&*^%$!!!

[Blake Noble]

See that? That's what I'm going to do with my virus-infested PC.

Anyone here have any idea why I have to turn my computer off 3 times or more in order for the f@#king thing to boot up, or why when I use Google, it doesn't take me to, say, the Wikipedia page I wanted but websites with the names of "gooooosearch.com" or "breast-site.net?"

I hate Windows. I've been trying for months to fix this, with no luck.

I'm going to buy a Mac next. I can't stand Micro$h! anymore.

[Blake Noble]

Perhaps I should kill it with fire ...

... before I give my life to the AppleLord?

[Justin Bimmer]

do you visit lots of "free porn" sites by chance?

[Blake Noble]

do you visit lots of "free porn" sites by chance?

I don't.

Remember the asshole who totaled the Firebird? I found his username and password for one of those sites saved into my list of saved passwords in Firefox.

(oh and inb4: delete system32, if anyone wanted to try that gag.)

Edited September 3, 2009 by whiteknight

[FAPTurbo]

Step 1: Download a new browser, and helpful utilities:

FireFox

or

Google Chrome

*I recommend Chrome if you don't need plugins.

&

AVG Antivirus

or

Avira Antivirus

&

Hijack This

&

Ad-Aware

Step 2: Run this cool $h!, preferably in Safe Mode (tap F8 key when booting up)

Step 3: ??????

Step 4: Profit.

If there's nothing too important on the computer, or you can back things up easily, I'd recommend a full system reformat. Just make sure what you're saving isn't infected. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever,ever, never, ever, never, ever, ever, ever save your passwords on a browser, especially if it's IE. In fact, never use IE.

Edited September 3, 2009 by Captainbooyah

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

My friend... Once you go Apple, you'll never go back.

I defected a few years ago and don't regret it a bit.

[Justin Bimmer]

I have used both Apple and Windows based computers all my life. Both are ok. It just depends on what you do with them. If you like games and stuff, windows. If you like iEVERYTHING mac

[Blake Noble]

Step 1: Download a new browser, and helpful utilities:

FireFox

or

Google Chrome

*I recommend Chrome if you don't need plugins.

One step ahead of you here. I've been using Firefox for a while now and upgraded to the latest version a few weeks ago, hoping that it might would fix some of the problem.

&

AVG Antivirus

or

Avira Antivirus

&

Hijack This

&

Ad-Aware

Step 2: Run this cool $h!, preferably in Safe Mode (tap F8 key when booting up)

Step 3: ??????

Step 4: Profit.

Done and done.

Oh, another cute little piece of info I forgot: 90 percent of all of my document and file names are blue.

[FAPTurbo]

There's a myriad of advice out there for situations like yours. Maybe running Firefox in safe mode may stop any redirecting on Google.

Really, the best way is to go through it yourself slowly, and use common sense. This stuff happens to the best of us.

[siegen]

See that? That's what I'm going to do with my virus-infested PC.

Anyone here have any idea why I have to turn my computer off 3 times or more in order for the f@#king thing to boot up, or why when I use Google, it doesn't take me to, say, the Wikipedia page I wanted but websites with the names of "gooooosearch.com" or "breast-site.net?"

I hate Windows. I've been trying for months to fix this, with no luck.

I'm going to buy a Mac next. I can't stand Micro$h! anymore.

What OS are you using? XP, Vista?

Viruses and spyware seem to be one of the number one touted reasons to using Mac OS X over Windows. This reason has some legitimacy to it, although it is overblown. Having used both Macs (about every version since System 6) and Windows 95 through 7 for the last 10 years (mostly XP), I can hands down say Mac is entirely irrelevant for a computer-savvy person. I've never really used anti-virus either, as it is also pointless for a smart computer user.

It only takes a few simple and easy steps to protect yourself from viruses and spyware, even on an older OS such as XP. And you don't even have to give up your porn addiction! Firstly, most viruses and spyware on a PC are a result of user downloads. Chances are some of your afflictions fall under this category. You have to know what to run and what not to run.

There is also a good portion of viruses and spyware that can come from malicious websites without any user interaction, including the search engine hack that you are experiencing. To protect yourself from this, use Firefox 3.5 with the NoScript plug-in. This blocks all javascripts by default, and you can create a whitelist. Using the AdBlock Plus plug-in is also great as it blocks 95% or so of ads you see, further reducing the possibility of your browser loading an ad with a malicious javascript hidden in it (be sure to subscribe to the "EasyList"). These combined will make you an Internet superhero, so long as you don't make any dumb decisions such as downloading a file or just accepting all dialog boxes by default.

