchase the software or what. Seems suspicious."

Here's a link for spyware removal software. Comprehensive.http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Boot with a system disk on a 3 1/2" floppy and get to a C:\ prompt. Then cd to C:\Windows\Internet Explorer and do a rename on iexplore.exe. Change it to something like iiexplore.exe. Then reboot. See what happens. If all is ok then download a copy of Firefox on a different PC and burn it to a CD then install it on your PC. All done.

[jellybean]

Try running Stop Sign. It's not free - $4.00 month for Premium service, but finds stuff others miss.