Our computer is VERY infected with spyware and adware. Windows will not run. What can we do?!?

Question

We need help right away. Last night our computer went nuts. Spybot and Spyware bot can't clean up all of the adware and spyware. The list of parasites includes: Windows.activeDesktop, Windows.explorer, Brave Sentry, Spy Sheriff, smithfraud - C, tibs.vq. There are many others. Both spyware programs will list what is on the computer, but then say they have to close before completing the program.

We can't open any of our documents and can only get to our homepage on Internet Explorer.

Something called a "Modem Event Monitor" keeps popping up, but I know it is bogus too.

What can we do? Please don't answer if you don't know. We need serious help.

Should we try if we can to uninstall everything on our computer including Windows and Internet Explorer?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Yes..ghost the machine with your restore disk..it should cure all

Answer 2

If your computer is hosed as badly as you say, no cleanup software will help. You need to start over. I'm assuming this is a Windows system, since other kinds of computers don't usually get into this kind of state.

If you have data on your computer that you care about saving, and you don't have a good (check it now, on someone else's machine!) backup, then my advice is to find a kind soul who will let you mount your disk in his machine so you can copy off the data (don't boot from your disk!!). It might be best to find a local computer store that can do this, and make a CDROM of your data, and then reinstall their system. Once you've done that, or if you have good backups already, you should wipe your own disk clean (can do that in your friend's machine) by formatting the disk and then installing (or re-installing) the original operating system (which I presume you got with the machine).

Then you should try and figure out what got you into such a mess. It may not be easy, but here are a couple of things to look in to:

Is your computer ever attached to the internet without a firewall? Best is a firewall built into a router, but a software firewall can work.

Do you have good anti-virus and anti-junkware software installed? You should.

Do you have kids who bring home diskettes (or home-written CDROMs) that they exchange with their friends? This can be a disaster, and a real infection path for viruses.

If you persist in using Internet Explorer, is it at least set up so that it won't download ActiveX controls without your approval. (Only very rarely should you approve!! Better is never!!) My advice would be to download and use Firefox (getfirefox.com)

Answer 3

Ok, first thing is, run Spybot and Ad-Aware in SAFE MODE. To get in safe mode, I think you have to click F8 repeatedly when your computer starts up.

Second, I suggest you ask this question in a more "professional" place, like the forums in www.bleepingcomputer.com, they are very good at solving virus/spyware problems.

Third, search for "HijackThis", download it, then run and scan with it, and checkmark the files that look very suspicious and obvious to you. Be careful not to delete system files.

Oh, and DO NOT REFORMAT (aka: reinstalling the OS), unless if you've tried ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING and you're sure there's nothing else you can do. Reformatting is only for something that's the very last resort.

Answer 4

Have you done System Restore? You'll find it under Start-All Programs-Accessories-System Tools-System Restore. Find a restore point that is from before your problem started, this should help.
You CAN to a total format of your hard-drive, but depending on your con-fig, it can be hard to find drivers to all of your devices.
What you can do, is to run Windows in safe mode, and see if you can open any of the mentioned applications. Have you ran RegCleaner on the comp. before? If not, download it from here:
http://www.dewassoc.com/support/useful/regcleaner.htm
After downloading, go to the Tools tab-Registry Cleanup- Do them all. Then it will scan through your register, and remove anything that is "just floating in the system", and its totally safe.
If it helps doing a system restore, get AD Aware SE from download.com, and run it once a week. If you don't have a anti virus, get this at download.com: http://www.download.com/3120-20_4-0.html?tg=dl-20&qt=avg%20free&tag=srch
and get updates at least once a week. Get yahoo toolbar for Explorer or Firefox depending on which browser you are using.
I hope this can get you started, start with System Restore, and then get RegCleaner and ADAwareSE. Things should be better from then on.
Good luck!

Answer 5

i have had this problem before the easiest way is to take your windows program disk and reprogram your hard drive, this will take all the infections away.it also eraces everything on your hard drive,use either the windows xp cd or windows 2000 cd. follow the instructions. when it asks what file system you want use fat file syatem. when you have everything installed. then you can install all the other programs you want. actually the best thing to do is take your computer tower to a computer store they should only charge you less than80.00 to fix the problem. but if you have the windows cd installation disk just do it your self. when you get your windows installed get computer assosiates anti virus trial version its free to try for at least six months. it worked for me.

Answer 6

Here is a start. Brave Sentry and Spy Sheriff are caused by your smitfraud infection. Here is a procedure to remove it.

http://siri.geekstogo.com/SmitfraudFix.php

Also try these to clean up your other infections;

1. Scan for virus and remove (free online scan) with BitDefender

http://www.bitdefender.com/site/home/

2. Scan for trojans and remove (free online scan) with Ewido

http://www.ewido.net/en/

Answer 7

Try another anti spyware program, Windows Defender is very good. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=435bfce7-da2b-4a6a-afa4-f7f14e605a0d&DisplayLang=en
Also do you have anti-virus installed? If not get AVG: http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5

If none of that works, wipe the computer.

Answer 8

Recently I had a somewhat similar problem. My XP was infected by Sdestart virus.
Reformating only may not help. But if you use Killdisk and destroy all in your hard drive....it will work.
Go to www.killdisk.com and follow their instructions.

Answer 9

if you can get ad-aware from lavasoft (a free program)--use it --it is the best out there---also get windows registry repair pro and run that also(also free)---use both of these and your computer will love you long time g i

Answer 10

you must re-install your OS. if you do not know how to, i suggest bringing it to a shop instead of risking the chance of having the computer itself damaged permanently.

hope i helped & good luck, Gina