Eight hundred and three infected files and fifteen hours later, my friend's computer is now fixed. He had a dialer virus, several worms and some other forms of spyware all nestled within his operating system like barnacles on a ship.
The problem was he was on dialup and rather inexperienced at browsing the web, he went to a poker site and that installed the first of his problems. It also opened the door for other files to be downloaded and installed unbeknownst to him. The good thing is I found some excellent tools to help find and avoid getting these problems in the first place which I'll describe below the fold.
Avast! Antivirus Protection - this both scans your existing system and blocks incoming viruses, worms and other nasty things. I found it very easy to install and work with. The free version works great but you can also upgrade for even more features.
Spybot Search and Destroy - This is a program that has been around awhile but it just keeps getting better and better. It thoroughly checks your system and allows you to quarantine delete or move any infected files. Read through the help section before you get started. This one is free too!
AVX ScriptWall - offers a new way to protect your system, it is in effect a firewall for windows scripts, many windows programs use small scripts to communicate with other parts of your hard drive, this simply monitors the communication between files and alerts you to any incongruities. It is also free.
Ok can you tell I'm a cheap bastard? Yup but let's look at the morals of the story:
- computers aren't for everyone
- staying informed can save you time and data in the long run
- it takes 2 pots of coffee, 15 hours, 23 "oh shits", 11 "wtf's", 35 "not agains" and about 40 reboots, to fix a friend's computer