ok, since it seems people post the exact same kinda problem 5x a day and there's no way to do a sticky I made this thread. I, and hopefully others will bump it everyday.

These steps will help 90+% of you:

-goto the control panel, uninstall anything you think looks suspicious or that you are sure you dont want or didnt install (remove anything with search, gator, gain, precise, or internet in the name)
-goto download.com and pick up a copy of spybot search and destroy and/or ad-aware before running these programs, UPDATE THEM.
-goto X:\windows\system32\drivers\etc for win95/98/xp X:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc for winnt/2k (X being the letter of the drive you have windows installed under, usually C) and open up a file called HOSTS with notepad, remove all entries, save and close the file, if you like, google for a program called supertrick (comes with kazaalite) its not actually a program but a very long and editted HOSTS file
-run the imunize function in spybot as installing the plugins to block bad pages and check all the boxes at the bottom
-run both adaware and spybot and remove all problems
-update your antivirus software (if you arent running the managed symantec client on the cd from ncsu you should, download it here http://ncsu.edu/antivirus )
-run windows update and install all critical updates and all recommended updates
-RESTART
-run a full system scan if you suspect a virus in SAFE MODE w/o NETWORKING
-if you use windows xp right click network places and click properties, right click whatever connection you use, click properties, enable the firewall protection or install some other sort of 3rd party firewall if you use xp or some other version of windows
-goto the control panel and then the services menu, disable all services you dont use especially messenger
-if you use winxp and dont use msn messenger goto http://www.pchelplive.com and get their msn removal tool (they also have a lot of great tweaks)
-press the windows key+R, type msconfig, goto the startup tab, remove everything that doesnt HAVE to be running at start up

now for my personal recommendations:
use a browser other than IE or atleast crank up the security settings, I <3 opera, but thats just me, there are plenty of good free browsers like firefox, mozilla, etc find one you like

use a mail client other than outlook express

uninstall kazaa, bearshare, and other p2p garbage, if you're reading this, chances are you arent the most experienced of users are more likely to hurt your system than to find the song you want

oh and one last thing

DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT, FOLLOW ANY POPUP CLAIMING TO REPORT A PROBLEM, CLICK YES TO AN ACTIVE-X CONTROL YOU WERE NOT EXPECTING, OR CLICK YES/OK ON ANY TYPE OF POPUP

hopefully this thread will aleviate viruses, popups, unnecessarily slow performance, etc

4/13/2004 4:11:53 PM

you forgot the first and most important step...

1.) unplug the NIC from the wall

[Edited on April 13, 2004 at 4:53 PM. Reason : n/m]

4/13/2004 4:51:06 PM

Well, here's an idea. Everyone throw in your ideas and we can basically come up with a generic step by step troubleshooting guide, which i think is what smoothcrim was going for.

I'll keep this thread clean of irrelevant posts as well.

[Edited on April 14, 2004 at 11:26 AM. Reason : a]

4/13/2004 5:00:55 PM

i think he's got a good start on it

probably should add links for the common programs:

Spyware removal use both:
--------------------------------
Adaware
http://download.com.com/3000-8022-10214379.html?tag=lst-0-7
Spybot Search & Destroy
http://download.com.com/3000-8022-10194058.html?tag=lst-0-2

*be sure to update the definitions for both of these programs, they are spybot scanners, to stay up to date make sure you update!*

Trojan / Hijacking removal use:
------------------------------------
HijackThis
http://download.com.com/3302-2144_4-10227352.html?pn=1&fb=0

View the log, if you don't know what to fix/delete, visit:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/index.php


Trojan / Hijacking prevention use:
------------------------------------
Spyware Blaster
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

or use an 'alternative Internet browser such as Mozilla/Firefox/Opera/Safari

[Edited on April 13, 2004 at 5:05 PM. Reason : .]

4/13/2004 5:02:36 PM

http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/default.asp
for windows xp:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/windowsxp/print.htm

[Edited on April 14, 2004 at 11:23 AM. Reason : .]

