Help!!!

[Foeofthelance]

"Multiple exclamation marks are the sure sign of a diseased mind."
-Terry Pratchett

Or in this case a sure sign of a diseased computer. My girlfriend's netbook is running into issues with what looks like a mutated version of the Windows Security virus. We're trying Malware and RKill, but neither one is finding anything. It just keeps coming back every time the computer gets restarted, and each and every time any attempt to start a program leads to a "Warning! File 'XX'.dll is infected! Run virus scan?" comes up. ('XX' can be anyone of any number of files, never the same twice.)

Suggestions on what to do? Is there any programs or steps we're missing? Or should we call a priest for last rites?

[Keld Denar]

Try Avast! antivirus software. Its free to DL and is really good. While that is working, have her dig up her windows install disk and any driver disks she may have. A reformat is the surest way to nuke any virus you may have. It takes a couple hours, but everything will run like new afterwards, which is nice. Don't forget to back up things like music and documents.

[Helanna]

Can you access the internet? If so, try Spybot Search & Destroy in addition to Avast!. My computer just got a virus yesterday - the Antivirus 360 scam. I ran Avast! and Spybot and they took care of it pretty quickly.

Although now Google Chrome and IE won't display any webpages, so I'm not entirely sure what's up with them, although I suspect I should have checked what I deleted with Spybot a little more closely. :smallconfused: Luckily, I mostly use Firefox.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I think I've had that virus before. Have a good look at the program telling you that you have a virus. Is it your usual anti-virus?

[IonDragon]

That is indeed the culprit I am 85% sure. Once you have the perscribed anti-viruii programs above installed and updated, reboot in safe-mode (tapping F8 repeatedly while booting brings up the boot menu, select "Safe Mode", and NOT "Safe Mode with Networking"). Run said programs. Reboot in normal mode, it shouldn't ask you again what mode to go into unless something is wrong.

[Foeofthelance]

Thanks I'm going to try Avast! Unfortunately a disc reboot might be impossible; there's no port for discs on her netbook, just a few USB ports and maybe one for an SD card. If there's a way to put the reboot files on one of those devices, we could do that, but not from a disc.

[Keld Denar]

Not exactly sure how, but I know you can rig a USB device to be a bootable device and then save an image of the windows install files on it. If you google around, you should be able to find a guide or two on how to do it.

Alternatively, you can buy external CD drives that plug into USB slots. You should be able to run a boot disk from there. If you get a nice quality one, you could even use it to burn CDs and DVDs, a very handy feature.

What OS is she using? I know Windows Vista and 7 are specifically partitioned in such a way that you can reformat your main partition with all of the installation stuff on the side partition. Try Start > Run and then type in msconfig and look around the boot or startup tabs for info about reinstalling from that partition. That should work, if you resort to a full wipe. From there, you can DL all of the drivers you need, or DL them on a different computer and transfer them via flash drive.

[Lord Loss]

I use Norton 360 myself. I know that we haven't had ANY problems since that lil fellar strated cleaning my computer.

[IonDragon]

Not exactly sure how, but I know you can rig a USB device to be a bootable device and then save an image of the windows install files on it. If you google around, you should be able to find a guide or two on how to do it.It's quite simple actually. You just have to run a couple bits of freeware in a prescribed order. It is easily found by googling "Install XP from USB". It's also faster due to transfer rates, so I've used it for installing XP on computers with CD drives in the past.

I use Norton 360 myself. I know that we haven't had ANY problems since that lil fellar strated cleaning my computer.
As an IT professional, I strongly advise you use any anti-virus other than Norton of any flavor produced after...oh let's say 95 (Norton Ghost Vs. 8 runs in DOS and is the most powerful disk clone tool I've ever used). There is a reason the newer Norton utilities do not come with an Uninstaller program bundled with them. There is also a reason that it often takes a 3rd party app in order to remove them completely. It's garbage. Wet tissues provide better protection. I can not tell you how many computers I've seen riddled with viruses (Norton numbering among them) where Norton registered no problems and AVG has cleared it right up.

Superglucose can also tell you about a couple of funny times when Norton registered a DDOS attack from 192.168.1.1. For those of you that don't know, google DDOS and that IP is your local Router. Norton then dutifully blocked that IP in the Firewall.

Aside from not being all that secure, usually being among the first to be exploited by crackers [Citation Needed] it is by far the heaviest, and slowest program available. I would recommend NOD32 and AVG free over it every day of the week and twice on Sunday. NOD if you favor security and AVG if you favor speed.

[Foeofthelance]

The girlfriend's netbook is now officially 100% virus free and Windows has even stopped nagging her to get a firewall. We didn't have to go for the nuclear option. Thanks folks for all the help!

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Glad everything turned out peachy!