trojan and norton infested machne

[mr_hops]

help! i have a single mom with a computer
(athlon 512k mem xp pro) that let her young teens surf at will.

i am running all the "sticky" tools mentioned in the forum now but some things puzzle me.

1. there is no admin password on this machine. when i boot safe mode and go to control panel / user accounts there are none , even though there are at least 4 that appear in the normal start boot menu
i want to add a password and am stuck

2. the "search / find files" function doesn't work at all. it looks like it will only search the web .. not the local machine.
any help here?


the norton comment is because she had 2003 version and an upgrade failed. she tried to uninstall and that failed. then she bought norton 2005 and tried to install that which failed also. i personally have never had much luck with norton (except for ghost which i love) and want to get rid of it but cant seem to fully remove it.

to make matters worse her xp pro cd was damaged when left out of it's jacket.. AARRRRRGGGHH....LOL

thanks

[rangeral]

When you go to safe mode menu hitting f8 select "last know good config" see what that does, if not disable system restore and make sure the spyware progs and antivirus are updated then run them a couple of times in safe mode, before that empty your internet files and cookies and run the disk cleanup tool by rite clikking the drive and selecting it.

[mr_hops]

ran various checkers / cleaners.
got it down to grockster and altnet which
keep coming back.

i need to know what "services" may not be starting that may affect user accounts and the search function.

my 2 main issues are

user accounts from control panel opens a box that has a forward button , a back button, and a "return to user accounts home" button. there are NO user accounts shown. there is no option to even create a new user !

what could stop search from showing the menu that allows you to choose what you want to search for? i cannot "search" the local hard drive at ALL


thanks for all the help

[BipolarBill]

This setup is hosed. Find another CD and install or repair it using her product key. By the way - most damaged CDs can be cleaned/polished with various over the shelf products.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

To assign a password to the admin account, click Start > Run > control userpasswords2 and change the password.

Uninstall Norton and use AVG instead:

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

It's free.

[mr_hops]

i can change all passwords EXCEPT admin from that screen. if i try to do admin and the ctrl-alt-del i just get task manager. any ideas?


it appears that the search and "user" problems all started with the aborted norton removal. i gather that during a virus scan system restore was turned off. when nortons hung during the virus removal stage she rebooted. then tried to uninstall 2003. she then tried to install 2005. i think i'm at the point that a reinstall is all i can recommend.

i now found out that she may not have a legit xp..
she sent me all her cd's and they are all original except for the xp (none sent)
i now learned from her she was given "special instructions" for doing service packs and updates.
gotta get to the bottom of that


if she buy's a retail version will (or should) a "repair" install (from the link above) work? (retain users and files ?)

[BipolarBill]

Originally posted by mr_hops
if she buy's a retail version will (or should) a "repair" install (from the link above) work? (retain users and files ?)

Yes - absolutely. My only concern is that the woman knows nothing about her own PC (not unusual). You have to get the same version that was installed on the PC and there's no easy way to find out what she has.

You may have to install from scratch. Whatever you do, don't format and the files will be saved.

[mr_hops]

i thought that running a virus checker from administrator would check all user files also. is there a way to do that? i find that each user has to run the program or trojans remain on the machine.

[BipolarBill]

If you run it in an admin account, it should scan all files. How many users are have accounts on this PC?

If she has the Norton 2005 CD, you can boot from it and scan that way to bypass account restrictions. Just be sure to initialize the network and update definitions.

[mr_hops]

the admin account seems to be part of whats hosed on this machine (trojan / virus / bad norton use ??) the command you recommended to change passwords will not work on administrator. (i suspect that some how the admin account has been crippled) all this is moot. since she doesn't know the validity of her xp she just wants this fixed. i am going now to by a retail xp pro. i am going to ghost the current hard drive and then try a repair install what folders shoul i copy to the "spare" drive to ensure all user files can be restored if i have to do a FULL install ?
and can they be done from a new account with admin rights?



ps. thaks a million for your help with a xp newbie

[BipolarBill]

First make sure that she is running XP Pro. Right-click My Computer and select Properties. It's right there. If she has a previous Windows version on the original CD, that qualifies her for the Upgrade version of Pro. That will work fine.

There is no danger in repairing. No personal data is destroyed. The same can be said for simply reinstalling XP to the same drive. As a matter of fact, you can use Home for that. Just be sure NOT to format. You can also use an OEM version to repair or install.

[mr_hops]

says xp pro build 2600 i thought a oem version wouldn't work correctly for a repair.lol


thanks a lot

[BipolarBill]

Yah - the OEM version will repair it.

[mr_hops]

did the repair with a new copy xppro

all is well !

user accounts are back and search functions correctly


thanks again for you input !

[G]

In this day-and-age it is imperative to have an AV program. Unfortunately, some AV programs are better than others.

Now the best AV program around is Kaspersky’s Personal V5+. It will cost to purchase on a yearly basis but considering the seriousness of worms, virii and trojans I would not use anything else or recommend anything else. It comes top in all the head-to-head AV mag tests.

Going for cheap or freeware AV programs and you are asking for trouble in the long run as they do not cut it. Kaspersky send out updates up to 8 times a day and supply definition files to some of the major AV software developers, e.g., F-Secure. I think I’m correct in saying that they will have a fix for a worm etc within 15 minutes and ready for download. I think this is excellent customer service.

Sygate is meant to be one of the best firewall programs around and it is free.

Ideally get an all-in-one hardware firewall, modem and router, sooner rather than later.

Norton is excellent when it works but is easily damaged as you have found out. Keep away from it. It's more trouble than it is worth and Kaspersky is superior to any other AV program.

Also install M$ Anti-spyware program, update and run. Disable system restore too.