valt said:
My computer was unprotected for a period, and got seriously
infected with Virus and various spyware. I have been unable for
sometime to make a System Restore work at all. I think I succeeded
in getting the computer clear with PC Tools Spydoctor and AVG 8.0,
but in the process have had some unknown changes in registry or
otherwise that make the computer exceedlingly slow and very prone
to locking up.
Running XP Pro SP3 on Pentium 4, 2.67GHz, 512 Mb Ram
Is there anything to do short of reinstalling the operating system?
If those two utilities is all you have used to 'clean' your machine - I
seriously doubt it is clean.
Start with this:
Download, install, run, update and perform a full scan (separately) with the
following two applications (freeware versions are the ones to use for this):
SuperAntiSpyware
http://www.superantispyware.com/
MalwareBytes
http://www.malwarebytes.com/
After performing a full scan with one and then the other and removing
whatever they both find completely, you may uninstall these products,
if you wish.
Reboot.
Start button --> RUN and type in:
%SystemRoot%\system32\net stop wuauserv
--> Click OK.
Start button --> RUN and type in:
%SystemRoot%\system32\regsvr32 %SystemRoot%\system32\wups2.dll
--> Click OK.
Start button --> RUN and type in:
%SystemRoot%\system32\net start wuauserv
--> Click OK.
Download the latest version of the Windows Update agent from here (x86):
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=91237
.... and save it to the root of your C:\ drive. After saving it to the root
of the C:\ drive, do the following:
Close all Internet Explorer Windows and other applications.
Start button --> RUN and type in:
%SystemDrive%\windowsupdateagent30-x86.exe /WUFORCE
--> Click OK.
(If asked, select "Run.) --> Click on NEXT --> Select "I agree" and click on
NEXT --> When it finishes installing, click on "Finish"...
Reboot.
Log on as a user with administrative rights and open Internet Explorer and
visit
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ and select to do a CUSTOM scan...
(Every time you are about to click on something while at these web pages -
first press and hold down the CTRL key while you click on it. You can
release the CTRL key after clicking each time.)
Once the scan is done, select just ONE of the high priority updates
(deselect any others) and install it.
Reboot again.
If it did work - try the web page again - selecting no more than 3-5 at a
time.
The Optional Software updates are generally safe - although I recommend
against the "Windows Search" one. I would completely avoid the Optional
Hardware updates.
Come back - let us know if that worked.
.... Really - come back and let everyone know if that worked.