XP Home strange settings just happend

  • Thread starter Thread starter Subsea.UK
  • Start date Start date
S

Subsea.UK

Within the last 2 weeks when ever i start XP home i get quick launch and a
search mate appearing on the task bar.
I have tried deselecting them but they come back.
I have tried going back on system restore but it keeps telling me i am
unable to restore to this point whichever date i choose !!

I have checked the system with Norton AV and a trojan detector called A2
Guard which find nothing

I am considering reformatting the hard drive and starting from scratch but
i have loads of stuff in outlook that i cannot afford to loose and short of
printing it all out on hard copies i don't know what else to do.

If anyone can help with these points i would be very gratefull.

How do i stop these programs being loaded
Why / where are they loading from.
How can i back up the complete data contents of outlook to reinstall it in a
freshh copy of outlook.
What's the best way to clean and install XP Home on a fresh H/Drive.....ie
do i need to get DOS Disks etc?

Rgds
Kev.......slowly going bald from hair pulling !!!!!!
 
Sorry just realised
Any replies need to remove "rubbish" from start of email address
Cheers
Kev
 
Search for*.dbx and burn the cd of the dbx files.After reformatting the
system, copy them back on the computer.
 
Subsea.UK wrote on 22-Aug-2004 7:28 AM:
Within the last 2 weeks when ever i start XP home i get quick launch and a
search mate appearing on the task bar.
I have tried deselecting them but they come back.
I have tried going back on system restore but it keeps telling me i am
unable to restore to this point whichever date i choose !!

I have checked the system with Norton AV and a trojan detector called A2
Guard which find nothing

I am considering reformatting the hard drive and starting from scratch but
i have loads of stuff in outlook that i cannot afford to loose and short of
printing it all out on hard copies i don't know what else to do.
Click to expand...
There is no point in reinstalling Windows if you don't understand how
you got infected with malware and if you aren't prepared to take all the
steps necessary to protect your system from reinfection. Malware can be
removed without reformatting, but the process varies from simple to
agonizingly tedious to nearly impossible.

Get Ad-aware Personal SE and its associated plugins and install and run
that. Also get Spybot and install and run that. Then post results and
questions in .security.virus for more help or if you don't mind the pain
and suffering of a stupid web board interface, you can find malware help
on one of a thousand web boards devoted to allowing dedicated teenage
malware hunters to help you remove your malware through a tedious
multi-step process of manual log inspections.
 
Cheers for the input, i will look into your suggestions. I would ass though
i alway have the latest Norton AV loaded and run email washer to prevent
email trojans being downloaded but still not shure if this is even
virus/malware related!!

Rgds
Kev
 
Subsea.UK wrote on 22-Aug-2004 11:39 AM:
Cheers for the input, i will look into your suggestions. I would ass though
i alway have the latest Norton AV loaded and run email washer to prevent
email trojans being downloaded but still not shure if this is even
virus/malware related!!
Click to expand...

Anti-virus programs are still ill-suited to removing trojans and
spyware. They are starting to address these malwares because of user
demand, but they hesitated to remove commercial spyware when threatened
with a lawsuit by the developers. They seem to be getting over that fear
as malware is reviled by their entire customer base.

For now, we have to rely on anti-spyware programs and anti-virus
programs since the overlap is currently minimal.
 
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