Computer possessed, please help!

[Sexyredhead]

My

office computer is completely insane today. I've run Symantec, Ad-Aware, and Spy-Bot, and there's STILL something

on my computer that keeps loading a bunch of pop-ups and weird programs. And today, I can't get IE to stay open. It

will open, then I get an "illegal operation" and it closes. :\ I can open Netscape, but I can only read. If I try

to PM/email someone, or download anything (such as Opera so I've got a new browser), I get an "illegal operation"

and it closes.

Can anyone suggest anything? I'm at home now for lunch. I've been working on that computer

all morning. I uninstalled IE, then installed it again. That didn't work. I'm about out of ideas, with the

exception of taking out my lower window panel and shoving the whole thing out into the parking lot. >:\

[JustPeachy]

Download a copy of hijackThis.

It's free, and will show you where the registry entries are that got left on your computer.

[Sexyredhead]

Thanks, but I can't run it

on my office computer. I have ancient W95, and just about nothing works on it. :\ (I hate school!!!!!)

I'm

gonna download it for home though, thanks!

I'm wondering if maybe I deleted a file in my righteous

adware-destroying zeal and now I've screwed something up?

[DZorro]

Thanks, but I

can't run it on my office computer. I have ancient W95, and just about nothing works on it. :\ (I hate

school!!!!!)

I'm gonna download it for home though, thanks!

I'm wondering if maybe I deleted a

file in my righteous adware-destroying zeal and now I've screwed something up?

I

doubt that, ad-aware only deletes, spyware in the registry, so it might be either a virus, or a worm, messing with

your computer.

The best thing to do , start the computer with a clean boot disk, and then use a antivirus

software, and see if your antivirus software, detects what kind of virus is on your computer and remove

it.


Dorro,

[beachboy]

What about installing Windows XP

[DZorro]

oh and make sure your clean

bootdisk is write protected, or the virus could infect the clean bootdisk as well.



DZorro,

[DZorro]

What about

installing Windows XP

That is a bit drastic. You could always try my idea first , if that

doesn't work.
You could always reinstall windows.




DZorro,

[JustPeachy]

That is a bit

drastic. You could always try my idea first , if that doesn't work.
You could always reinstall windows.






DZorro,

IIRC, reinstalling Windows 95 won't clean up the registry. If you've powered the machine down

for a couple of minutes and still see the same stuff when you power up again, then I'm pretty sure that's where

the problem lies. You don't want to dump the registry as anything but a last resort, as you'll have to reinstall

all your other software as well.

[DZorro]

IIRC,

reinstalling Windows 95 won't clean up the registry. If you've powered the machine down for a couple of minutes

and still see the same stuff when you power up again, then I'm pretty sure that's where the problem lies. You

don't want to dump the registry as anything but a last resort, as you'll have to reinstall all your other software

as well.

your right, it won't. could regcleaner help in a situation like this ???
We don't now

if it's a virus, worm or registry malfunction. But hearing at the problem, i still think it's a virus that's

causing this it's screwing up her registry on her computer, that's why she's getting illigal operation and that.

So a clean bootdisk could help, and then use an antivirus software. To remove any virus who's on her

coputer.


DZorro,

[JustPeachy]

your right, it

won't. could regcleaner help in a situation like this ???
We don't now if it's a virus, worm or registry

malfunction. But hearing at the problem, i still think it's a virus that's causing this it's screwing up her

registry on her computer, that's why she's getting illigal operation and that. So a clean bootdisk could help, and

then use an antivirus software. To remove any virus who's on her coputer.


DZorro,

Possible. But

regcleaner is more built to clean up dirty linkages inside the registry than to get rid of any nasty additions. And

the antivirus stuff won't clean up spyware. I've seen the illegal operation message with some spyware before -

that's what makes me think it's spyware. But even a bug in a program can cause that error. But, heck - we're

talking Win95 here. It's old, slow, funky, and it's not well supported any more. It has a bunch of limits of file

sizes, disk limits, and registry size (regclean might help with that) that don't exist any more.

