Viruses - help!

[pipes]

Hi all

I seem to have contracted at least 8 viruses on my laptop, I don't know whether I've had them a while or not but it first came to my attention yesterday when I was browsing a website (not that sort!) and my internet browser went crazy and started opening loads of new tabs, i was eventually able to shut it down. Then i kept having a pop-up notice come up saying I have the virus 'win32.zafi.b'. Now, I have no virus protection (yes I know, i'm stupid) and I've tried downloading AVG, StopZilla and 'perfect defender' (whatever that is) and all of them just tell me I have viruses or infections but won't help me do anything about them unless I register with them. Now, aside from me being stingy, I can't do this as one of the viruses is one that takes sensitive information (ie credit card details) which i'd need to use to register with the various anti virus programs. Also, one of the viruses is stopping me from being able to use system restart (im on XP) - this is the first thing i tried as it worked when i previously had a virus. so im at a bit of a dead end... help, please??

Thanks in advance

Pipes

 

[dave666]

avast is completely free for 2 months before you have to register which is also free. Try Malwarebytes anti malware along side.

 

[pipes]

avast is completely free for 2 months before you have to register which is also free. Try Malwarebytes anti malware along side.

One of the viruses I seem to have is stopping me from accessing certain websites, avast's being one of them.

I get this message when I try to go on it:

Failed to Connect

The connection was refused when attempting to contact www.avast.com

Though the site seems valid, the browser was unable to establish a connection.

Edit: Likewise for malwarebytes

I'm stumped

 

[dave666]

try this link http://www.download.com/avast-Home-...-AvastHome&subj=dl&tag=button&cdlPid=10888427

it may work?

 

[Steven]

Try this thread - http://www.talkingballs.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17825 :icon_wink

 

[Macky]

Reformat the laptop and start from scratch again, trying to do anything else will just end in tears and is NOT worth the headaches.
And when you have a clean slate to start from, don't be so stupid as to have no AV.

 

[joe501]

try to download the install files for AVG from another computer, and transfer to yours using memory stick/email?

 

[Matt_B]

try to download the install files for AVG from another computer, and transfer to yours using memory stick/email?

The problem with that is he then runs the risk of his memory stick becoming infected, which would be a disaster. As Macky said, start from scratch, it's the most painless way.

 

[Steven]

Sounds like this is the bastard. :icon_conf

http://www.viruslist.com/en/alerts?alertid=203996089

 

[Yorkshire Vixen]

id never heard of kaspersky until friday but then had to run their scan for infections

 

[Macky]

try to download the install files for AVG from another computer, and transfer to yours using memory stick/email?

It's a futile exercise unfortunately.
Even if he did manage to get AV software installed and even if he did manage to remove all of the infections, the Windows installation itself is most likely going to be trashed.
The phrase "closing the stable door after the horse has bolted" is very apt here.

The easiest, most painless solution is to back up any essential files and reinstall the operating system.

 

[pipes]

It's a futile exercise unfortunately.
Even if he did manage to get AV software installed and even if he did manage to remove all of the infections, the Windows installation itself is most likely going to be trashed.
The phrase "closing the stable door after the horse has bolted" is very apt here.

The easiest, most painless solution is to back up any essential files and reinstall the operating system.

Managed to install avast! from the direct link to download.com (thank you) and have been able to remove lots of the bad stuff. There's still things on the laptop but it's useable at the moment.

Macky i'll probably end up reinstalling when I have a bit more time to get hold of an external hard drive so i can back up. It's all gone very slow but it's working again so that's the main thing. Thanks for all suggestions and tips guys

 

[Matt_B]

Managed to install avast! from the direct link to download.com (thank you) and have been able to remove lots of the bad stuff. There's still things on the laptop but it's useable at the moment.

Macky i'll probably end up reinstalling when I have a bit more time to get hold of an external hard drive so i can back up. It's all gone very slow but it's working again so that's the main thing. Thanks for all suggestions and tips guys

The problem is you won't have gotten everything, so anything you email, or burn to CD, or copy to an external device is a potential and probable time bomb infected with the virus.