How to safely clean up a sick Win98 machine?

Well, I looked around and did not see any free fully functional partition
imaging products. So I went ahead and installed AVG. It found 2 different
boot sector viruses, but I could not clean them because I don't have an AVG
recovery disk. :-( What should I do about that? I chose "continue at my
own risk", which allowed it to continue booting up. It is running full scan
now, and so far has found 12 viruses. Its scaring me, I wish there were some
way to back it up before removing the viruses. It doesn't have a CD-RW, only
a diskette drive.
Should I cancel the scan?

"SherryB" wrote:

Hi Gary,

A couple questions before I attack this beast today:

1. How do I image the partition? Is there anything built in to Win98 to do
that, or any free tools to do it? I don't have Ghost, but I know it can do
that.

2. What happens to the trojan that Stinger supposedly removed and the first
few spyware/adware that SpyBot supposedly removed before the crash? Are
parts of them still there since the registry has been restored?

And a couple answers to your questions:

Yes, I only ran Spybot's normal scan and removed the items it suggested. No
Immunize, no Tea Timer. (That's why I was shocked when it did what it did.)
Although I use Immunize on my own 2 computers and have never had any trouble
with it.

By "another virus scanner", I meant besides Stinger.exe. This computer used
to have an old old McAfee with old old DAT files. A virus (I think) disabled
it, and a friend who knows less about computers than I do told him to just
delete some of its files. I think they finally got it uninstalled, because I
don't see it in Add/Remove Programs. Anyway, I suspected viruses might be
its worst problem that's why I started out with Stinger. I think I'll
install AVG on it and see what it finds too (plus show him how to get new DAT
files!!!)

Thank you so much for your help! :-)

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

"SherryB" wrote in message
...
I'm the one with the "SpyBot killed my computer" thread going on.
Assuming I
get things back to normal again (big assumption right now =:-O), then
what?

OK, now that we know you got it back on its feet, it's time for the "now
what?"

This computer has not had virus protection for about 6 months on
cablemodem,
and although it has SpyBotS&D and AdAware's latest versions installed
on it,
they appear to never have been ran. How can I back up the system
state in 98
so that I can avoid such a huge crash when removal tools don't work?

By imaging the partition. There is no "System Restore" in Windows 98.
Scanreg saves a few critical configuration files (Registry, System.ini,
Win.ini and maybe MSDOS.SYS) but that is scant protection.

Should
I run SpyBot again on it? Or switch to AdAware?

Spybot *should* be OK if all you run is a normal scan, not Immunize or
Tea TImer, etc. But another person just posted who had the *exact* same
problem you did after running Spybot, so I have to wonder. Did you
*only* run the scanner and remove the items it suggested?

AdAware is much safer than Spybot. Yes, I would run it.

Should I run another
antivirus scanner on it first? I also have AVG free edition, should I
install that on there first and scan? Do you guys know of a better
way?

You previously said that it had no AV installed. True? If so, then you
have to install *something*. AdAware and Spybot are *not* antivirus
applications.

I've never had so much trouble cleaning a machine, but I guess I've
never
seen one so badly infected. :-(

See my articles:

"Clean Boot--What it is and why you need it."
http://grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm

"Security!"
http://grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

No, don't cancel the scan. If removing the virus trashes the system,
then it's trash already. Best thing to do if that happens is swap out
that hard drive, put in a new drive, use a floppy-based AV on the new
drive before installing a completely new system, protect that system to
the hilt, then put back in the old drive to copy off personal files. Run
AV scan on the old drive after putting it back in as slave, first, of
course.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"SherryB" wrote in message
...
Well, I looked around and did not see any free fully functional
partition
imaging products. So I went ahead and installed AVG. It found 2
different
boot sector viruses, but I could not clean them because I don't have
an AVG
recovery disk. :-( What should I do about that? I chose "continue
at my
own risk", which allowed it to continue booting up. It is running
full scan
now, and so far has found 12 viruses. Its scaring me, I wish there
were some
way to back it up before removing the viruses. It doesn't have a
CD-RW, only
a diskette drive.
Should I cancel the scan?

"SherryB" wrote:

Hi Gary,

A couple questions before I attack this beast today:

1. How do I image the partition? Is there anything built in to
Win98 to do
that, or any free tools to do it? I don't have Ghost, but I know it
can do
that.

