Save your money, more comments on that later, for now lets address your
spyware and virus removal problems.
Forget a2 for now, it looks like a decent program but if you have run it
several times and it has removed all it can but still tells you that
there are other pests on the computer try another removal tool. In my
earlier post I referred you to what are probably amongst the best
adware/spyware removal tools available and both are free. Once again:
Ad-Aware Personal
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
(Ad-Aware personal is the free version, others are pay for.)
Spybot Search & Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html
Download them and run them. Both of these programs are (relatively)
easy to use. Remember that these programs, like anti-virus programs,
use "definition" files to identify pests. It's sort of like a
"dictionary", if the pest is in the "dictionary" the program will
identify and know how to remove it. If it isn't in the "dictionary" it
won't identify and remove it. As new threats and pests are constantly
being sent out on their merry way across the internet the "dictionary"
needs to be updated to inform the program about them. When you download
and install Ad-Aware and Spybot they may not necessarily include the
latest available definitions, so use the program "update" feature to get
the latest files available.
If you are still left with virus or others after you run these programs
then you will have to manually remove them, unless you have an ALREADY
installed and up to date anti-virus program on the computer. I said
ALREADY installed and that is important! It is generally bad practice
to install anti-virus programs to try and remove an existing virus,
almost all AV software instructs you to that before you install it.
Some virus are pretty tame and innocuous, others are extremely
destructive and if they detect that AV software is about to be installed
it may trigger a payload delivery mechanism and cause total mayhem! You
MUST remove these nasty virus manually prior to installing the AV
software. Some AV software will instruct you to shut down the computer
and reboot from the install cd so that it may do a preliminary virus
scan on the drive(s) while Windows is down and verify that the most
destructive virus are not already present.
If you don't have any anti-virus software on the computer you can do an
on-line scan from some of the major AV software companies, Symantec has
a good on-line scan tool:
http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/?productid=symhome&langid=ie&venid=sym
(I think you need to use Internet Explorer for the tool to work properly)
If virus are detected research them and follow the removal instructions.
For some of the more difficult virus Symantec makes free removal tools
available to everyone. See here:
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/
http://www.symantec.com/search/
Some pests can be quite stubborn and difficult to get rid of. In these
cases sometimes it's easier to boot the computer to Safe Mode or to use
the XP msconfig tool and use it to disable all but Microsoft services
(non essential services). Once done you then enable the services again.
msconfig is available here:
http://www.gwynfryn.co.uk/downloads.htm or directly here:
http://www.gwynfryn.co.uk/downloads/msconfig.zip
Download msconfig and place it in your System32 folder and use it to
look at or disable the startup entries for troubleshooting purpose. To
start msconfig, after you have placed it in the System32 folder just
type msconfig in the Start>Run box. You should not use msconfig to
permanently disable startup entries, use the other methods that I
described in my first post instead.
Now, as for that $29 speedupmypc.2... Save your money, that thing is
probably just slightly above snake oil if not outright snake oil! The
reason your pc is slow is not due to something it can fix, it's because
you have an infestation of virus and spyware and probably a pile of
valid but completely unnecessary programs and services starting when you
start the computer. A few extracts from their program homepage:
* Recover and optimize memory immediately at the click of a button.
Absolute bunk! Windows 2000 needs no memory optimizer! If anything
that thing will probably use MORE memory.
* Unleash your CPU and assign more processing power to the applications
that you are currently using.
More bunk! The Windows 2000 Executive Services does that and it doesn't
like anyone fiddling with its duties! If you want to "Unleash" your CPU
keep the pc clean and lean.
* Enhance and improve startup times
Probably, but that is easy to do manually.
* Prevent and recover quickly from computer crashes.
" By informing you when resources are hitting critical levels,
SpeedUpMyPC enables you to take action before your computer crashes or
stops responding."
Yet more stupid bunk! If anything that will probably cause the computer
to use MORE resources and cause crashes for nothing! Windows 2000 is
VERY stable and it doesn't crash for nothing.
So, my verdict... the thing will probably do more harm than good so save
your money.
Updating your Windows 2000 to SP4 is probably a good idea also but MAKE
ABSOLUTELY SURE that you have no pests and virus on the computer before
you do so. If you have any questions or need additional help post again.
Regards;
John
