First off, install Ad-Aware and SpyBot and do a full scan.
Dump your startup list of everything that is not REQUIRED (antivirus, sys apps only).

Reboot in safe mode and do another scan.

Oh, and be sure to use FireFox 1.0 so this does not happen again.

----------------------------------------
PitchBlack Server Admin
Server Forums

okay sorry for a possible stupid question(s)

1.wut u mean by 'dump my start list' (the area of computerness lys in java programming)

2. are the soft wares/browser you recomended free?

3. i know wut your talking about with safe mode but the only times i have used it is when microsoft (Curse and bless them) gave me the option at start up

___________________
check this! http://www.freewebs.com/worldofbobcrew/

He means ctrl alt del - brings up task list. Get rid of all non necessary ones.

Firefox is free, there is a thread discussing it all over the place - and its merits etc. It is 100% free, and if you do a search on the web, you can find out more info/download location. Its certainly more secure than IE...

Adaware and spybot are available from downloads.com etc. - oh, and they are free too Just don't run both at the same time.

Edited by - Chips on 11/16/2004 11:48:33 PM

Check what Virus Norton picked up. It may just be a case, as chips said of running spybot and adaware, but there may be something in your registry that you need to delete in safe mode. There is usually the full deletion process on the Symantec website.

the thing is is not a virus.. so i will look for the firefox thread and get some anti spyware things (if anyone knows were please tell)

can you post links to where the programs are

Adaware

Spybot

thanks gents

You know I did make a thread for things like this. Tooooold you guys it would do good but now we gotta get more threads about it popping up

You know I have mentioned these tools as well as the importance of prevention in *many* threads. I toooold you that no-one listens .

Sometimes just manually cleaning out your hard drive helps too. Getting rid of old game downloads, game files and mod files for stuff you don't use, old word documents, every little bit helps. Sometimes you just have to take the time to warp drive that old piece of crap.

WARNING: Prosecutors will be violated

Ive gotton viruses before, but they get killed within a few seconds.

AV stats for my computer:
Firewall: Mcafee Personal. Full port block, tight security, full logging and alerts
AV: Mcafee Virusscan. Realtime scanning with sheduled scanning
Anti-Spyware: Mcafee spyware scanner, Lavasoft Adware SE 1.5, SB S&D.
Plus script stoppers and worm blocking.

Damn thing takes about five minutes to boot up...

Here's some of the best advice I can give you; format your HDD and reinstall your OS (pref. XP). Clean up any superfluous files and then create an image. After doing this, install all of your important apps, drivers, and updates, but *do not* connect to the internet. When you have installed all of your drivers, etc delete all temporary files and then create another image. After this, install a game and play it. Once you have finished the game, simply re-image your HDD with the second image that you created, then repeat after you have finished your next game. Doing this guarantees that you will have a "clean" OS install, and that there are no extra files lying around, no useless registry entries, etc, etc. This system is also good because you can track down problems without having to try to figure out which one of the 900 superfluous files left by the last ten installed games may be causing problems with your retail version of Halo3 . This is the system I use and it works perfectly. It takes less than two minutes to re-image my HDD and it is worth it. Imagine trying to manually remove HL2 and Steam *shudder*. Of course I don't expect any of you to actually do any of this, because it sounds like too much work and requires planning and organisation .

Edited by - esquilax on 11/19/2004 3:44:52 AM

IT is official, Esq has WAY too much time on his hands
how can it take only 2 min to re-image your HDD? the quickest ghot ive ever done for a full-HDD image took about 10 minutes