If, after

powering all the way off and back up again with a clean boot disk, you still see problems, run the antivirus stuff.

Then do it again, only this time, check the Startup folder for any unrecognized programs as well. Delete anything

you don't recognize as legit. Barring any bad news there, we can still assume virus. If you see the problems only

when you fire up IE, assume spyware. (It's not a perfect predictor, but those are your best bets).

[belgareth]

My office

computer is completely insane today. I've run Symantec, Ad-Aware, and Spy-Bot, and there's STILL something on my

computer that keeps loading a bunch of pop-ups and weird programs. And today, I can't get IE to stay open. It will

open, then I get an "illegal operation" and it closes. :\ I can open Netscape, but I can only read. If I try to

PM/email someone, or download anything (such as Opera so I've got a new browser), I get an "illegal operation" and

it closes.

Can anyone suggest anything? I'm at home now for lunch. I've been working on that computer all

morning. I uninstalled IE, then installed it again. That didn't work. I'm about out of ideas, with the exception

of taking out my lower window panel and shoving the whole thing out into the parking lot. >:\

There are a

couple things that you can try. First thing to try is click Start, Run and type in

www.yahoo.com or any other common site. Sometimes that gets around. It's nnot a

fix but can sometimes make the machine workable until more drastic solutions can be used. Otherwise you can try the

other items listed below.

Run MSCONFIG and see what is running in Startup and Services. Turn off anything you

don't want running. If you are comfortable running regedit, you can do a search for the word RUN. Have it look at

Keys only and show exact matches. You can delete most entries under run, runonce and runexe without causing any

problems. However, BE VERY CAREFUL!!!!!!! you can blow your OS up really well if you goof. Also do a search in the

registry for MSBB. That's a really common pop-up source. If you find it, delete it then do a search of your hard

drive for it and delete it there too.

[Brian]

Restart your computer in safe mode

and then run your spyware removal program. Many adware programs will write themselves somewhere else on your

computer when removed. I wouldn't recommend messing around with your registry files as you can do a lot of damage

to your pc if you delete the wrong thing. Information from viruses, and adware, rarely write anything recognizable

to the registry, therefore, it will be impossible to find the registry file, or files, that are causing the problem.

If you are using a company pc, don't format the drive and reinstall windows. Most IT's frown on that. I'm an IT

and believe me, I sure would frown on it. The above solution should take care of the problem. Be sure to reboot your

pc and run the software as described above as many times as needed. e.g. run it until the software says that no

adware has been found.

Brian

[deb]

Restart your computer in

safe mode and then run your spyware removal program. Many adware programs will write themselves somewhere else on

your computer when removed. I wouldn't recommend messing around with your registry files as you can do a lot of

damage to your pc if you delete the wrong thing. Information from viruses, and adware, rarely write anything

recognizable to the registry, therefore, it will be impossible to find the registry file, or files, that are causing

the problem. If you are using a company pc, don't format the drive and reinstall windows. Most IT's frown on that.

I'm an IT and believe me, I sure would frown on it. The above solution should take care of the problem. Be sure to

reboot your pc and run the software as described above as many times as needed. e.g. run it until the software says

that no adware has been found.

Brian

Man, you sooooooo smaaaarrrrrrt! Now if I can just understand all

that.

[JustPeachy]

Information from

viruses, and adware, rarely write anything recognizable to the registry, therefore, it will be impossible to find

the registry file, or files, that are causing the problem.

Not true at all. Peachy <==Engineer, clueful,

cleans 'em up manually all the time.

(However, if you have access to tech support, SRH, then by all mean use

it! Why waste your time messing with something that's somebody else's job - and somebody else's a**?)

I have

spoken.