4/14/2004 11:22:01 AM

someone tell me the steps on how to lock host files w/ spybot i also would like to lock my intarwEb options and homepage...i just DL this program and cant find these options

kkthx

4/14/2004 11:48:25 AM

startup spybot, click the immunize tab, click immunize, scroll down, click install, scroll down, check those 3 boxes

4/14/2004 1:39:47 PM

everytime i run my adware scan, i get like 98 items to quarantine and destroy, but for instance if i did it thevery next day, there would be a shitload more, is there a program to alert me when something is trying to install a type of spyware on my computer.

4/14/2004 9:30:30 PM

^See at the bottom of the post by Prospero . 5 up
most of those are probably just cookies.
Go to
tools -> internet options -> privacy tab then set it to medium/ medium-high is probably ok.
then go to the security tab and set that to medium ( you can also set it up to high when you are going to go to some shady websites or just clicking on sites after a google search).

I like to set it to high and click custom level then select prompt for scripting and enable file download- if I am going somewhere not well known.

there is a batch file that will add about 1000 sites to your restricted list in Iexplorer. This won't, of course, stop all spyware/tacking cookies/malware etc.. but it doesn't hurt.

click here. Then scroll down and download IE-SPYAD.exe .
unzip-> double click the .bat file and follow the on screen instructions.
http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~ehowes/resource.htm#IESPYAD

[Edited on April 14, 2004 at 10:27 PM. Reason : link]

4/14/2004 10:12:02 PM

also, if you run the immunize feature in spybot it will prevent a lot of those from reinstalling

4/15/2004 1:06:06 AM

This shit is pissing me off.

I've tried some of the things on these lists... I CANT get hijack this or CWShredder to download (and when it tries it asks me to Open with..."... what do I open it with?

I tried doing the whole safe mode thing and... that didn't work... maybe I wasn't doing it right, I don' tknow.

can anyone fix this?

It's the thing where my homepage resets atleast on every reboot and sometimes more... to some dubass page...

4/15/2004 12:54:19 PM

another good thing to do when you're machine seems to "lag" or run unnecessarily slow is to defrag the hard drive 2-4x depending on how long you've had your particular os installed. also, if you're running FAT32, convert to NTFS (provided your os supports it), I'll post the command to do so as I remember it

4/15/2004 9:50:39 PM

^spend 1 hour ->format, install 2k or xp

i won't touch systems with non-NT based core anymore, not worth it

4/16/2004 11:49:00 AM

Quote :

"It's the thing where my homepage resets atleast on every reboot and sometimes more... to some dubass page... "

i got the same thing going on...it resets to a page that says "home search" with a windows logo and a bunch of bullshit links. the address looks like this:

res://mshp.dll/index.html#37049

...and, whenever i click on something that can't be displayed, where IE normally says "the page cannot be displayed" etc, it gives me the same list of bullshit links every time.

i tried ad-aware and spybot and hijackthis and nothing helps. i went in internet options and found that the bullshit page was set as my default home page, so i clicked reset web settings. next restart it was back to the bullshit page. i dont know wtf is going on...

4/22/2004 12:08:11 PM

try cwshredder

http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/CWShredder.exe

4/22/2004 12:10:54 PM

The problem with any "official" thread in here is that a pretty large portion of people who end up coming in here to ask a question aren't regular Tech Talk people and have no fucking idea that this "official" thread exists, let alone know that they should search for this thread before posting a new one. It's not like there's a FAQ listed at the beginning of this thread asking people to please do a THOROUGH search before asking a question here.

Believe me, I understand both perspectives. I admit I've gotten annoyed at seeing all these repetitive threads asking the same questions about pop-ups and viruses and worms and slow computers.... however I also found one or two instances where I myself asked a question that was answered in a previous thread and I never bothered to search the message board cause I didn't think it was a common issue (or the search engine was down).

I don't know if it's possible with the Wolf Web interface, but you've seen how some other message boards can have "stickies" where a couple threads stay at the very top no matter how old they are, like FAQ threads or "READ THIS BEFORE POSTING" threads. Maybe that would be a good idea here.

