they hacked my ebay account help :(

[Nickyboy]

Originally posted by Bolter
The above poster knows nothing.

You presume too much.

Free, Almighty Ad-aware picks up signs from non associated programs as often files become imbedded in them. If you pick and choose how can you be sure your getting rid of all the corrupt files.

Ever had a trojen worm active on your pc and tried to run a Anti-virus, it simply can't cope, doesn't know whats what and doesn't clean up successfully.

Your solution is for porn browsers, which i suspect you do a lot of.

 

[EyeFellOva]

Actually () certain Trojan Horses contain code to stop a large quantity of AVs from running. It sits as a TSR that is run in your registry every time you boot, and kills the process before it gets chance to start.

The only TRUE way to disinfect your PC of viruses is to boot from a DOS disk, the downside of this is that most DOS disks don't recognise NTFS partitions, which you use mostly for Windows XP installs.

My advice is this:

Run "regedit" and back up!!!!!!!!!!

Go to: HKey_Local_Machine>Software>Microsoft>Windows>Current Version>Run

There should be a load of entries in there. These are the applications that run on startup, usually more important programs like driver applications etc.

Check through the files listed. If there is a name you are not sure of check the file's location. If it's in C:\Windows or C:\Windows32\System32 then beware. Any real system entries don't have "C:\windows\etc." in them. This is due to the system folders being part of your PATH entry, and they are located automatically.

If you have any suspect files in there, get an antivirus! if it won't open then you are infected and you'll have to take steps to disinfect.

This is the same for that cr*p you usually download when browsing (or letting your missis/kids use the PC!) like toolbars/search bars etc. These entries can usually be deleted without causing any problems.

That's about it! Keep your AV updated, don't download cr*p, use a decent firewall, and in the words of the good book... Don't Panick!

 

[Dark Warrior]

Problem with computer - reformat and start again
Wrong answer
Formatting should only be used as a last resort
or if you are too lazy to look for the problem and cure it

 

[Nickyboy]

Why scrub your back with a toothbrush when you can have a shower?

If something can beat Norton, Symantec and all the other Anti Virus software with their endless Algorithms. How do you expect to beat it?

It's hardly the lazy approach, it takes a couple of hours done right, but it is the only way to really cleanse. EyeOfFella suggest the same but instead of going right from the beginning, which is what you would have to do if you didn't set up your pc properly in the first place, he suggests using a back up system and referring to the last working point.

Norton Ghost is a good program for referring to a working status. If you have files you don't want to lose to a virus and you suspect you have something on your PC, running Ad-aware or AV can cause a fatal crash/HD failure making your data only retrievable by someone with decent HD skills.

 

[Cro]

Symantec are the makers of Norton Plus just about every virus/trojan etc that is released onto the ether is designed to get round said av/fw as it is the most popular av/fw software in the world, ergo the scum bags get to infect more computers. Personally I'd never touch Norton, tried it once and found a wet Rizla paper was better at protecting my pc that Norton was.

 

[Dark Warrior]

Nickyboy,

Strange as it my seem to you but most people, simply fix the problem without any loss of data.

As you like analogies

Why buy a new engine when you only need a set of spark plugs

Protection software is not 100% perfect but the better the
protection on the machine the easier it is to fix the damage
from new threats.

 

[Flash-Bugout]

Originally posted by EyeFellOva
The only TRUE way to disinfect your PC of viruses is to boot from a DOS disk, the downside of this is that most DOS disks don't recognise NTFS partitions, which you use mostly for Windows XP installs.

Why not just boot from a live cd of your favourite flavour of linux. It recognises NTFS, and there are a hell of a lot more DOS virii than there are linux ones.

And a much better/easier/safer way of finding out what runs at startup (rather than messing with regedit) would be to go start -> run -> msconfig then click on the "startup" tab.

You can then turn off anything you don't recognise, and when windows refuses to start ever again, you can re-install anyways.

Still isn't this here board for paintball jibber jabber, rather than argue about who has the best method for recovering pc's?

Originally posted by Dark Warrior
Why buy a new engine when you only need a set of spark plugs

But there's obviously something that made the spark plugs go wrong, just bung a new engine in and you don't have to worry about finding out why the sparkplugs failed.

Engines & Computers make as good a comaprison as paintball and football. You spend no time and money replacing sparkplugs, but hours and ££s witha new engine.

You spend three weeks looking for the source of a problem with your operating system, or 2 hours re-installing (or ten minutes to restore a clean image with ghost)

 

[psyder]

Trojans/Back doors are very different kettle of fish!!

If he has got one i'd agree with Nickyboy reformat is the safest way to go.

Even doing this is not "totally safe" as they can hack back in if you have not patched up in time.

First thing I'd do is patch up (assuming you are on windows http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com) then get a software firewall (http://www.kerio.com is good and free) and antivirus (http://free.grisoft.com is good and free). Ideally you want to be "behind" a router as this is even safer.

tbh with out more info I don't think anyone on here can help much

 

[Dark Warrior]

In a ideal world, people would regularly backup files, but unless you do regular full backups. How do you gaurantee the integrity of the backup? If you format and rebuild you lose all your data.
Most people, I've dealt with need to save their data so cleaning the machine is more desirable option.

 

[Bolter]

Originally posted by Nickyboy
Your solution is for porn browsers, which i suspect you do a lot of.

Suspect away mate, still doesnt mean you gave the right answer. A reformat is a little on the drastic side of things.