[belgareth]

Restart your

computer in safe mode and then run your spyware removal program. Many adware programs will write themselves

somewhere else on your computer when removed. I wouldn't recommend messing around with your registry files as you

can do a lot of damage to your pc if you delete the wrong thing. Information from viruses, and adware, rarely write

anything recognizable to the registry, therefore, it will be impossible to find the registry file, or files, that

are causing the problem. If you are using a company pc, don't format the drive and reinstall windows. Most IT's

frown on that. I'm an IT and believe me, I sure would frown on it. The above solution should take care of the

problem. Be sure to reboot your pc and run the software as described above as many times as needed. e.g. run it

until the software says that no adware has been found.

Brian

Brian,

You'd be surprised how often

we find crap like she described loading in the registry, especially on computers with older OS's like 95. At least

half of the problems SRH describes at least partially come from there. We developed a standardized procedure for

when we get that type of complaint that includes all the things I suggested to SRH and several others.

I worked

in, then managed a large IT department for years before starting my company. It's a completely different world when

you don't have network security, anti-virus and firewalls protecting the equipment. The uses and and issues of a

corporate computer and a home or small business system aren't even on the same world. If I hadn't had some really

good people working for me, I would have fallen flat on my face the first year.

Belgareth

[Brian]

Brian,



You'd be surprised how often we find crap like she described loading in the registry, especially on computers

with older OS's like 95. At least half of the problems SRH describes at least partially come from there. We

developed a standardized procedure for when we get that type of complaint that includes all the things I suggested

to SRH and several others.

I worked in, then managed a large IT department for years before starting my

company. It's a completely different world when you don't have network security, anti-virus and firewalls

protecting the equipment. The uses and and issues of a corporate computer and a home or small business system

aren't even on the same world. If I hadn't had some really good people working for me, I would have fallen flat on

my face the first year.

Belgareth

I agree with what you said Bel. I know that's where

spyware is written. I never said that the entries weren't in the registry. I was suggesting that it's best not to

be messing with the registry files as someone without the knowledge can and almost certainly will, do damage. Any

decent spyware software will remove the files from the registry for her, provided that she runs it in safe mode. As

I said before, regardless what others have said in previous posts here. It is almost impossible to manually sift

through the thousands of entries in the registry for the keys that are creating the problem. Even if you were to run

a search, what would you put in the search field? The keys will not contain the name of the spyware/adware file or

folder. In my experience, it hasn't. I've dealt with adware/spyware many times and I know what I suggested is the

way to correct the problem.

[belgareth]

I agree with what

you said Bel. I know that's where spyware is written. I never said that the entries weren't in the registry. I was

suggesting that it's best not to be messing with the registry files as someone without the knowledge can and almost

certainly will, do damage. Any decent spyware software will remove the files from the registry for her, provided

that she runs it in safe mode. As I said before, regardless what others have said in previous posts here. It is

almost impossible to manually sift through the thousands of entries in the registry for the keys that are creating

the problem. Even if you were to run a search, what would you put in the search field? The keys will not contain the

name of the spyware/adware file or folder. In my experience, it hasn't. I've dealt with adware/spyware many times

and I know what I suggested is the way to correct the problem.

In most case, I agree. There are some that

cannot be removed that way though. A few good examples are precision time, shopping.com and MSBB. There are others

but those three are very common. If you delete their entry in the run keys you effectively stop them though. One of

the ploys that has been popping up latley is to reload the spyware through the runonce key so it comes back as soon

as you restart your computer. Spyware tools miss those a lot too.

I am curious about your opinion on something.

We use Ad Aware and Spybot more than anything else. Between the two they seem to cover most of the bases. Is there

something you use that you feel is a better tool?

[Brian]

I use Bulletproof Spyware Remover.

It's the best I've found. It is very thorough. Most spyware/adware programs only search the most common places

that most adware is wriiten. The problem is that the people who are writing new adware to write to your pc know this

and are writing it anywhere on your pc. You could still have thousands on your computer and not know it. Bulletproof

scans your entire pc, including network drives. There is certain adware which can only be removed while in safe

mode. Here's the link to the bulletproof site.

http://www.bulletproofsoft.com

The price of

the software is $29. You can download it for free to try it out.