(admittedly, I didn't read this WHOLE thread so if someone already mentioned this idea.... boofuckinghoo, so I added another useless post)

5/10/2004 12:26:51 PM

I’m trying to uninstall three programs that I think are fucking up my homepage. They are:
Home Search “Assistent,” Shopping Wizard and Search Extender, but every time I hit the remove button, an alert window pops up and says it was unable to open the shortcut http://looking-for.cc/uninstall/SearchExtender.html

I go to that page and it just says to run Search Extender, but it doesn’t do anything.

Any suggestions?

7/12/2004 9:51:06 PM

Get Spybot and Adaware. May have to run them in Safe Mode (press F8 a few times after the BIOS screen appears). They should be able to help out.

http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022-10122137.html?part=dl-spybot&subj=dl&tag=but
http://download.com/3000-2144-10045910.html?part=69274&subj=dlpage&tag=button

[Edited on July 12, 2004 at 9:59 PM. Reason : asdf]

7/12/2004 9:57:06 PM

res://wkhmp.dll/index.html#37049.

Don't know if this has been in this yet or not or if anyone else has a clue as to what it is.

I've ran Adware, spybot, and a virus check nothing seems to be comign up but this is the worst case of browser changes I've had.

Close IE and reopen it and its res://wkhmp.dll/index.html#37049 everytime... no matter how many times I reset the homepage.

HELP... do I have to run safemode? ... what do I do?

7/16/2004 12:55:03 AM

bttt with some security articles
Threats and Countermeasures: Security Settings in Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=1b6acf93-147a-4481-9346-f93a4081eea8&DisplayLang=en

http://www.dell4me.com/security <- apparantly Dell read this thread

7/30/2004 9:18:19 AM

how do I make the "(boot)" drive my "(system)" drive in XP? The drive that is currently "system" is basically empty and I just want to get rid of it.

10/11/2004 5:37:52 PM

wha?

10/11/2004 9:45:19 PM

10/12/2004 8:32:54 AM

just delete the partition, change the drive letter for bigmaster from e: to c: then remake the partition again

10/12/2004 9:41:30 AM

^this will require partition magic or some other such tool without formatting

10/12/2004 10:51:27 AM

he only has 330mb on that one drive, because it's a separate drive, you can easily delete and format without worrying about the other partitions since they are all separate drives... if they were all on one hard drive or if you REALLY didn't want to format, use partition magic. i suggest just move that 330mb onto a different drive, delete and partition and format and you'll be set.

10/12/2004 11:53:54 AM

Recently i've had a problem getting to certain websites. It is like half of them work, and half don't. I can never connect to google, or hotmail. When I try it says the connection has timed out (using firefox). Also, i sometimes have trouble connecting to aim. Is this a virus I might have thats blocking out websites? or could it be spyware? whats the deal? my roomates internet is working fine. I don't have a firewall running, i'm on xp. please need some help, this is getting so annoying.

2/2/2005 12:42:56 PM

[start] -> "Run..." -> CMD [Enter] -> ipconfig /flushdns [Enter] -> exit [Enter]

2/2/2005 1:41:45 PM

also
[start] -> "Run..." -> CMD [Enter] -> nbtstat -R [Enter] -> exit [Enter]

[Edited on February 2, 2005 at 2:08 PM. Reason : .]

2/2/2005 2:07:49 PM

didnt work.

2/2/2005 2:32:26 PM

try power cycling both router and cable modem

2/2/2005 3:38:03 PM

* Computer Associates (12-month free trial)
http://www.my-etrust.com/microsoft/
* F-secure (6-month free trial)
http://www.f-secure.com/protectyourpc/
* McAfee (90-day free trial)
http://us.mcafee.com/root/campaign.asp?cid=8437
* Panda Software (90-day free trial)
http://www.pandasoftware.com/microsoft/english/
* Symantec (90-day free trial)
http://www.symantecstore.com/dr/v2/ec_dynamic.main?sp=1&pn=46&sid=27674&cache_id=0
* Trend Micro (90-day free trial)
http://www.trendmicro.com/offers/ms-wsc/english.asp

&

http://windowsupdate.syprus.com
- includes links to 100% free software and online scans for all the programs listed in this thread and some (assuming you have network access)

2/2/2005 3:47:13 PM

Okay, I have an annoyance and I guess I suck at using google because I can't find an answer.