2. What happens to the trojan that Stinger supposedly removed and
the first
few spyware/adware that SpyBot supposedly removed before the crash?
Are
parts of them still there since the registry has been restored?

And a couple answers to your questions:

Yes, I only ran Spybot's normal scan and removed the items it
suggested. No
Immunize, no Tea Timer. (That's why I was shocked when it did what
it did.)
Although I use Immunize on my own 2 computers and have never had any
trouble
with it.

By "another virus scanner", I meant besides Stinger.exe. This
computer used
to have an old old McAfee with old old DAT files. A virus (I think)
disabled
it, and a friend who knows less about computers than I do told him
to just
delete some of its files. I think they finally got it uninstalled,
because I
don't see it in Add/Remove Programs. Anyway, I suspected viruses
might be
its worst problem that's why I started out with Stinger. I think
I'll
install AVG on it and see what it finds too (plus show him how to
get new DAT
files!!!)

Thank you so much for your help! :-)

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

"SherryB" wrote in message
...
I'm the one with the "SpyBot killed my computer" thread going
on.
Assuming I
get things back to normal again (big assumption right now =:-O),
then
what?

OK, now that we know you got it back on its feet, it's time for
the "now
what?"

This computer has not had virus protection for about 6 months on
cablemodem,
and although it has SpyBotS&D and AdAware's latest versions
installed
on it,
they appear to never have been ran. How can I back up the
system
state in 98
so that I can avoid such a huge crash when removal tools don't
work?

By imaging the partition. There is no "System Restore" in Windows
98.
Scanreg saves a few critical configuration files (Registry,
System.ini,
Win.ini and maybe MSDOS.SYS) but that is scant protection.

Should
I run SpyBot again on it? Or switch to AdAware?

Spybot *should* be OK if all you run is a normal scan, not
Immunize or
Tea TImer, etc. But another person just posted who had the *exact*
same
problem you did after running Spybot, so I have to wonder. Did you
*only* run the scanner and remove the items it suggested?

AdAware is much safer than Spybot. Yes, I would run it.

Should I run another
antivirus scanner on it first? I also have AVG free edition,
should I
install that on there first and scan? Do you guys know of a
better
way?

You previously said that it had no AV installed. True? If so, then
you
have to install *something*. AdAware and Spybot are *not*
antivirus
applications.

I've never had so much trouble cleaning a machine, but I guess
I've
never
seen one so badly infected. :-(

See my articles:

"Clean Boot--What it is and why you need it."
http://grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm

"Security!"
http://grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

Thanks, it made it and is still booting up ok. I'm going to connect it to
the internet now and get AVG updates and run it again. (It wasn't obvious
how to manually update AVG's DAT files and those were from 6/2004.)

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

No, don't cancel the scan. If removing the virus trashes the system,
then it's trash already. Best thing to do if that happens is swap out
that hard drive, put in a new drive, use a floppy-based AV on the new
drive before installing a completely new system, protect that system to
the hilt, then put back in the old drive to copy off personal files. Run
AV scan on the old drive after putting it back in as slave, first, of
course.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"SherryB" wrote in message
...
Well, I looked around and did not see any free fully functional
partition
imaging products. So I went ahead and installed AVG. It found 2
different
boot sector viruses, but I could not clean them because I don't have
an AVG
recovery disk. :-( What should I do about that? I chose "continue
at my
own risk", which allowed it to continue booting up. It is running
full scan
now, and so far has found 12 viruses. Its scaring me, I wish there
were some
way to back it up before removing the viruses. It doesn't have a
CD-RW, only
a diskette drive.
Should I cancel the scan?

"SherryB" wrote:

Hi Gary,

A couple questions before I attack this beast today:

1. How do I image the partition? Is there anything built in to
Win98 to do
that, or any free tools to do it? I don't have Ghost, but I know it
can do
that.

2. What happens to the trojan that Stinger supposedly removed and
the first
few spyware/adware that SpyBot supposedly removed before the crash?
Are
parts of them still there since the registry has been restored?

And a couple answers to your questions:

Yes, I only ran Spybot's normal scan and removed the items it
suggested. No
Immunize, no Tea Timer. (That's why I was shocked when it did what
it did.)
Although I use Immunize on my own 2 computers and have never had any
trouble
with it.

