Larz said:
My mother has a compaq running windows vista that is a few years old.
Her free antivirus stopped working and she said that she couldn't read
her AOL mail and there seemed to be a security problem.
I installed norton antivirus which removed 3 viruses and a bunch of spyware.
The machine seemed fine, but when I brought it back to her house the mouse
no longer worked. She says she bought a new USB mouse but it still doesn't
work. Any advice on what to try ? Do I need to send away for install disks
and reinstall everything ?
Download the 237MB file here, use Imgburn or Nero, to convert the
ISO9660 file, into a bootable CD.
http://support.kaspersky.com/viruses/rescuedisk/main?qid=208286083
"Iso image of Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10 (237 MB)"
When that disc boots, it will attempt to get virus updated.
(Virus definitions added, since the ISO9660 CD image was mastered.)
It will use the Ethernet cable, use DHCP and try and get an IP address
from the modem/router.
The CD does not have "dialup networking" (or at least, the last time
I used it, it didn't have dialup). It may work with Ethernet or perhaps
Wifi. The virus definition can be 10MB or more, and not that pleasant
for an end-user on dialup to get. And the 237MB download, if you're
on dialup, is best done at the public library.
After you've prepared the CD, you boot the computer with it.
The CD contains a built-in Linux operating system. And
cute looking desktop. It even has a web browser, such that
as it's scanning, if you're bored, you can surf the web
at the same time.
Once that's running, you can tick the partitions to scan,
and see what additional malware is hiding there. It takes
2 hours to scan 40GB or so. The more cores the processor has,
the faster the scanner can run.
When it's finished, check the "report" and see the names
of the guilty parties. Don't quarantine or remove anything
just yet. Occasionally, an AV like that, removes system files,
and then you can't boot Windows any more. So take your time
doing the analysis.
There really isn't a good reason for the mouse to stop working.
Unless the malware has installed a shim in a protocol stack.
But that would be more appropriate for sniffing the keyboard
(as a key logger). Mouse clicks aren't much good for anything
Not worth stealing.
*******
Malwarebytes (MBAM) is another free eradicator, but it runs
within Windows, and works best if launched from Windows.
"Cunning" malware will recognize the executable, and try
to prevent it from running. If that happens, that's also proof
you're still infected. The free version, is for "after the fact"
cleanup. The paid version, also runs resident to provide protection.
But in this case, the free version is plenty.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malwarebytes
Paul