At work I contantly have to switch between our office LAN and DSL. I have a data switch to switch between the 2 networks. When I do this I have to go to the ocmmand prompt ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

I know I can write a batch file and execute it everytime I switch, but it's annoying to have to do that. There's got to be an easier way (automatic).

It's on Windows2000

4/28/2005 10:34:32 AM

Windows 2000 is no longer going to receive security updates from microsoft.

6/30/2005 1:22:51 PM

y is that?

6/30/2005 1:27:32 PM

because it's going on 6 years old.

6/30/2005 2:10:07 PM

If your internet explorer isn't being fixed, this tool will probably help:

http://www.download.com/Webroot-Spy-Sweeper/3000-8022_4-10405877.html

I've tried all of the tools, and this is far and away superior. You'll notice after you run your scans that there is an a panel in the program for restoring settings for specific programs (IE), that have been hijacked. It's a 30 day trial, but it's fully functional for those 30 days.

7/2/2005 1:09:48 AM

add ccleaner to the list of useful utilities. cleans out all the trash temp files and repairs registry errors.

7/2/2005 1:21:05 AM

ok i have a problem. My computer was on last night, but I wake up this morning and it is off but the little green power light is blinking. I try to turn it on but nothing happens, then I try unplugging it and plugging it back in, no more blinking green light and still nothing happens when i push the power button. So I am thinking I have a dead power supply (computer going on 4 years old almost constantly on). Is there any way to test to tell if that is the problem without having another power supply, or anything else it might be. I will probably just order a PS this weekend to see if it fixes the problem because they are so cheap and mine was so loud.

7/8/2005 8:34:35 AM

Unplug the power supply from everything. Use a paperclip or wire to connect green jumper pin 14 to a black ground pin (3,5,7,13,15,16,17). Plug the power supply into the wall. If it PSU fan spins up then the power supply is probably not at fault and that it's most likely the motherboard. If it doesn't spin then the power supply is dead.


Or you can buy a nice PSU tester http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/sim-explorer/explore-items/-/B00006B6U0/0/101/1/none/session/ref%3Dpd%5Fsxp%5Fr0/002-6007550-8405652

7/8/2005 8:51:16 AM

ok thanks for the tip, i will try that when i get home from work today

7/8/2005 12:30:22 PM

^, drew...if u make sure its not plugged into the wall and then take the battery out it will reset the system. so make sure its unplugged, then flip the computer over and take out the battery for a min, then plug everything back in...

that tends to solve the problem most of the time!

unless u have a cpu instead of a laptop...in that case, go with ^^

[Edited on July 8, 2005 at 3:53 PM. Reason : .]

7/8/2005 3:52:13 PM

ok i tested that connection and i got 5V across it but the fan didn't cut on, im assuming since it didnt cut on that it is the psu like you said but strange that there was voltage across it.

[Edited on July 8, 2005 at 7:59 PM. Reason : i assumed there wouldnt be any voltage]

7/8/2005 7:59:33 PM

bttt

8/14/2005 9:21:25 AM

i think my cd burner is getting lazy.

the last tracks on any cd i create crackle.

8/14/2005 11:30:02 AM

What program do you use to burn CD's?

8/14/2005 12:33:39 PM

roxio 7 or something

i'm not at my own comp at the moment

i just think my cd burner is shitty, not to mention that my little brother screwed up the tray gear mechanism

8/14/2005 7:48:16 PM

I found a pretty good place to find answers.
http://www.thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=354168

9/30/2005 1:27:44 AM

http://www.helponthe.net/

9/30/2005 10:56:11 PM

is there a virus that makes the computer randomly power down? i clicked on a link i shouldn't have like a dumbass, and that's what happened. now every time i start up the comp it shuts itself off within a couple minutes, and then i have to unplug it and wait a little while before it will turn on again. could this be a virus, or a power supply problem?

10/3/2005 12:03:26 PM