By "another virus scanner", I meant besides Stinger.exe. This
computer used
to have an old old McAfee with old old DAT files. A virus (I think)
disabled
it, and a friend who knows less about computers than I do told him
to just
delete some of its files. I think they finally got it uninstalled,
because I
don't see it in Add/Remove Programs. Anyway, I suspected viruses
might be
its worst problem that's why I started out with Stinger. I think
I'll
install AVG on it and see what it finds too (plus show him how to
get new DAT
files!!!)

Thank you so much for your help! :-)

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

"SherryB" wrote in message
...
I'm the one with the "SpyBot killed my computer" thread going
on.
Assuming I
get things back to normal again (big assumption right now =:-O),
then
what?

OK, now that we know you got it back on its feet, it's time for
the "now
what?"

This computer has not had virus protection for about 6 months on
cablemodem,
and although it has SpyBotS&D and AdAware's latest versions
installed
on it,
they appear to never have been ran. How can I back up the
system
state in 98
so that I can avoid such a huge crash when removal tools don't
work?

By imaging the partition. There is no "System Restore" in Windows
98.
Scanreg saves a few critical configuration files (Registry,
System.ini,
Win.ini and maybe MSDOS.SYS) but that is scant protection.

Should
I run SpyBot again on it? Or switch to AdAware?

Spybot *should* be OK if all you run is a normal scan, not
Immunize or
Tea TImer, etc. But another person just posted who had the *exact*
same
problem you did after running Spybot, so I have to wonder. Did you
*only* run the scanner and remove the items it suggested?

AdAware is much safer than Spybot. Yes, I would run it.

Should I run another
antivirus scanner on it first? I also have AVG free edition,
should I
install that on there first and scan? Do you guys know of a
better
way?

You previously said that it had no AV installed. True? If so, then
you
have to install *something*. AdAware and Spybot are *not*
antivirus
applications.

I've never had so much trouble cleaning a machine, but I guess
I've
never
seen one so badly infected. :-(

See my articles:

"Clean Boot--What it is and why you need it."
http://grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm

"Security!"
http://grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

Hi guys,
I just wanted to let you know that viruses may have been the cause of my
troubles. Once I got the latest version of AVG installed and the latest
updates, it found 38 viruses and cleaned everything except
Downloader.Agent.AS. It kept having problems with that one, so I ran AdAware
in Safe Mode as suggested on C/Net's BBS to someone else who couldn't get rid
of it. That took care of it, its gone now. And the computer is running 110%
better. Now the only thing wrong is that SpyBot gives me an error message
every time during its scan, complaining in German that win.ini is in use?? I
just closed it without trying to clean anything, it only found about 5
things. Nothing compared to the 811 that AdAware fixed. Whew, whatta trip!
Should I uninstall SpyBot and then reinstall it? Or just leave it be?
Thanks for all your help! :-)


"SherryB" wrote:

Thanks, it made it and is still booting up ok. I'm going to connect it to
the internet now and get AVG updates and run it again. (It wasn't obvious
how to manually update AVG's DAT files and those were from 6/2004.)

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

No, don't cancel the scan. If removing the virus trashes the system,
then it's trash already. Best thing to do if that happens is swap out
that hard drive, put in a new drive, use a floppy-based AV on the new
drive before installing a completely new system, protect that system to
the hilt, then put back in the old drive to copy off personal files. Run
AV scan on the old drive after putting it back in as slave, first, of
course.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"SherryB" wrote in message
...
Well, I looked around and did not see any free fully functional
partition
imaging products. So I went ahead and installed AVG. It found 2
different
boot sector viruses, but I could not clean them because I don't have
an AVG
recovery disk. :-( What should I do about that? I chose "continue
at my
own risk", which allowed it to continue booting up. It is running
full scan
now, and so far has found 12 viruses. Its scaring me, I wish there
were some
way to back it up before removing the viruses. It doesn't have a
CD-RW, only
a diskette drive.
Should I cancel the scan?

"SherryB" wrote:

Hi Gary,

A couple questions before I attack this beast today:

1. How do I image the partition? Is there anything built in to
Win98 to do
that, or any free tools to do it? I don't have Ghost, but I know it
can do
that.

2. What happens to the trojan that Stinger supposedly removed and
the first
few spyware/adware that SpyBot supposedly removed before the crash?
Are
parts of them still there since the registry has been restored?

