Thanks SafeSurf. Who could have thought that just by clicking an ALLOW box so much damage could be done. I don’t know which security program it was that he clicked that blessed allow button. It just seems so stupid…I’m very careful which sites I visit, what and from where I download, I scan every attachment in emails from friends (at virustotal.com), I update each security program as soon as I connect to the internet for the first time that day. For what just to have somebody (censored words) my computer. I have a funny feeling I will have to reformat. The only good news is that at least I backed everything up!!!
Would the damage have been less if I had made a guest account which is limited? The Desktop is Windows XP Pro with SP3.
I know with higher OS versions, using an Administrator account the damage is higher, but I’m not sure with XP. I do think that adding a password to your machine is an excellent idea…not that this helps you now. I am very sorry to hear of your troubles as it sounds like you have been proactive in trying to keep a clean machine and being safe. Please let us know if there is anything more we can do to help you.
Well my friend has contacted me. He said that he had spent several hours yesterday looking at it (on his own) and nearly all of this morning (with one or two other colleagues). He managed to get it started again by putting the Hard drive into another desktop and using my one as a slave. It was impossible to boot as an OS drive. There were (he didn’t name them all) over 3000 infected files with around 150 different Trojans and viruses. This is what he told me: “Around 30% of the system files have been deleted. Approx 20% of those which remained had been altered and another 5% had had their extensions changed.”
One thing he did say was that he hadn’t seen such an infected and damaged computer like this for several years. He was very surprised at the damage saying that probably as soon as the infection entered, it added itself to the exclusions list of some or all the security programs on the computer. At that point I told him I found AVAST with several shields deactivated.
I asked about the avast.setup making the computer go very slowly. He replied that it was probably due to several factors: 1. that the computer is old, about 6 or 7. 2. The RAM is only 512MB and 3. many programs today require higher specs than my computers.
I compared it to putting the engine of a small car into a truck (if you’re American) or lorry (if you’re English). He said “In a nutshell, yeah, exactly!!”
Anyway, it looks like I have a long job of re-installing everything again when he brings it back!! Security programs first then the other one and a password of my computer.
Anyway thanks for all the help and suggestions.
You’re welcome. Good luck to you putting your machine together. You have your work cut out for you.
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I am very sorry to hear of your troubles as it sounds like you have been proactive in trying to keep a clean machine and being safe. Please let us know if there is anything more we can do to help you.