Edited September 3, 2009 by siegen

[Justin Bimmer]

One step ahead of you here. I've been using Firefox for a while now and upgraded to the latest version a few weeks ago, hoping that it might would fix some of the problem.

Done and done.

Oh, another cute little piece of info I forgot: 90 percent of all of my document and file names are blue.

do you visit lots of "free porn" sites by chance?

J/K thought it was funny to repeat myself.

[siegen]

One step ahead of you here. I've been using Firefox for a while now and upgraded to the latest version a few weeks ago, hoping that it might would fix some of the problem.

Firefox alone will help but won't stop all attacks. There are still some javascript loopholes that will allow spyware onto your system. Using NoScript takes care of this.

Also, as it stands your best option is to reinstall Windows. When your OS has become as infected as you described, it is nearly impossible to clean it entirely. If you can, get a new hard drive and load a fresh version of Windows onto that, then manually pull your files over from the old hard drive (no executable files, just your documents, media, etc).

Edited September 3, 2009 by siegen

[FAPTurbo]

YJ, here's a couple things that may help you out on the 'blue text' deal.

http://www.computing.net/answers/windows-2...-blue/1079.html

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qi...17083224AA0DeO6

Siegen makes great points all around. Windows has problems because people don't take the simple, necessary precautions to avoid getting crap on their systems.

Plus, the new OS from Apple includes a pseudo-antivirus program. So don't think Apple is all that and a bag of chips either, because they sold themselves on having no viruses, and with their increased marketshare, that will change.

[Drew Dowdell]

The documents being blue means they are compressed. If you highlight them, right click, properties, you can uncompress them if you wish.

Oh yeah..... Windows 7 64bit FTW!

[Blake Noble]

What OS are you using? XP, Vista?

Windows XP SP3.

Basically, the last version of XP before they brought out Vista.

Viruses and spyware seem to be one of the number one touted reasons to using Mac OS X over Windows. This reason has some legitimacy to it, although it is overblown. Having used both Macs (about every version since System 6) and Windows 95 through 7 for the last 10 years (mostly XP), I can hands down say Mac is entirely irrelevant for a computer-savvy person. I've never really used anti-virus either, as it is also pointless for a smart computer user.

It's not just that I want to get away from Microsoft, Macs are great for recording music. Trent Reznor used Macs to record just about every NIN album, for example. Garageband is a great, basic recording program and it comes free with the computer. That's a big reason for me wanting to make the switch.

It only takes a few simple and easy steps to protect yourself from viruses and spyware, even on an older OS such as XP. And you don't even have to give up your porn addiction!

Carelessly throwing taboo aside, I only buy porn in physical form. Free porn is the death of a PC. Anyone who has any remote form of mental capacity knows this.

Firstly, most viruses and spyware on a PC are a result of user downloads. Chances are some of your afflictions fall under this category. You have to know what to run and what not to run.

There is also a good portion of viruses and spyware that can come from malicious websites without any user interaction, including the search engine hack that you are experiencing. To protect yourself from this, use Firefox 3.5 with the NoScript plug-in. This blocks all javascripts by default, and you can create a whitelist. Using the AdBlock Plug plug-in is also great. These combined will make you an Internet superhero, so long as you don't make any dumb decisions such as downloading a file or just accepting all dialog boxes by default.

I'm going to follow up on some of those suggestions. Thanks, siegen.

[capriceman]

spybot search and destroy owns

as well as malwarebytes

dont by a over priced mac just be smart or try Ubuntu with the apple theme its much better than osx I dont run AV or own any AV and i have never gotten viruses

If you change any of the crap below remember after you save that file go to start run then CMD

type the following

ipconfig /release

(hit enter)

ipconfig /flushdns

(hit enter)

ipconfig /renew

(Hit enter)

then restart

enable hidden folders and look for C:\windows\system32\driver\etc then open the Host file with note pad

these are the only things that should be in there, you can do redirection in there so if some one types in Google it goes to yahoo and yahoo goes to Google its pretty awesome.

# Copyright © 1993-2006 Microsoft Corp.

#

# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.

#

# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each

# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should

# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.

# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one

# space.

#

# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual

# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.

#

# For example:

#

# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server

# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost

::1 localhost

[Drew Dowdell]

Carelessly throwing taboo aside, I only buy porn in physical form. Free porn is the death of a PC. Anyone who has any remote form of mental capacity knows this.

Just need to know where to go.

[FAPTurbo]

Free porn is the death of a PC. Anyone who has any remote form of mental capacity knows this.

