Spyware and Virus problem

Former Member · April 2006

Ok, I know a bit about spyware and have my pcs generally well protected, but somewhere along the line someone has clicked something,

I have the following installed,

Spyware doctor
Adaware
AVG

I have tried running these and no matter how many times I run, fix, clean and delete these viruses and peices of spyware the bitch comes back,

I found the exe file in my process log, mssearchnet.exe and nvctrl.exe traced thes files (found two of each) one in my system32 folder and one in a folder called Prefetch in the windows folder which was filled with tons of shit so cleared them out, however the other is in system32 wont delete as it is in use,

any advice on how to get rid of this bitch of a peice, I mean the spyware protection I have would seem adiquate and there updated every day, scans run every day

Former Member · April 2006

start --> run --> msconfig ( no extention )

then disable them from starting when windows starts, then delete as required.

Former Member · April 2006

Or, start in safe mode by pressing F8 repeatedly while the PC is booting and choosing safe mode. Then you can delete most of the beggars.

ETA: I use spybot S+D and spywareblaster. Also peerguardian2 is very useful if you are into p2p.

Former Member · April 2006

Tried it, doesn't work as soon as you click del or sent to recycle bin or anything along those lines it either starts up or what I personlly think that is happening is that the file im trying to delete is only a "result" of the original infection so the original infection starts up with the pc and starts this program up,

on my msconfig i only have esential files loading up eg swdoc and avg and acg manager etc (as in I know every file loading on start up)

what I find ironic is this spyware is advertising spyware protection aswell as porn, dating and casino's

Former Member · April 2006

wooooooooah wrote:

Or, start in safe mode by pressing F8 repeatedly while the PC is booting and choosing safe mode. Then you can delete most of the beggars.

ETA: I use spybot S+D and spywareblaster. Also peerguardian2 is very useful if you are into p2p.

I normally use Spyware S+D but not got round to putting it on this system, I believe with the other two it would be fine n catch everything out, I thought the system would be fine with Spy doc and adaware and avg anti virus,

Safemode boot up is a last resort as I know there are more little buggers out there I cannot locate, I've only found two out of the lot, I think there is a few but if anti spy isnt picking it all up I don't know,

Former Member · April 2006

Sounds like you may have to reinstall to get rid of it, if it's being particularly stubborn.

There are some useful programs on sysinternals -

Autoruns will tell you all the bits of software that autostart - including some obscure ones that people don't normally or can't check.

Process Explorer will give you info on what's running - may be useful if the normal one has been hijacked.

Regmon lets you see registry activity

Also another useful thing is called "security task manager", which lists running processes and how likely they are to be spyware.

Former Member · April 2006

Looks like spy doctor and adaware wasn't as good as I thought. I downloaded my old and trusted spyware S+D and it picked up all the problems and erased them. So far, so good.
Thanks for all the help.

Former Member · April 2006

If you've confirmed that you have a virus, thens its time to format and reinstall windows. I think you'd be quite silly to keep using a computer that has been compromised, ever heard of root kits?

This time, back up all your data and then partition your hard drive.
One partition for windows, and one for your data.
That way, if you have to format again, you just have to wipe the windows partition and your data will stay on the other partition.

You could always spend £30 and buy a 40gig drive and install windows on that. then you can clean up the other drive by removing the windows directory, and using the whole drive as a data store.

Former Member · April 2006

best and easiest way to get rid of spyware and stuff is to reboot in safe mode (using msconfig, or mashing Fwhatever at startup) and running;

spybot, windows defender, adaware, ewido, and whatever virus scanner you have. reboot to safe mode again and check they're gone for good. It may also be a good idea to turn system restore off too.

Former Member · April 2006

wooooooooah wrote:

Also peerguardian2 is very useful if you are into p2p.

peerguardian i find is terrible it refuses lots of traffic, it refused lan traffic on my friends call of duty game and on farcry.

Former Member · April 2006

itsd sorted now and the system is clean, I am using a 40gig for my windows drive and a 70 gig for most files BUT i filled it up n using the 40gig to store some stuff,

safe moded it and sortedi t all out, pc is nice n squeeky clean

Former Member · April 2006

softworld wrote:

peerguardian i find is terrible it refuses lots of traffic, it refused lan traffic on my friends call of duty game and on farcry.

But you can add whatever IP addresses you want to allow...

Hellfire wrote:

itsd sorted now and the system is clean, I am using a 40gig for my windows drive and a 70 gig for most files BUT i filled it up n using the 40gig to store some stuff,

safe moded it and sortedi t all out, pc is nice n squeeky clean

Good to hear it :thumb:

Spyware and Virus problem

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