[belgareth]

I use Bulletproof

Spyware Remover. It's the best I've found. It is very thorough. Most spyware/adware programs only search the most

common places that most adware is wriiten. The problem is that the people who are writing new adware to write to

your pc know this and are writing it anywhere on your pc. You could still have thousands on your computer and not

know it. Bulletproof scans your entire pc, including network drives. There is certain adware which can only be

removed while in safe mode. Here's the link to the bulletproof site.



http://www.bulletproofsoft.com

The price of the software is $29.

You can download it for free to try it out.

Great, thanks.

[DZorro]

I use Bulletproof

Spyware Remover. It's the best I've found. It is very thorough. Most spyware/adware programs only search the most

common places that most adware is wriiten. The problem is that the people who are writing new adware to write to

your pc know this and are writing it anywhere on your pc. You could still have thousands on your computer and not

know it. Bulletproof scans your entire pc, including network drives. There is certain adware which can only be

removed while in safe mode. Here's the link to the bulletproof site.



http://www.bulletproofsoft.com

The price of the software is $29.

You can download it for free to try it out.

Thanks, for the link.


DZorro,

[EXIT63]

I use Bulletproof

Spyware Remover. It's the best I've found. It is very thorough. Most spyware/adware programs only search the most

common places that most adware is wriiten. The problem is that the people who are writing new adware to write to

your pc know this and are writing it anywhere on your pc. You could still have thousands on your computer and not

know it. Bulletproof scans your entire pc, including network drives. There is certain adware which can only be

removed while in safe mode. Here's the link to the bulletproof

site.

http://www.bulletproofsoft.com

The price of the software is $29. You can download it

for free to try it out.

If I uninstall my old free trial version, could I download a new free trial

version?

[Brian]

If I uninstall my old

free trial version, could I download a new free trial version?

PM me Exit!

[JustPeachy]

I use Bulletproof

Spyware Remover. It's the best I've found. It is very thorough. Most spyware/adware programs only search the most

common places that most adware is wriiten. The problem is that the people who are writing new adware to write to

your pc know this and are writing it anywhere on your pc. You could still have thousands on your computer and not

know it. Bulletproof scans your entire pc, including network drives. There is certain adware which can only be

removed while in safe mode. Here's the link to the bulletproof site.



http://www.bulletproofsoft.com

The price of the software is $29.

You can download it for free to try it out.

Sounds decent. Thanks, Brian. I'll give a look, even though

I'm very happy with HijackThis! I usually kill the guilty running processes and unload those nasty little .dll's

by hand (just to watch 'em die), so no need for going into safe mode.

Sorry, SRH, but Brian is right. We're

just nitpicking the details like all self-respecting geeks are wont to do. (We certainly won't admit that we

can't help it! ) If you aren't at ease with all the techno-babble, then best to use a commercial tool as Brian

suggests.

[DZorro]

My office

computer is completely insane today. I've run Symantec, Ad-Aware, and Spy-Bot, and there's STILL something on my

computer that keeps loading a bunch of pop-ups and weird programs. And today, I can't get IE to stay open. It will

open, then I get an "illegal operation" and it closes. :\ I can open Netscape, but I can only read. If I try to

PM/email someone, or download anything (such as Opera so I've got a new browser), I get an "illegal operation" and

it closes.

Can anyone suggest anything? I'm at home now for lunch. I've been working on that computer all

morning. I uninstalled IE, then installed it again. That didn't work. I'm about out of ideas, with the exception

of taking out my lower window panel and shoving the whole thing out into the parking lot. >:\

If you

still need help regarding this, check out this link.



http://forums.spywareinfo.com/

It can help you with anyting ,

regarding your pc, from spyware remover to virus remover.
If i need help with something, ussually check out this

site first.

Hopes this help.


DZorro,

[Sexyredhead]

Well, I got my web browsers

working again, but I can't get rid of whatever is on my computer. Since it belongs to the school, ITS has been

called in. They should be by in about 2 weeks to see what's up. ;p

Thanks everybody for your help!