Wrong! That is WRONG! Free porn is the reason why PC's are getting so much better. If it weren't for the access to free porn, people would have no real interest in computers, and not buy them! Without people buying PC's for porn we wouldn't have nice things like:

Multi-Core Prcessors - Accessing porn faster!

Triple-Channel DDR3 RAM - Running more porn processes and windows at once!

Multi-Terabyte Hard Drives - Storing more porn!

Graphics Cards - Porn... in high def!!!

Multi-Channel Onboard Sound - Porn in Dolby 7.1!

Wireless Keyboards and Mice - Porn on your couch or bed!!

[PurdueGuy]

I'm a fan of just backing up files and wiping the hard drive clean, then doing a fresh OS install to get rid of viruses. Many viruses will block anti-virus programs from removing them, so unless the program is there to block the virus to begin with, it doesn't do much good half the time.

Or you can overpay for a mac and be a little safer, but there are viruses for macs, just not as many, at least not yet.

[Blake Noble]

Four detections and four warnings so far using Avira, and this makes the second scan I've had to do. First scan, it caught a trojan horse lurking in my OS, so I deleted that file and restarted my PC. It also caught another t-h when I opened up Firefox. Google seems to be working normally ... so far.

Edited September 3, 2009 by whiteknight

[Justin Bimmer]

Wrong! That is WRONG! Free porn is the reason why PC's are getting so much better. If it weren't for the access to free porn, people would have no real interest in computers, and not buy them! Without people buying PC's for porn we wouldn't have nice things like:

Multi-Core Prcessors - Accessing porn faster!

Triple-Channel DDR3 RAM - Running more porn processes and windows at once!

Multi-Terabyte Hard Drives - Storing more porn!

Graphics Cards - Porn... in high def!!!

Multi-Channel Onboard Sound - Porn in Dolby 7.1!

Wireless Keyboards and Mice - Porn on your couch or bed!!

OF BEST POST EVER!

[Croc]

Yeah, this is why you don't let other people use your personal computer without your being present. You have at least one trojan horse-type virus, so you have your work cut out for you to rid it from your computer. Best start now.

[FAPTurbo]

Four detections and four warnings so far using Avira, and this makes the second scan I've had to do. First scan, it caught a trojan horse lurking in my OS, so I deleted that file and restarted my PC. It also caught another t-h when I opened up Firefox. Google seems to be working normally ... so far.

Sounds like good progress. Now that things are a bit more stable, I'd suggest figuring out which files you want to save and put them in a folder for backup. Make sure they're scanned as they go in. Same thing goes if you want to save bookmarks - their library can be exported as an .html file. Burn them to CD/DVD or save to an external drive.

After that, it's best to do a full reformat of your computer and start from scratch, with all the updates and the antivirus and anti-spyware programs running right at the start.

Edited September 3, 2009 by Captainbooyah

[siegen]

Windows XP SP3.

Basically, the last version of XP before they brought out Vista.

It's not just that I want to get away from Microsoft, Macs are great for recording music. Trent Reznor used Macs to record just about every NIN album, for example. Garageband is a great, basic recording program and it comes free with the computer. That's a big reason for me wanting to make the switch.

Carelessly throwing taboo aside, I only buy porn in physical form. Free porn is the death of a PC. Anyone who has any remote form of mental capacity knows this.

I'm going to follow up on some of those suggestions. Thanks, siegen.

I also use XP SP3 and have been for quite some time on my main PC. I used 7 for a few months but recently switched back do to some incompatibilities with older programs. 7 is an excellent OS and I may switch to it in the future, btw.

I had a little run-in with some nasty virus/spyware that I couldn't eliminate a while back. It was caused by a malicious script being run behind an ad on an otherwise non-malicious website (it happened to be Mininova). That's what sparked me to start using NoScript on all my PCs (and recommending it to friends). Prior to that I was under the assumption that javascript (or another scripting language; perhaps even flash) wouldn't be able to do harm to me simply from browsing a website.

NoScript blocks all scripts, including Java, Javascript, Flash, etc, by default. Unfortunately there isn't a whitelist that you can just sign up with; you have to build your own. When you visit a website that uses a scripting language such as Javascript, a bar will open up at the bottom of the screen and you can select individual domains to whitelist. For example, I can whitelist cheersandgears.com, but blacklist any tracking domains that are used on this site, such as Google Analytics. After a while using it you will have all of your commonly visited sites whitelisted. You can also choose to globally enable all scripts, but that sort of defeats the purpose.

Edited September 3, 2009 by siegen

[siegen]

Wrong! That is WRONG! Free porn is the reason why PC's are getting so much better. If it weren't for the access to free porn, people would have no real interest in computers, and not buy them! Without people buying PC's for porn we wouldn't have nice things like:

Multi-Core Prcessors - Accessing porn faster!

