Hi,
I wonder if someone could help me.
Amongst other things, I have Win XP and McAfee AntiVirus software on my desktop PC.
A while ago, I downloaded something which came in a UIF format. Of course, this needs to be “un-UIF-ed” and I found a program which could do this. As soon as I ran this program – lets call it “prog-X ” as I honestly can’t remember it’s actual name.
As soon as I ran prog-X, McAfee popped up and found a virus. At an alarmimg rate, the virus seemed to be working its way through my HDD, coming to an EXE file, and latching onto it. McAfee notices this and says “Arh, virus – Quarantine”. I thought “its clearing out my EXE files”. I didn’t know what to do except switch off the machine. (I had tried SHUTDOWN 1st, but that didn’t seem to stop the infestation.)
I rebooted my machine, and I got a blank screen. Next I rebooted in safe mode – I got the “Safe mode” messages in the corners, but otherwise, just a black screen.
I have had to go away since and so left the machine alone – I had pondered what to do about it. On my return, I had my laptop to use and the desktop issue went to the back of my mind. Then what happens? The laptop suffers the same scenario. I could not believe my luck.
I hadn’t completely ignored the virus on my desktop, and so had researched into it – I think I have a W32 trojan, or something from that family. A number of forums seem to point in the direction of a reformat & re-install of WinXP. So, as I had never opened up my laptop, it seemed easier to attack my desktop 1st. I bought a new HDD with a view to using the old HDD as a slave.
I installed WinXP and McAfee AntiVirus on my new HDD successfully. Then attached the slave drive and made a scan of both HDDs. The software found 360 files infected. Most of these were cleaned, some deleted. I turned off System restore before I did this.
Last night, I tried to install “Spybot – Search & Destroy”, but there were installation problems so I think the virus is still around, somehow locking my registry and not letting the software install.
In my attempt to install Spybot, whilst working through the installation process, I ticked on “search for updates”. However, although my internet was working, the updates would not happen.
Therefore I went back, unticked “Search for updates” and continued installing. Again, it couldn’t get to completion as there was an error installing. The message said something like “Error : installing, -b 205” if I remember correctly.
I searched on the net and some people recommend “CureIt!” from the Dr.Web antivirus website. I ran this, but no problems were detected.
After a reboot, Spybot still doens’t install. Nor does SpySweeper, RegistryFix nor BugDoctor.
To me there is definitely something preventing me from (a) going to websites to update antispy software and (b) to complete installation of any spyware program.
Does anyone have any ideas on what I should do next here?
And what about my laptop (which also used WinXP and McAfee Antivirus)? I know which program caused the virus to strike and so renamed it (got into my PC by booting up from a UBUNTU disc). My laptop boots up fine, but some of the exe shortcuts dont work. I’m told the cables used to connect a laptop motherboard to a laptop HDD are different to those on a desktop – so, I can’t go down the “buy a new HDD, attach the old HDD as a slave and copy data back” route.
Many thanks for your help in anticipation.
