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- Mar 11, 2008
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The Ultimate ?Ahh crap, I have a Virus? thread
Like me many have been through the hassles of removing a virus from your PC. This guide will show you how to remove viruses no madder how dug in they are, and prevent it from ever happening again. And all of this for free. Use this tutorial if you think something is fishy. When you go to a site does it redirect to another unrelated site? Do random pop-ups appear when you aren?t even browsing? Are there software packages in your taskbar that you did not install? Does your system do things that you don?t tell it to? Or are you just a parodied virus freak? These all are possible signs of a virus.
First off head over to download.com and get these 5 pieces of software that we will be using.
1. http://www.download.com/avast-Home-...contentBody;mostPopTwoColWrap&cdlPid=10888427
2. http://www.download.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html
3. http://www.download.com/ZoneAlarm-Firewall-Windows-2000-XP-/3000-10435_4-10039884.html
4. http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-amp-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10122137.html?tag=mncol;pop
5. http://www.siteadvisor.com/
1. (25-60min) After downloading all of those programs, install Avast Home Edition using the defaults. When finished open the program and ignore all pop-up?s except the one that is silver. On the interface click the button that looks like a lightning bolt. After the update finishes go to the eject bottom on the upper left. Scroll down to ?Schedule a boot-time scan?? Restart. When your computer boots instead of going to windows it will run a scan without the interference of any programs. If any files are detected hit ?2? of delete all. (Note: Avast is usually good about no false alerts so deleting system files that have been flagged as fake or infected is okay.) Following the scan your computer will boot as normal.
2. (5-15 min) Now that most of the viruses are gone, install Zonealarm. Zonealarm is a 2 way free firewall that filters incoming and outgoing processes. Install and use all the defaults.
3. (15 - 45 min) Next install malware bytes. This is a program that I?m sure CR@SH and RESPAWN can vouch for; it catches things that most programs don?t. After the installing is done, update and run the FULL scan.
4. (10 min) While the scan is running install spybot, this is a community backed freeware. Install using all defaults but don?t install tea timer or the other monitor, they will slow down your system and annoy the poo out of you. Also do not follow the first-start up?s tutorial thingy. When finished install updates. Next instead of scanning for problems, go to ?Immunize?. Immunize yourself against infected cookies, images, and other things.
5. (5 min) The last one is optional but recommended. When you search on Google site advisor will warn you against drive by downloads, spammers, and other infected websites before you even click on the link.
Notes:
The software here is 100% free and 100% legal. Some are open source and others are freeware. Although great they usually aren?t compatible. For example it?s advised to uninstall another firewall or anti-virus before using these products. The only two software packages that you need to start every time you computer does are Zonealarm and Avast. For the rest go to http://www.ccleaner.com/ , download, install and go to ?tools? => ?startup? and remove everything you don?t trust, don?t recognize, or don?t want. For more info on viruses go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_virus or http://www.howstuffworks.com/virus.htm If your computer is still infected use
http://www.download.com/Panda-Anti-Rootkit/3000-8022_4-10717196.html
This will remove root kits forcefully.
tell me if i missed anything and I'll edit.
~~Slusserjon
~~