Triple-Channel DDR3 RAM - Running more porn processes and windows at once!

Multi-Terabyte Hard Drives - Storing more porn!

Graphics Cards - Porn... in high def!!!

Multi-Channel Onboard Sound - Porn in Dolby 7.1!

Wireless Keyboards and Mice - Porn on your couch or bed!!

Lol. Don't forget wireless keyboards and mice, so you can watch porn on your bed.

[A Horse With No Name]

See that? That's what I'm going to do with my virus-infested PC.

Anyone here have any idea why I have to turn my computer off 3 times or more in order for the f@#king thing to boot up, or why when I use Google, it doesn't take me to, say, the Wikipedia page I wanted but websites with the names of "gooooosearch.com" or "breast-site.net?"

I hate Windows. I've been trying for months to fix this, with no luck.

I'm going to buy a Mac next. I can't stand Micro$h! anymore.

I've used Macs since the Internet began with no antivirus software. I've never had a Virus that I know of.

Good to know you've come over to the dark side.

Apple products are great...but pricey...

Chris

[Blake Noble]

Another question: how do I access the USERDATA folder? It seems that there might be some files in there I want to get to (virus scans show that there are a bunch of mp3 files in there of old recordings I made, etc.).

The count, btw, is at 9 detections and counting.

Edited September 3, 2009 by whiteknight

[Intrepidation]

You only get viruses if you go places/download thing you shouldn't. Your friend's stupidity is not your computer's fault.

With that said, sounds like he fubared it pretty good.

Also, make no mistake: while Macs have less viruses that effect them, they do exist.

Only Apple product I'm considering is an iPhone but I'm not ready to thanks to AT&T's price gouging. $70 a month is the cheapest plan for that thing. Also it can't send picture message...wtf.

[Blake Noble]

Avira finished its scan and found a total of 10 detections, all of which were corrected. The grand total comes in at 12 issues, again all of them were corrected. After that, I ran HijackThis and no issues were returned. Finally, I ran CCleaner to clean up any mess left over after I uninstalled Norton AntiVirus 2005 (ancient, useless) and after Avira done its job.

Fingers crossed.

Oh, and I think I'll be picking this up by next month, as a birthday gift to myself: http://cgi.ebay.com/Apple-iBook-G3-Laptop-...id=p3286.c0.m14

The only thing I don't much like is the skimpy harddrive space. My iPod touch has only 2 gigs less and I filled that up completely with music and only three, very small apps (a piano app, a drumkit app, and the Pandora radio app). On the computer I'm using, my iTunes checks in at almost 20 gigs alone.

Edited September 3, 2009 by whiteknight

[Intrepidation]

Now that's a price I would buy a Mac for!

[Blake Noble]

Now that's a price I would buy a Mac for!

I don't mind something used so long as it works as intended.

As for that particular seller, most of their iBooks are going for $225 each and they were all used in a classroom setting, meaning wear and tear should be to a minimum.

Edited September 3, 2009 by whiteknight

[Blake Noble]

Here we go: http://cgi.ebay.com/Apple-iBook-Laptop-14-...id=p3911.c0.m14

Just a few bucks more, but you get a 60 gig harddrive. I think that will be decent enough. It might could use some extra RAM, but ...

[capriceman]

oh god DO NOT GET THAT!!!! its a G3 Thats still power pc stuff. If you get a MAC make sure it has something intel in it so its up to date. That one in the link was released in like 2002

[Justin Bimmer]

oh god DO NOT GET THAT!!!! its a G3 Thats still power pc stuff. If you get a MAC make sure it has something intel in it so its up to date. That one in the link was released in like 2002

Yeah, that stuff is old. I still says "iBook" on it

[Blake Noble]

oh god DO NOT GET THAT!!!! its a G3 Thats still power pc stuff. If you get a MAC make sure it has something intel in it so its up to date. That one in the link was released in like 2002

The one in the last link? It looks to be one of the last iBook G4s, which had a revised 14 inch screen and more harddrive space versus the G3, which is what was in the first link, that came out in mid-2005. That's how old my PC is.

[FAPTurbo]

I would really reconsider your idea. Anything Apple should have 'Intel Inside' because then you'll be able to run Windows on it as well.

A better choice would be a Linux/Windows dual boot setup. Linux is free, and will be speedy on your current hardware, and Windows will be there for compatibility.

[Blake Noble]

Well I did come across a MacBook on eBay earlier with a buy-it-now price of $399 with free shipping. I'll keep an eye out for a deal like that.

