Likely Porn sites slowed my PC?

Question

Is this possible? I was in HK for business for three weeks and I gave a friend a key to my condo to water my plants and take care of the place. I know she visited adult websites as per the cookies, but after clearing history, deleting temp files and cookies, I feel the PC is running much slower. Does this make sense to anyone? Reinstalling windows is not an option as I no longer have the disk and my antivirus has found nothing problematic, but still....something just isn't right. I am using XP and don't desire to spend money for detective software, but curious of any housekeeping tasks that'll help me troubleshoot?

Answer 1

Adult websites are notorious for installing spyware and adware along with trojans. Most anti-viruses do a crappy job of finding malware. Use the list below to kill all of the invaders since where there is one, there are usually more. Just ignore any steps included that you've already taken though it won't hurt to do them again as malware typically reinstalls itself along with new invaders.
This is just a general list I created to help save some typing.

1st-Empty out ALL temp files. Go to Start-->Control Panel-->Internet Options and in the General tab click the Delete button under Browsing History. Clear cache files, history and cookies.
1st a- Go to Start-->Run and type %TEMP% and click the File tab-->Edit and hit Select All and hit the Delete button (Big red X). If it asks for permission to remove files, click Yes To All or go through one by one. As a rule, TEMP files can be deleted safely since they are TEMPorary to begin with.
2nd-Make sure to get all Windows updates DLed and installed.
3rd:Many versions of malware can, and do, hide in your system restore files. If you are sure you have a malware infection, go to Start-->Control Panel-->System and click on the System Restore tab and put a check in the 'Turn off System Restore' box. Turn it back on after you are clean and create a new Restore Point if you wish.
4th-Go to BitDefender.com for a free virus scan and cleaning. TrendMicro now charges to clean.
5th-Download, install, and update Lavasofts's Ad-Aware (free). Do a full system scan and delete the crap it finds. Do this weekly.
6th-Download, install, and update SaferNetworking's SpyBot Search & Destroy (free). Do a full system scan and delete the crap it finds. Do this weekly
7th-download, install and update AVG Anti-spyware.(Both free and paid versions available).Do a full system scan and delete the crap it finds. Do this weekly.


If you dont have a firewall, GET ONE. ZoneAlarm has a free version.
If you dont have an anti-virus, GET ONE. Both AVG and Avast have a free version but I recommend Nod32. It's the best available and it's not very expensive (about $40 US.) Install, update and do a full system scan at least weekly.

We all hate the 'weekly' stuff but it's necessary in today's net environment. "Get it clean and keep it clean!" should be your motto.

If this doesnt fix the problem, create a free account at techsupportforum.com and download HiJackThis. Just enter the "HiJackThis Log Help" section of the forum. Follow the instructions given and you'll soon be free of malware. There are other sites but this a good, free site! DO NOT use HiJack This unless you are extremely knowledgeable about Windows and it's processes. You can seriously Bork your system. Let the pro's direct you.

For a safer, more secure, easier to use not mention faster browser, try Mozilla FireFox. For an e-mail client try Mozilla Thunderbird.
Good luck and safe surfing!