And a couple answers to your questions:

Yes, I only ran Spybot's normal scan and removed the items it
suggested. No
Immunize, no Tea Timer. (That's why I was shocked when it did what
it did.)
Although I use Immunize on my own 2 computers and have never had any
trouble
with it.

By "another virus scanner", I meant besides Stinger.exe. This
computer used
to have an old old McAfee with old old DAT files. A virus (I think)
disabled
it, and a friend who knows less about computers than I do told him
to just
delete some of its files. I think they finally got it uninstalled,
because I
don't see it in Add/Remove Programs. Anyway, I suspected viruses
might be
its worst problem that's why I started out with Stinger. I think
I'll
install AVG on it and see what it finds too (plus show him how to
get new DAT
files!!!)

Thank you so much for your help! :-)

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

"SherryB" wrote in message
...
I'm the one with the "SpyBot killed my computer" thread going
on.
Assuming I
get things back to normal again (big assumption right now =:-O),
then
what?

OK, now that we know you got it back on its feet, it's time for
the "now
what?"

This computer has not had virus protection for about 6 months on
cablemodem,
and although it has SpyBotS&D and AdAware's latest versions
installed
on it,
they appear to never have been ran. How can I back up the
system
state in 98
so that I can avoid such a huge crash when removal tools don't
work?

By imaging the partition. There is no "System Restore" in Windows
98.
Scanreg saves a few critical configuration files (Registry,
System.ini,
Win.ini and maybe MSDOS.SYS) but that is scant protection.

Should
I run SpyBot again on it? Or switch to AdAware?

Spybot *should* be OK if all you run is a normal scan, not
Immunize or
Tea TImer, etc. But another person just posted who had the *exact*
same
problem you did after running Spybot, so I have to wonder. Did you
*only* run the scanner and remove the items it suggested?

AdAware is much safer than Spybot. Yes, I would run it.

Should I run another
antivirus scanner on it first? I also have AVG free edition,
should I
install that on there first and scan? Do you guys know of a
better
way?

You previously said that it had no AV installed. True? If so, then
you
have to install *something*. AdAware and Spybot are *not*
antivirus
applications.

I've never had so much trouble cleaning a machine, but I guess
I've
never
seen one so badly infected. :-(

See my articles:

"Clean Boot--What it is and why you need it."
http://grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm

"Security!"
http://grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

Download a new copy of Spybot, uninstall the one that's there, then
install the new version.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"SherryB" wrote in message
...
Hi guys,
I just wanted to let you know that viruses may have been the cause of
my
troubles. Once I got the latest version of AVG installed and the
latest
updates, it found 38 viruses and cleaned everything except
Downloader.Agent.AS. It kept having problems with that one, so I ran
AdAware
in Safe Mode as suggested on C/Net's BBS to someone else who couldn't
get rid
of it. That took care of it, its gone now. And the computer is
running 110%
better. Now the only thing wrong is that SpyBot gives me an error
message
every time during its scan, complaining in German that win.ini is in
use?? I
just closed it without trying to clean anything, it only found about 5
things. Nothing compared to the 811 that AdAware fixed. Whew, whatta
trip!
Should I uninstall SpyBot and then reinstall it? Or just leave it be?
Thanks for all your help! :-)


"SherryB" wrote:

Thanks, it made it and is still booting up ok. I'm going to connect
it to
the internet now and get AVG updates and run it again. (It wasn't
obvious
how to manually update AVG's DAT files and those were from 6/2004.)

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

No, don't cancel the scan. If removing the virus trashes the
system,
then it's trash already. Best thing to do if that happens is swap
out
that hard drive, put in a new drive, use a floppy-based AV on the
new
drive before installing a completely new system, protect that
system to
the hilt, then put back in the old drive to copy off personal
files. Run
AV scan on the old drive after putting it back in as slave, first,
of
course.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"SherryB" wrote in message
...
Well, I looked around and did not see any free fully functional
partition
imaging products. So I went ahead and installed AVG. It found
2
different
boot sector viruses, but I could not clean them because I don't
have
an AVG
recovery disk. :-( What should I do about that? I chose
"continue
at my
own risk", which allowed it to continue booting up. It is
running
full scan
now, and so far has found 12 viruses. Its scaring me, I wish
there
were some
way to back it up before removing the viruses. It doesn't have
a
CD-RW, only
a diskette drive.
Should I cancel the scan?

