PC Virus

[Peter Stahl]

My SIL has a computer that she said went bonkers after opening a email from a friend. The PC has Windows ME, maybe a P3 I would think. She only has Zone Alarm on it, no other Virus protect. It boots up but you can't do anything, it's like it hung up. I boot it up in Safe Mode but she has a wireless mouse which did nothing, I'm guessing in safe mode the program that runs it doen't get loaded so I hit the START key and shut it down. Here are my questions:
1. Can a New Anti-Virus program be used to get rid of the virus it has?
2. Do virus definitions need to be on the disk?
3. What is the best way to attemp this?
4. Which program should She get?

I don't think they want to wipe the hard drive as they have documents on there they need for School and personal stuff. Thanks for any help.

Pete

[Chuck Wintle]

Pete,
if the computer gets to the point where it seems hopeless to recover it then it is possible to....
remove the hardrive....
install it in another computer as a slave drive....
recover all important documents from the drive using windows explorer.
Then burn all important documents to a cd and perform a clean install on your sil's computer.

[Wes Newman]

Peter, There is a program called Stinger that will search and destroy viruses and is free from McAfee http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/ . Put this on a floppy take it over to your SIL's and run it. Then tell her to get some sort of virus protection to keep this from happening again.

HTH

[Ted Calver]

Peter,
Can't help if there is a virus, but, I'm embarassed to say that I still use ME and have experienced the safe mode dead mouse syndrome more times than I care to admit. My ME quits if I look at it crooked, if it rains, snows or the sun shines. I boot up in safe mode and use the tab key, enter and directional arrows to navigate. Mine is set up to automatically run scan disc after boot in safe mode normal. I let it run scandisc then tab on down to Start, enter, arrow down to shut down, enter and after it shuts down hard start in normal mode.
Usually works for me.
Ted

[John Miliunas]

Peter, you may want to hook up a plain old PS2 (corded) mouse to it for easier navigation. Then, try the "system restore", as documented here:http://www.microsoft.com/windowsME/u...temrestore.asp
It sounds like whatever she opened may have nailed the system registry and the "restore" may take care of it. If that does take care of it, you will most definitely want to install some anti-virus and keep it updated. Run it right away. At the earliest convenience, backup to CD or whatever means she has. Get all the important documents and such, then get a copy of XP and install it. Among the Tech circles, ME is a "virus" unto itself! If any of the suggestions here and above don't work, I'd take Charles' advice, just to be sure you have all the important data before messing too much more with it.

[Peter Stahl]

Peter, you may want to hook up a plain old PS2 (corded) mouse to it for easier navigation. Then, try the "system restore", as documented here:http://www.microsoft.com/windowsME/u...temrestore.asp
It sounds like whatever she opened may have nailed the system registry and the "restore" may take care of it. If that does take care of it, you will most definitely want to install some anti-virus and keep it updated. Run it right away. At the earliest convenience, backup to CD or whatever means she has. Get all the important documents and such, then get a copy of XP and install it. Among the Tech circles, ME is a "virus" unto itself! If any of the suggestions here and above don't work, I'd take Charles' advice, just to be sure you have all the important data before messing too much more with it.

I didn't know ME had the system restore like XP. Can a restore be done in safe mode? I've used it before with XP but not from safe mode.

thanks, Pete

[Peter Stahl]

Peter,
Can't help if there is a virus, but, I'm embarassed to say that I still use ME and have experienced the safe mode dead mouse syndrome more times than I care to admit. My ME quits if I look at it crooked, if it rains, snows or the sun shines. I boot up in safe mode and use the tab key, enter and directional arrows to navigate. Mine is set up to automatically run scan disc after boot in safe mode normal. I let it run scandisc then tab on down to Start, enter, arrow down to shut down, enter and after it shuts down hard start in normal mode.
Usually works for me.
Ted

Ted, thanks. I think we'll try this first. Then maybe a system restore if she can remember the time and day it happened. I found out about this at Easter dinner last night. Not sure if She'll want to upgrade or not but she definitely needs a anti-virus program.

Pete

[Scott Donley]

Hi, and good luck, yes ME has a system restore , if the mouse does not work use control key+arrow keys to navagate the menu in safe mode. run the virus ware in safe mode after system restore,run the virus ware again with system restore disabled, as it saves a copy of all files, even the virus, and when enabled does not let the virus software see the system restore files. Any ? pm or email me.
Just for the record, I have 5 computers networked in my home, 3 still have Me on them and are trouble free, unlike the 2 with XP Pro
You might also try first, go to run in the start menue and type msconfig then enter. Go to start up and un check all boxes, then reboot and see if it works.
Good luck, Scott

[Peter Stahl]

Got my SIL PC working OK again. She still needs a Anti-Virus program so that will be next. Thanks for all you comments and suggestions. You learn a lot more than woodworking on this site.

Pete

[John Hart]

Hi Peter,
Since you got her computer working, I would highly suggest that you get rid of ME as soon as possible. It is prone to every kind of Adware and Spyware out there and has some serious system compatibility problems. I think Microsoft would like to un-invent this version and pretend they never released it. But, if she keeps it, I would also suggest, in addition to better virus protection, to download the free Spybot program as well. Even though spyware and adware is not technically considered as viruses, they will place a demand on the system that will bring the computer to a screaming halt...not to mention they are annoying as all get-out.

[John Miliunas]

Got my SIL PC working OK again. She still needs a Anti-Virus program so that will be next. Thanks for all you comments and suggestions. You learn a lot more than woodworking on this site.

Pete

Hey Pete...Just curious as to what finally turned the trick to get it back up and running?

[Peter Stahl]

Hey Pete...Just curious as to what finally turned the trick to get it back up and running?

Sorry about that, forgot to mention that didn't I. Used the system restore, seemed to do the trick. Now they can get their files they need then we'll get it cleaned up better. She's a RN studying to be a anesthesiologist and her Husband is a Electrical Engineer going to school to be a RN. They have 2 little ones, don't know where they get the time to sleep. Thanks again.

Pete

[John Miliunas]

Good for you but, as I'm sure you know and what the rest of the guys suggested, get the AV software, plus some Anti-Spyware apps on there. You may note I said "apps", as in plural. YES, use MORE than one. The spyware detectors/preventors are much like AV software. One brand will catch 90% of the garbage, the next one will overlap, but catch a partially different section of 90%, as will a third one! Yeah, pain in the butt! I use 3 dif. free apps: Adaware, Spybot and the Beta version from Microsoft. The latter really does an excellent job, BTW, for those anti-MS folks out there who don't think MS can put out a decent piece of software. I do, however, agree that MS did indeed make a huge mistake with Windows ME. Nothing but a dressed up version of previous Win 9x systems, only worse!

[Bart Leetch]

AVG is a good free AV program that you can download google to find it. It works great with Zone Alarm.. But don't use it with XP with the latest up date to XP. It will drastically slow the system down. We are going through the regestry on one of my computers right now removing zone alarm. I still have 2 more computers to do this to.

[Chuck Wintle]

AVG is a good free AV program that you can download google to find it. It works great with Zone Alarm.. But don't use it with XP with the latest up date to XP. It will drastically slow the system down. We are going through the regestry on one of my computers right now removing zone alarm. I still have 2 more computers to do this to.

Bart,
Which version of zone alarm do you use? I have the free version of Zone Alarm with Xp and don't have any problems.