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View Full Version : Kids + computer = Headache



a-10tankkiller
03-07-2010, 08:15 PM
So one of my sons decided to surf porn while the wife and I were out. When we got home the computer was locked up on some site about hot desires. Had to do a power button shut down and it took longer than usual to start. IE closed itself down when opened 2 or 3 times before staying open, and when clicking search results I would get redirected to some other site. Zone Alarm antivirus didn't pick anything up, and whatever the problem Spybot Search and Destroy was only able to update but wouldn't start up, even though it was showing in task manager as running. I tried Avast and Spybot from a jump drive, but both times the computer locked up. Eventually I was able to get to Safe Mode and use System restore, and all seems well, but I am wondering is there anything I need to do to verify there isn't something still lurking? I have Zone Alarm running again, but it again doesn't show anything, but it didn't previously when something was obviously wrong.
From the "kick me" side of life I stopped being a faithful backup person for some reason late last year, so was really blowing a gasket. I started being good about backups because I knew eventually one of my kids would do me if something didn't fail first, but I became lazy. I went and bought Acronis True Image Home 2010 for $19.99 at Best Buy and will put it on auto form now on!
Thanks for any input!

renovation
03-08-2010, 06:00 AM
run malwarebyte's anti-malware

Prngr44
03-08-2010, 06:52 AM
A buddy's computer was locked down so tight that I ended up having to create one of those Ultimate Boot CDs and booted off that in order to remove the viruses.

I showed the same symptoms. AV appeared to be running, Malwarebytes appeared to be running, but neither of them would launch, etc.

a-10tankkiller
03-08-2010, 07:41 PM
Thanks, somehow malwarebyte's anti-malware was able to run after I downloaded it. It picked up a couple of rootkits(rootkit.tdss, i think it showed) and a variety of other junk. It was able to quarentine and delete, or so it says. I ran it twice and nothing came up the second time through. I ran the deep scan and it took almost 3 hours.
Thanks again!