This computer, for the first time since ... damn ... December of last year I think, is finally running decently. Now it stays on the welcome screen for all of 10 to 15 seconds and is ready to go in less than 3 minutes. That was just now and my fingers are crossed it stays that way. Before, it would stay on the welcome screen for up to 5 minutes and finish booting up in 10.

So, knock on wood, everything finally seems normal again.

I'm still not running from getting a Mac, though. I've wanted a laptop for a few years now, so that I'm not limited to recording music in my living room. Like I said, Macs are great for that purpose. I really only use my PC for the internet, iTunes, and recording, as well as writing occasionally. I've got a 360 for games (ironic I guess; maybe Apple will build another game console, ha).

Back to this, though:

Another question: how do I access the USERDATA folder? It seems that there might be some files in there I want to get to (virus scans show that there are a bunch of mp3 files in there of old recordings I made, etc.).

Thoughts? I also find it strange it shows the folder is empty when it clearly has files in there.

[FAPTurbo]

Thoughts? I also find it strange it shows the folder is empty when it clearly has files in there.

That might be because they are hidden. All you need to do is go in any folder in your computer, click 'tools' in the top toolbar, and then hit 'folder options' ... Click the 'view' tab, and then go down the menu until you find a button that says 'show hidden files and folders' . Click it, apply, and you should hopefully find what you're looking for in User Data.

And if your PC needs are relatively limited, then go for a Linux distro like Ubuntu. It'll be really fast, and it'll let you use Open Office for documents, and Firefox for web browsing. Plus, it's totally free. Hell, you can probably find a better, faster, Windows based laptop on eBay than those Mac's, then run Linux on it, and still have Windows around as a dual boot option for real flexibility.

[Intrepidation]

LOL 3 minutes...

[Blake Noble]

LOL 3 minutes...

When you've been living with complete loading times of 10 minutes for almost 10 months, 3 minutes is a godsend.

[Blake Noble]

That might be because they are hidden. All you need to do is go in any folder in your computer, click 'tools' in the top toolbar, and then hit 'folder options' ... Click the 'view' tab, and then go down the menu until you find a button that says 'show hidden files and folders' . Click it, apply, and you should hopefully find what you're looking for in User Data.

Blah. It still gives me an "access denied" pop-up error. Screw it. I don't need to get in there that bad.

And if your PC needs are relatively limited, then go for a Linux distro like Ubuntu. It'll be really fast, and it'll let you use Open Office for documents, and Firefox for web browsing. Plus, it's totally free. Hell, you can probably find a better, faster, Windows based laptop on eBay than those Mac's, then run Linux on it, and still have Windows around as a dual boot option for real flexibility.

I'll do some research into that.

[FAPTurbo]

Blah. It still gives me an "access denied" pop-up error. Screw it. I don't need to get in there that bad.

Strange. Are you running as an Administrator?

Can you put in these forums exactly what location you are trying to enter? Like C:/Windows/<folder/<folder> and so on?

Edited September 4, 2009 by Captainbooyah

[Blake Noble]

Strange. Are you running as an Administrator?

Yep. I have the only account on this PC and it has full admin capabilities.

Edited September 4, 2009 by whiteknight

[FAPTurbo]

I edited my previous post. I want to see if I can access similar folders on my computer and hit a similar roadblock.

[Blake Noble]

I think the location is C:\USERDATA

Edited September 4, 2009 by whiteknight

[FAPTurbo]

Wanna give this a shot? I think I recall dealing with something similar to this ages ago, and this might help.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...b;EN-US;Q823306

Edited September 4, 2009 by Captainbooyah

[Intrepidation]

When you've been living with complete loading times of 10 minutes for almost 10 months, 3 minutes is a godsend.

This is true, but since my takes 50 seconds from power on to starting up a program, it feels like an eternity for me.

[Intrepidation]

whiteknight, get firefox and chatzilla so you can join the C&G and we can help you out from there.

[aaaantoine]

This guide has worked for me in the past. Try it out if you still need to clean some malware.

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407

Also I do suggest you try out Ubuntu before putting money down on a Mac. You might save yourself some money that way.

Edited September 4, 2009 by aaaantoine

[Blake Noble]

Wanna give this a shot? I think I recall dealing with something similar to this ages ago, and this might help.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...b;EN-US;Q823306

That worked out perfectly. Now I have total access to all of my old documents and mp3 files. (If I had to venture a guess, I did not have permission to access this stuff because I did wipe my computer clean back in November, thus reinstalling XP over what was already there.) This will also give me the chance to delete some stuff and really free up some harddrive space. Thanks, Captain.

And thanks everyone else who helped me out.