"SherryB" wrote:

Hi Gary,

A couple questions before I attack this beast today:

1. How do I image the partition? Is there anything built in
to
Win98 to do
that, or any free tools to do it? I don't have Ghost, but I
know it
can do
that.

2. What happens to the trojan that Stinger supposedly removed
and
the first
few spyware/adware that SpyBot supposedly removed before the
crash?
Are
parts of them still there since the registry has been
restored?

And a couple answers to your questions:

Yes, I only ran Spybot's normal scan and removed the items it
suggested. No
Immunize, no Tea Timer. (That's why I was shocked when it did
what
it did.)
Although I use Immunize on my own 2 computers and have never
had any
trouble
with it.

By "another virus scanner", I meant besides Stinger.exe. This
computer used
to have an old old McAfee with old old DAT files. A virus (I
think)
disabled
it, and a friend who knows less about computers than I do told
him
to just
delete some of its files. I think they finally got it
uninstalled,
because I
don't see it in Add/Remove Programs. Anyway, I suspected
viruses
might be
its worst problem that's why I started out with Stinger. I
think
I'll
install AVG on it and see what it finds too (plus show him how
to
get new DAT
files!!!)

Thank you so much for your help! :-)

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

"SherryB" wrote in
message
...
I'm the one with the "SpyBot killed my computer" thread
going
on.
Assuming I
get things back to normal again (big assumption right now
=:-O),
then
what?

OK, now that we know you got it back on its feet, it's time
for
the "now
what?"

This computer has not had virus protection for about 6
months on
cablemodem,
and although it has SpyBotS&D and AdAware's latest
versions
installed
on it,
they appear to never have been ran. How can I back up the
system
state in 98
so that I can avoid such a huge crash when removal tools
don't
work?

By imaging the partition. There is no "System Restore" in
Windows
98.
Scanreg saves a few critical configuration files (Registry,
System.ini,
Win.ini and maybe MSDOS.SYS) but that is scant protection.

Should
I run SpyBot again on it? Or switch to AdAware?

Spybot *should* be OK if all you run is a normal scan, not
Immunize or
Tea TImer, etc. But another person just posted who had the
*exact*
same
problem you did after running Spybot, so I have to wonder.
Did you
*only* run the scanner and remove the items it suggested?

AdAware is much safer than Spybot. Yes, I would run it.

Should I run another
antivirus scanner on it first? I also have AVG free
edition,
should I
install that on there first and scan? Do you guys know of
a
better
way?

You previously said that it had no AV installed. True? If
so, then
you
have to install *something*. AdAware and Spybot are *not*
antivirus
applications.

I've never had so much trouble cleaning a machine, but I
guess
I've
never
seen one so badly infected. :-(

See my articles:

"Clean Boot--What it is and why you need it."
http://grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm

"Security!"
http://grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

Sherry, the majorgeeks website currently is mostly safe for downloads. You
can type spybot -- search and destroy download in majorgeeks in Google (you
may need to find the correct terminology) and find the site that way and go
automatically to the site.

