Posted on 10/31/2008 10:12:07 PM PDT by lowbridge
This is a bit lengthy, so please bear with me.
Damn, but I did something stupid and downloaded something I shouldnt have (no, not porn. get your mind out of the gutter :-)). When I downloaded this virus, the cmd screen came up and showed the following: crack.exe, serial.exe, number.exe, keygen.exe AND readme.bat
I panicked, deleted those things, but it hasnt fixed my problem. It seems to have hijacked my internet explorer browser. When I clicked on the IE icon, it brought up the IE browser for all of a second or two before closing. (So, I used Firefox to browse the web, which is working, thankfully) Oh, the IE browser did appear, that is when one of those pop up advertisements comes up. Which I had NO control over. It came up whenever it felt like it, then it stays open untill I close it. BUT I could not use it to browse the web as there are no buttons, tool bar, address box, etc.
And it seemed to prevent me from running/installing spyware. Oh, I was able to download the applications of some spyware programs, but then when I tried to open the application and run them, the damn virus wont let it! I have run a scan with some freeware spy scanning programs and much to my shock they revealed over 250 problems. worse of which are named "spyware.igmonster", zlob, (also spelled out by one scanning program as zlop (with a "p"), trojan.infostealer.bankers
Some spyware programs seemed to be able to download, but when I ran them, they seem to have failed in getting rid of the viruses. (I am using freeware as I do not have any money to buy a good anti virus program) Some seem to do more harm than good as one such program seems to have made me delete some important windows files (a couple of ".exe" files. The spyware program warned me about deleting such a file because it was in my WINDOWS folder, but I chose to delete them anyways as the spyware told me that they were infected) because when I tried to shut down my computer, it gave me a blue screen and an error message (coooo21a). So I had to manually turn it off, but even sometimes that didnt work, so I have to unplug it.
That isnt the end of it.
It was bad enough getting that error message when I tried to shut down my computer, but after another attempted fix of the viruses, it got worse. Now I get that blue screen with the error message when I turn on my computer and try to boot up! I would get a blue screen with the folllowing message;
STOP: c00021a (Fatal System Error) The Windows Logon Process System process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0x00000000 (0x00000000 0x00000000) The system has been shut down
And the computer wouldnt do anything. It would just sit there with that message staring at me. I would try to shut down the computer by pressing the power button on the tower, but even that wouldnt work! I would have to unplug the computer to get it to shut off!
NOW I'm getting it when I'm trying to start up my computer! I've tried to get around that by starting it in safe mode, but then I just get the above 'fatal error" all over again.
How can I fix this? Can I fix this myself (I'm not computer literate) or do I need the services of a professional (how much do they usuallly charge?)
Why does the video change?
Can you boot from a cd or floppy and see your hard drive?
His motherboard isn’t fried, stop saying that. But he will have to reprogram his computer. Sounds like whatever he got messed up his OS bigtime.
I’ve tried rebooting from a CD (using my brothers windows xp service pack 2 reinstallation disc), but that doesnt seem to work.
I would start by installing a Windows XP CD, turn on the computer, then press F12 to get the alternate boot screen. Choose to boot from the CD. Once loaded up, you run a “R” for Repair Windows. Don't select to reformat the drive, as your data will be fine with a new copy of Windows. It will install Windows, then it will need your serial number off the back of the computer. Let it continue to install. Keep the system off the internet this whole time.
Once Windows is re-installed, if SP 2 or greater was on the CD, then feel free to connect to the internet. If not, then you'll need to go into Network Connections, find your adapter, and turn on the firewall option there (there is one, but it doesn't turn itself on in the earlier versions) Follow this:
http://www.uic.edu/depts/accc/lan/res-net/xpfirewall.html
Once that is on, then do two things. Go to Avira.com and download their free anti-virus program, install it, and go into the Advanced portion to set it to find all the types of programs possible, and also choose Advanced Heuristics. Update the antivirus manually, then disconnect from the internet. Scan your computer with the highest settings.
Avira is totally free and has top marks from independent tests (http://av-comparatives.org/). When done, go to Google and type in “Google Pack”. You want the free version of Spyware Doctor. This thing gets a ton of spyware, but it is a resource hog. Let it install and update it manually, then run it on your computer. Once it is done and you remove whatever it finds, uninstall the thing (or better, disable it for boot-up so it doesn't automatically load up, and use it once a week to re-clean your system).
You will be back to being fine, with most of your programs still working (without reinstalls needed), and all of your data will be there.
I'm not sure why others haven't mentioned this approach. It will sure save a lot of program and data loss.
Almost everyone has a different opinion on how to fix this problem, and advising all different sorts of software. :-) When it comes to fixing a problem like this, I'm a bit timid. This computer cost alot of money, and I'm afraid to tinker with it in order to fix it because my fear is that being computer illiterate, I MIGHT make the problem worse or cause myself another problem on this expensive machine. But I have to because I really would like to avoid paying a professional to do it all for me, as I cant spare the money.
Once you decide whose advice to follow, and you resolve this problem, be sure to follow this extremely wise advice:
Install a second hard drive in your computer, and store all of the data files on the 2nd drive. IOW, the files containing all of your Email messages, the files with your Word documents, the files with your Quicken financial data.
Your boot (system) drive will have the operating systems and all of your applications, and the 2nd drive will contain all of your data files. (I then back up all my data files to a folder on my boot drive. That way the back up is on a different hard drive than the original data files.)
Then, when WindowsXP goes ga-ga again, it will be an easy decision to simply reformat the system drive and reinstall everything. You’ll still lose a day or three reinstalling and configuring everything, but you won’t lose your data files.
I also have a couple of Macs and what I do with those computers is to use an OS X application named SuperDuper to create a clone of my boot drive volume, and I keep it updated weekly. If the boot drive ever goes paws up, my clone is ready to take its place in seconds.
I was kidding around...half lit.
How to get down off a duck ( why Linux is inherently more secure than Windows.)
Whew ;-)
A professional would give you piece of mind. But it would be best to assume that things are going to change.
I would seriously consider a dual boot with Linux. Linux is good for 99% of what people do on their computer and it is impervious to viruses.
Multiple ways you can do that....
Have you tried to boot an OS off of the CD....
A possibility would be to download Puppy Linux on your brothers computer and burn an ISO( bootable ) copy of the download...assuming he knows how to do that.
It is a small download..... under 100Meg
a small, fast operating system running from CDs, USB sticks and hard disks
Distrowatch page :
Distribution Release: Puppy Linux 4.1
**********************************
That may depend on you having a functioning windows system on the computer's hard drive...and you don't seem to have that...so the fact that it failed doesn't tell us much.
Give me some links to goofball sites...
And if your computer is four years old or so, and there is nothing you really need from the hard drive, the fellow who suggested buying a replacement wasn't off-track either.
Go to a local shop for service, get an estimate, then ask if he has any used computers available. There might be one for less than $100.
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