Computers - HELP Viruses tooked over my computer

Hi, I need help please, I let my friend borrow my gateway labtop and now its messed up it wont le me do anything I guess he downloaded total security antivirus and its telling me that I have ove 20 infections. I cant even access the internet to see if i can get a better antivirus to it says your computer is infected and I cant do anything, PLease help.. dont know how to delete the spyware, trojan,adware and all the stuff without a antivirus. the computer runs with XP:madhell:

I dont even know how to get started...PLEASE HELP.

Guess he stole the punctuation keys and the shift key, too, huh? Kinda difficult to read run on sentences. He didn't download total security. Total security is a virus. You will have to start the computer in safe mode and delete all the instances of the program. Then you can start in regular mode. You need to get a good antivirus program as well as malware, etc. And quit loaning your computer to people. You wouldn't loan them your wallet or pocketbook, would you? Same thing.

you are absolutley right, I made a huge mistake, thinking I could help now im screwed.
I apologize, but what do you mean by instances programs??

Im trying to delete that virus total security and I cant find it anywhere. Can you tell me where to find it?

Start windows in safe mode. Go to Control Panel and Add Delete Programs. Find it there and delete it. Go to Start, Run, type mscofig in the space, hit enter. Search all the tabs, especially the start-up tab and delete every instance it shows up there. Then go to Start, Search, and type in the name of the program. Every time it shows up, delete it. From this point, you should be able to restart the computer in normal mode. Let us know how it goes.

I did what you said, then restarted in normal mode and the stupid thing it still comes up and wont let me do anything.

One more place I forgot about.....go back to safe mode. Open windows explorer and delete it from there as well. Now, you are doing this from safe mode, right?
Or try this remedy: Remove Total Security, removal instructions (http://www.2-spyware.com/remove-total-security.html)

Try going to Program Files and look for the program folder. I think it's called TS. Rename the TS folder to something else and do a restart. After the restart scan with Malwarebytes and any other AV program you have.

This worked on a friends computer/

Start windows in safe mode. Go to Control Panel and Add Delete Programs. Find it there and delete it. Go to Start, Run, type mscofig in the space, hit enter. Search all the tabs, especially the start-up tab and delete every instance it shows up there. Then go to Start, Search, and type in the name of the program. Every time it shows up, delete it. From this point, you should be able to restart the computer in normal mode. Let us know how it goes.

do you think-'lizzy' might not be in -safe mode?

I am certain that you don't know how to do this, but you can find out how by googling the idea, key words "format my pc".

Save whatever you need to from your laptop and format that thing. Start clean and fresh. The anti-viruses just make things worse.

If your going to format I suggest using a Linux live CD to save critical files to a USB drive then install Linux so you never have a virus problem again.

Pinjas, There's no need to format drive C just because this thing has attached itself to your computer. I had a similar thing come up on my wife's computer. Using the tutorials online removed it completely. Formatting is so drastic. Newtofta, yeah, that's my leaning.

Pinjas, There's no need to format drive C just because this thing has attached itself to your computer. I had a similar thing come up on my wife's computer. Using the tutorials online removed it completely. Formatting is so drastic. Newtofta, yeah, that's my leaning.


I have a pretty deep understanding of computers, operating systems, hardware, et cetera. A common mistake PC users make is assuming that an operating system, and the entire computer for that matter, can take care of itself. I am not implying that that is what you are suggesting. But I do know that you are failing to see the power in a clean slate. The number of excess programs running that don't need to be, likely virus's, errors, clutter and so on. Pretend formatting is like 'spring cleaning'. You take everything out and put some of it back in, in a neat and good order.
It would be easy to guess that this user, and -many- others have no formatted their hard drive for a very long time, likely years or even as long as they have had their PC. I recommend formatting once every 6 months. The reasons for this is countless, the reason for not doing it is one, laziness. It takes effort to back up (something that should be practiced) important data and then format a hard drive. I could hardly call it effort, unless you call swiveling a wrist a little, 'hard work'. If I suspect I get a virus, I immediately format that PC, followed by changing all of my passwords.

I would bet that if an individual can factually state they have one virus, they likely have several more then are unaware of. Anti-virus's can only detect the virus's that are fairly old, and are far less commonly used than newer ones. It doesn't take a clever man to figure out that there are companies who are working on detected and creating fixes for what a hacker might be doing, so he/she must keep things new and fresh.

I, too, am not a novice to computers. With that said, and I am sure you will agree, formatting doesn't always "clean the slate". IMO, it is best to just insert a new hard drive (rather cost efficient), and reinstall your programs (from disk) and files (after back up) on it and destroy the old hard drive. If your hard drive came with the computer, it is probably minimal in operational effectiveness, and will be clogged on the far end with files that aren't necessary, and cannot be deleted.
Opinion?