"SherryB" wrote in message
...
: Hi guys,
: I just wanted to let you know that viruses may have been the cause of my
: troubles. Once I got the latest version of AVG installed and the latest
: updates, it found 38 viruses and cleaned everything except
: Downloader.Agent.AS. It kept having problems with that one, so I ran
AdAware
: in Safe Mode as suggested on C/Net's BBS to someone else who couldn't get
rid
: of it. That took care of it, its gone now. And the computer is running
110%
: better. Now the only thing wrong is that SpyBot gives me an error message
: every time during its scan, complaining in German that win.ini is in use??
I
: just closed it without trying to clean anything, it only found about 5
: things. Nothing compared to the 811 that AdAware fixed. Whew, whatta
trip!
: Should I uninstall SpyBot and then reinstall it? Or just leave it be?
: Thanks for all your help! :-)
:
:
: "SherryB" wrote:
:
: Thanks, it made it and is still booting up ok. I'm going to connect it
to
: the internet now and get AVG updates and run it again. (It wasn't
obvious
: how to manually update AVG's DAT files and those were from 6/2004.)
:
: "Gary S. Terhune" wrote:
:
: No, don't cancel the scan. If removing the virus trashes the system,
: then it's trash already. Best thing to do if that happens is swap out
: that hard drive, put in a new drive, use a floppy-based AV on the new
: drive before installing a completely new system, protect that system to
: the hilt, then put back in the old drive to copy off personal files.
Run
: AV scan on the old drive after putting it back in as slave, first, of
: course.
:
: --
: Gary S. Terhune
: MS MVP Shell/User
:
: "SherryB" wrote in message
: ...
: Well, I looked around and did not see any free fully functional
: partition
: imaging products. So I went ahead and installed AVG. It found 2
: different
: boot sector viruses, but I could not clean them because I don't have
: an AVG
: recovery disk. :-( What should I do about that? I chose "continue
: at my
: own risk", which allowed it to continue booting up. It is running
: full scan
: now, and so far has found 12 viruses. Its scaring me, I wish there
: were some
: way to back it up before removing the viruses. It doesn't have a
: CD-RW, only
: a diskette drive.
: Should I cancel the scan?
:
: "SherryB" wrote:
:
: Hi Gary,
:
: A couple questions before I attack this beast today:
:
: 1. How do I image the partition? Is there anything built in to
: Win98 to do
: that, or any free tools to do it? I don't have Ghost, but I know
it
: can do
: that.
:
: 2. What happens to the trojan that Stinger supposedly removed and
: the first
: few spyware/adware that SpyBot supposedly removed before the crash?
: Are
: parts of them still there since the registry has been restored?
:
: And a couple answers to your questions:
:
: Yes, I only ran Spybot's normal scan and removed the items it
: suggested. No
: Immunize, no Tea Timer. (That's why I was shocked when it did what
: it did.)
: Although I use Immunize on my own 2 computers and have never had
any
: trouble
: with it.
:
: By "another virus scanner", I meant besides Stinger.exe. This
: computer used
: to have an old old McAfee with old old DAT files. A virus (I
think)
: disabled
: it, and a friend who knows less about computers than I do told him
: to just
: delete some of its files. I think they finally got it uninstalled,
: because I
: don't see it in Add/Remove Programs. Anyway, I suspected viruses
: might be
: its worst problem that's why I started out with Stinger. I think
: I'll
: install AVG on it and see what it finds too (plus show him how to
: get new DAT
: files!!!)
:
: Thank you so much for your help! :-)
:
: "Gary S. Terhune" wrote:
:
: "SherryB" wrote in message
: ...
: I'm the one with the "SpyBot killed my computer" thread going
: on.
: Assuming I
: get things back to normal again (big assumption right now
=:-O),
: then
: what?
:
: OK, now that we know you got it back on its feet, it's time for
: the "now
: what?"
:
: This computer has not had virus protection for about 6 months
on
: cablemodem,
: and although it has SpyBotS&D and AdAware's latest versions
: installed
: on it,
: they appear to never have been ran. How can I back up the
: system
: state in 98
: so that I can avoid such a huge crash when removal tools don't
: work?
:
: By imaging the partition. There is no "System Restore" in Windows
: 98.
: Scanreg saves a few critical configuration files (Registry,
: System.ini,
: Win.ini and maybe MSDOS.SYS) but that is scant protection.
:
: Should
: I run SpyBot again on it? Or switch to AdAware?
:
: Spybot *should* be OK if all you run is a normal scan, not
: Immunize or
: Tea TImer, etc. But another person just posted who had the
*exact*
: same
: problem you did after running Spybot, so I have to wonder. Did
you
: *only* run the scanner and remove the items it suggested?
:
: AdAware is much safer than Spybot. Yes, I would run it.
:
: Should I run another
: antivirus scanner on it first? I also have AVG free edition,
: should I
: install that on there first and scan? Do you guys know of a
: better
: way?
:
: You previously said that it had no AV installed. True? If so,
then
: you
: have to install *something*. AdAware and Spybot are *not*
: antivirus
: applications.
:
: I've never had so much trouble cleaning a machine, but I guess
: I've
: never
: seen one so badly infected. :-(
:
: See my articles:
:
: "Clean Boot--What it is and why you need it."
: http://grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
:
: "Security!"
: http://grystmill.com/articles/security.htm
:
: --
: Gary S. Terhune
: MS MVP Shell/User
:
:
:
:
: