Viruses

[The_Monk]

Dad has picked up a few viruses off the net because he wanted to try and didnt have a firewall or antivirus. Well now he has over 200 viruses! Great eh! I've downloaded AVG and am slowly scanning everything, but some of the viruses seem to be system files! Everytime I repair it comes back. It warns me not to delete as its a system file so what can I do?

Thanks

PS I do have norton available but his laptop might die if I install that, its quite old!

[BMC123]

I doubt he has 200 of them, if so I'd simply reformat and start again as it would be a lot quicker than trying to sort that out

But, assuming you want to sort it, start off by doing what most people forget to do. turn OFF system restore in the control panel.

reboot into windows safe mode, and then run your anti-virus software.

try a free firewall such as Zonealarm. Dont forget a free anti-spyware program such as ad-aware or spybot search and destroy can also be useful.

[The_Monk]

Originally Posted by BMC123

I doubt he has 200 of them, if so I'd simply reformat and start again as it would be a lot quicker than trying to sort that out

But, assuming you want to sort it, start off by doing what most people forget to do. turn OFF system restore in the control panel.

reboot into windows safe mode, and then run your anti-virus software.

try a free firewall such as Zonealarm. Dont forget a free anti-spyware program such as ad-aware or spybot search and destroy can also be useful.

Darn! Was trying not to reformat as i'm not too sure where he has put the restore discs I do hope to god he remembered to back it all up!

Thanks for your help!

[carlpenn]

Originally Posted by The_Monk

Darn! Was trying not to reformat as i'm not too sure where he has put the restore discs I do hope to god he remembered to back it all up!

Thanks for your help!

Turn off System Restore before running Virus scan and removal.

It is more than likely 200 Infected files, than 200 Viruses.

Whilst at teh University of xxxxxxx I ran a Helpline for the Students Internet and there was one instance (and I joke not) where a Students Laptop took 2 Hours to Boot up, purely because of teh Viruses on there !!

Formatting is a last stand option, in my opinion.

[BMC123]

Originally Posted by carlpenn

Turn off System Restore before running Virus scan and removal.

It is more than likely 200 Infected files, than 200 Viruses.

Whilst at teh University of xxxxxxx I ran a Helpline for the Students Internet and there was one instance (and I joke not) where a Students Laptop took 2 Hours to Boot up, purely because of teh Viruses on there !!

Formatting is a last stand option, in my opinion.

erm... yes. must be an echo in here

[carlpenn]

Originally Posted by BMC123

erm... yes. must be an echo in here

lol.......sorry - didn't see your post !!

[The_Monk]

Followed your advice and everything seems clean! Woo! However, it is still taking an age to boot up, takes about 20min to boot at the moment. I've cleaned all the unused programs, emptied temp directories, internet directories. The laptop insists on trying to load a program called ams.exe and I have no clue to what this is!

Is there a seperate startup list somewhere? The startup folder is empty!

[JohnDotCom]

Also run an Up to date Spyware program.
You can type in the Run box "MSConfig" without the "" which will bring up lots of Information on what starts etc, and allow editing.
|No way should it take anything like the Startup times you have,
and I feel there is still a Problem on there.

AMS.EXE Prevx is Ability Mail Server or Atomic Mail Sender and you can read about it here:
It appeared in Europe in December and Windows Download Update and most other Adware programs should find it.
It needs removing unless you have a Program of that name you Installed.

http://www.prevx.com/filenames/21235...0/AMS.EXE.html

[The_Monk]

Originally Posted by JohnDotCom

Also run an Up to date Spyware program.
You can type in the Run box "MSConfig" without the "" which will bring up lots of Information on what starts etc, and allow editing.
|No way should it take anything like the Startup times you have,
and I feel there is still a Problem on there.

AMS.EXE Prevx is Ability Mail Server or Atomic Mail Sender and you can read about it here:
It appeared in Europe in December and Windows Download Update and most other Adware programs should find it.
It needs removing unless you have a Program of that name you Installed.

http://www.prevx.com/filenames/21235...0/AMS.EXE.html

Thanks John, i'll try those!

[carlpenn]

LOL !!

Was just going to post the Link that JDC has

If you ever get a filename that you dont understand, just Google it and there will be a Mountain of Info online, but do not be suckered in to downloading anyones software.......