A friend of mine asked me to fix his PC (Windows XP). After taking a deep breath I said I would look at it.
I spent an hour updating his Norton Virus definitions, scanning his computer and deleting the affected or rogue files.
Its a lot better but Norton keeps popping up these messages. 99% of them refer to emails that can't be sent or are rejected by the ISP's server. Most of them appear to be spyware or adware.
I checked his mailboxes everywhere and can't find any email that is waiting to be sent etc. That is why I suspect it is spyware/adware.
Am I right. How come Norton Virus can't flag/quarantine/delete them?
Norton is up to date and Live Update is running. I checked all Norton's options and they seem to be set correctly.
What is my next plan of attack to fix this computer?
Thanks!
Mac OS X!
or BSD
or Linux!
Yes, I'm joking. On a more serious note, I know absolutely nothing about Windows. Except, maybe, that they need to be cleaned once in a while.
Perhaps a Spyware scanner would be a good next step?
Adaware and Spybot Search and Destroy are both good in my experience, although there are other ones out there.
but you won't like it. After encountering this too much, I just do the Format and reinstall (i think there is a backup in there) I myself, know windows in and out, but it would even take a 2nd PC and lots of time for me to do it. This is known as a trojan, I.e> a virus that wonm't go away. spyware scanners have no ability to get rid of them, as they migrate to another place and reinstall themselves. again, I can do them, but it takes several hours, and it's better to format and reinstall, than to mess with it. even I, a pc user (and mac, so don't roast me) backup aqnd reinstall every 2 months (but then again, I don't get many virus's [it's the clients fault that i get them] as I end up putting virus laden HDD's in my machine as i recover data.) But then again, I have windows 2k pro, so there really is no licsense re-issuing.
I think ,as a person that does not work on PC ( i am reffering to you). it's not worth it, unless you are getting paid Mega-$. That's where i get my income. It's almost all from PC Users
There's a great article here:
http://www.overclockers.com/tips1162/
Covers cleaning out msconfig, running spyware and malware locators and destroyers, etc.
I would recommed AVG 7 antivirus and lavasofts adaware. Both free programs. I had to keep a small network up and running and with all the users downloading games and other crap it kept me busy.
Using AVG and adaware I never found a virus or piece of spyware that could not be removed. AVG can be got from grisoft.com. get the AVG7 free download and adaware from lavasoft.com.