[Waverley ARS] I suspect a computer virus

[Henrik Stenstrom]

All,

Many thanks for all your suggestions yesterday.  Based on collective
expertise, this is what has been undertaken.

1. I looked at the msconfig settings last night and disabled the autorun
of several rarely used programs.  This immediately improved system
speed.  Found a suspect .exe file which runs at startup and disabled
that too.

2. With improved connectivity, was able to download and install Lavasoft
Ad-aware.  This found a host of tracking cookies but nothing
particularly malignant.

3. Downloaded and installed Avast! which found and removed the
particular nasty causing the problems, including the above .exe file.
(Lowzone CR Trojan plus rock.exe)  

Considering that this PC has had Symantec Norton antivirus software
loaded, updated and regularly used for full system scans since new, I
find it highly surprising this was never previously detected! Seems the
infection is not a new one either.

Result is that the PC now runs again at an acceptable speed and web
connectivity is also once again OK.  A positive side effect is that the
XYL is now happy again; we all like that!

Based on the above, I am considering the following;

1. Uninstall Symantec crapware.

2. Install Mozilla Firefox as recommended by many.  I'd also like to
uninstall IE although wife likes it and has Gmail/Google Chrome/iGoogle
or some such thing set up as homepage.  All under separate user profiles
though.

3. Rebuild or o/s reinstall - is this desirable/necessary?

Comments requested.

So begins the education and upgrade of Henrik from "user only" status!


Again, many thanks to all.
HS




-----Original Message-----
From: Henrik Stenstrom 
Sent: Wednesday, 9 September 2009 9:30 AM
To: VK2BV
Subject: I suspect a computer virus

Gents,

I'm beginning to suspect that a computer virus is doing its dastardly
thing on our home PC. The unit in question is a Dell about 5 years old
running Windows XP and is used almost exclusively for internet/email and
other light duties.  Other details such as processor, RAM etc I can only
give after checking this evening.

Symptoms

The PC is seems to be running very slowly as if there are other programs
running in the background with higher priority.

Internet Explorer fails from time to time due to "runtime" errors

System requests from time to time to increase virtual memory levels


Attempts to Resolve

We have up to date Symantec Antivirus software installed.  Full system
scans do not show up any problem.

A recent Windows online update showed some initial improvement.

Increasing virtual memory levels is inconclusive.

Our ADSL connection might not be the fastest in Sydney but I don't
believe this is the underlying problem.


So, where to start?  Can anyone recommend if further anti
spyware/malware detection is required?  If so, any recommendations as to
what?  What else to check?  IS the windows task manager any use in
checking for other programs that are running?

Many thanks in advance for all or any help in resolving this aggravating
situation,

Henrik - VK2HHS


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