I, too, am not a novice to computers. With that said, and I am sure you will agree, formatting doesn't always "clean the slate". IMO, it is best to just insert a new hard drive (rather cost efficient), and reinstall your programs (from disk) and files (after back up) on it and destroy the old hard drive. If your hard drive came with the computer, it is probably minimal in operational effectiveness, and will be clogged on the far end with files that aren't necessary, and cannot be deleted.
Opinion?

I am not trying to be rude, but you've clearly misinterpreted what 'formatting a hard drive' means. Formatting a hard drive is free, and always will be 10,000 times cheaper than buying a new hard drive. Formatting a hard drive can be taken as literal as the words 'clean slate'. Imagine taking a CD-RW and erasing everything on the disk, then try re-using it as a new CD, will it work? Absolutely, there will be no difference in quality, speed or function. The same idea here applies to any hard drive, from the lowly 5400 RPM drives to the SSD's, the idea is always the same. The hard drive is being erased of all data, including virus's, and then the owner is free to install an operating system or even just use the hard drive as a storage device or paper weight.

I recommend googling formatting a hard drive and educating yourself further on the idea. Installing programs and formatting hard drives are free, it will cost just as much on either the hard drive you currently have or one you purchase tomorrow.

Sorry Pinjas, you can be as rude as you want. I'm too old to be fazed by it. And I shall certainly take your sage advice on educating myself.
In the meantime, be cognizant of the fact a simple reformatting of a hard drive does not erase "everything" on the disk. Even with CD-RW's things aren't "erased", just overwritten. There will always be residual files with values changed to an unrecognizable state that take up space. Format a 60G drive and when you get started again, you could only have 56G. Why not take the opportunity to replace a puny factory hard drive with a zippy new one, since you have to reinstall everything anyway.
But I must go educate myself.......

Larry

Sorry Pinjas, you can be as rude as you want. I'm too old to be fazed by it. And I shall certainly take your sage advice on educating myself.
In the meantime, be cognizant of the fact a simple reformatting of a hard drive does not erase "everything" on the disk. Even with CD-RW's things aren't "erased", just overwritten. There will always be residual files with values changed to an unrecognizable state that take up space. Format a 60G drive and when you get started again, you could only have 56G. Why not take the opportunity to replace a puny factory hard drive with a zippy new one, since you have to reinstall everything anyway.
But I must go educate myself.......

Larry

Hah, that's funny. Although you are right in a sense that the data is sort of still there, it is like throwing a pile of wood into a chipper and still trying to call it a pile of wood.

This is another common misunderstanding concerning the sizing of hard drives. I could try and explain this in metaphor and straight science or logic but I feel I would fail. Here are a few sources of information you will find to pertain to what you spoke of as enlightening. Hard-Drive Capacity Math: Tech Clinic - Popular Mechanics (http://www.popularmechanics.com/how_to_central/technology/4206535.html) Hard drive space much smaller than advertised? - Yahoo! Answers (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070820084622AAUmaaW) Why is my hard drive smaller than its advertised size? Microsoft Application Tips and Tweaks - dslreports.com (http://www.dslreports.com/faq/9716) Google (http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=why+is+my+hard+drive+smaller+than+advertised&aq=&aqi=&aq=0&aqi=g1&oq=why+is+my+hard+drive+smaller&fp=2cca7b2e99206b9c)

These all give you the same information concerning what you spoke about a 60GB hard drive coming as a 56GB hard drive formatted.

ok, while the two of your are arguing, lizzy is dying from a virus infection.

a new hard drive is not necessary and at least, to get her functional again, reformatting the hard drive should not be necessary either although it may be the best action eventually.

pinjas, it sounds like she may not be computer literate enough to be able to save all the good stuff before dumping the hard drive. How about simply getting her going first and then helping her through a reformat and her saving everything she wants/needs?

I always make a point to format after viruses, it's the only way I can ever get rid of the virus completely. You should format once every six moths anyway.

Re the size issue, you format a drive before you first use it so that's irellavent. Its to do with a gb being percieved as 1000mb by nanufacturers, and 1024mb by everyone else. :wall:

ok, while the two of your are arguing, lizzy is dying from a virus infection.

a new hard drive is not necessary and at least, to get her functional again, reformatting the hard drive should not be necessary either although it may be the best action eventually.

pinjas, it sounds like she may not be computer literate enough to be able to save all the good stuff before dumping the hard drive. How about simply getting her going first and then helping her through a reformat and her saving everything she wants/needs?

That advice has already been given, shes probably messing with that as we speak.

That advice has already been given, shes probably messing with that as we speak.

well, this is her last post:

I did what you said, then restarted in normal mode and the stupid thing it still comes up and wont let me do anything

Doesn't sound like she was winning with the advice given already but hey, I'm not claiming:


I have a pretty deep understanding of computers, operating systems, hardware, et cetera.

and to me it sounds like she was still drowning.

So Lizzy, since you cannot access the net with your computer, I will presume you were using some other computer. If so, go to malwarebytes (http://www.malwarebytes.org/)and download their program onto a flash drive. Then, plug it into your computer and load it and run it.

see where that takes you and come back (hopefully on your computer) and let us know how things are going.