Background;
For the past week or so I’v been plaqued by this virus that places three links on the desktop to some sort of adult site. From then on I cannot connect to MS sites or AV sites. Instead I’m redirected to someplace with an address a mile long that begins “clicker_cn”(replace the ‘_’ with a ‘.’). Frustrated, I preformed a clean install of WinXP. The instant I install the NIC driver and connect, I’m infected again. I tried to startup in safe mode and cleanup with various AV and anti-spyware programs. Of course since I could not access AV sites I had to rely on out-of-date copies I had on my external HD which contains my software and driver download stores that I’ve aquired over the years, all 250Gb of it. After taking a break and clearing my head it dawned on me that the ExtHD might be the problem, duh! Sure enough after removing it from the equation I now have a working clean install.
Delima;
All my software, documents, software keys, data backups, etc. are on the ExtHD!
Question or Confimation of next step:
How do I clean the ExtHD without contracting the virus again? My plan is to disconnect from the internet, connect the ExtHD and clean from Safe Mode with SpyBot S&D and Avast. I also thought of making the “hosts” file read only first. Will this work or just infect me again? I invite any an all suggestions, precautions, proceedures, etc. Anything that will prevent reinfestation!
With regards and respect,
Rodman
