Spyware and Slow Internet
My friend recently got bombarded with a whole lot of spyware and viruses and she managed to clean them all using a program her dad gave her.
But her computer's internet is really slow compared to other computers in the house.
The other computers connect at normal speed.
Her computer also freezes up and sometimes refuses to open up programs or files.
How can I assist her with this problem?
Download Hijackthis. Restart into Safe Mode, run the program, save a log, and post the log here. While we're perusing the log, download Spybot & Ad-Aware. Install and update both in normal Windows mode. Restart into Safe Mode. Run Both programs (choose full scan in Ad-Aware).
Once you've posted that log, we'll have a much better understanding of what's starting up on that machine.
There's a whole lot more to it than that, but without someone actually being there, you'll never get rid of everything 100%. I also recommend investing in a decent anti-virus program. Kaspersky, Nod32 and BitDefender are rated as the top 3, so any of those should do the trick. If you've got something like Norton (especially Internet Security) then the first thing you should do is remove it. That alone will slow down your machine more than an army of spyware.
Really, I know this sounds drastic, but the best way to help a PC recover from a major onslaught of spyware is to REFORMAT and REINSTALL. Flushing everything out (and without losing important system files) is almost impossible.
Thank you very much! I will show her this message and ask her what she wants to do from there. I think I am going to convince her to get rid of Norton AND I am going to try convince her to reformat as well because she lives far from me and I can't go to her and help her at this moment in time.Originally Posted by GeometriX
I agree with you on this one, because a similar thing happened to me and I couldn't take it anymore so I just reformatted :)
Thank you!
YES! Norton is the devil! Burn her CD-key.
As for the format and reinstall idea-I prefer it to actually trying to fix something that will never be 100%.
There's just waaaaaay to much in the registry that gets messed around with to ever be 100%.
I need to reinstall, but lost my winxp cd, still got cd-key, just no cd. :-(
I reformat all the time, about once a month actually. Just be careful, Bitdefender can slow down the PC too. it's currently doing that to my PC at work, but it's worth it ;)
Just use a copy of an XP CD. It works just as well and it really doesn't matter so long as your CD-key is genuine. When I was working we always used a copy of an XP CD so the original didn't get damaged.
frozenfireside:
Yeah thats all fine and well, but dont have a copy, recently moved to pta, and dont know ne1 with a winxp cd copy lying around. :-( Anyone want to post me one. ^^
First time ever i hear someone reformat a pc. :P
I think I am going to have to start reformatting more frequently :)
I agree :)
LOL!
*reformat a HARD DRIVE.
Its actually just called format.
Saying "reformat" will mean you are doing it a second time in succession.
So I think thats what he meant...Im sure he knows what format means.
Thanks for clearing that up Crash ;)
My life is now complete.
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