Nasty Viruses in the registry

[associates]

Hi,

I've been trying to fix one of my mate's laptop that is full of viruses. When i used the PC-Cillin antivirus to scan the hard disk, about 100 viruses were found and then i went to scan again using the microsoft antispyware, about 200 were found. I was really shocked when looking at the number. Never in my life have i seen something like this. Also, from the microsoft antispyware, i noticed that it says there are about 50 or 60 registry infected. I believe they have got into the registry. Then, i tried to remove the antivirus by following the procedure found from other website. That is to turn off the system restore and scan it again. That didn't work because it kept on coming back and appeared in the startup in the msconfig window.

I was wondering if there is really any other way apart from reformating the whole hard drive.

Thank you very much and look forward to hearing from you.

[GX1_Man]

I would reformat that bad boy right away! You might back up the data files and scan them separately before putting them back afterward.

Of course I would put Linux on there to avoid this kind of scenario. You know, an ounce of prevention.....

 

[Fed]

I was wondering if there is really any other way apart from reformating the whole hard drive.

Too easy  
http://forum.grisoft.cz/freeforum/read.php?4,27725,backpage=
If you only read the parts the you have to do it's simple.

[associates]

Thank you to you all for your reply. I'd appreciate it.

Thanks Fed for your advice. It's very helpful. I'm gonna read it just in case my computer infected again.

Is Linux immune from viruses? hmm... coz i've been thinking about using Linux but because of my little knowledge of it has been putting me off installing it on to my computer.

Thank you once again and look forward to hearing from you.

[dl65]

associates

I've been trying to fix one of my mate's laptop that is full of viruses. When i used the PC-Cillin antivirus to scan the hard disk, about 100 viruses were found and then i went to scan again using the microsoft antispyware, about 200 were found. I was really shocked when looking at the number. Never in my life have i seen something like this. Also, from the microsoft antispyware, i noticed that it says there are about 50 or 60 registry infected.

First let me clarify something for you...... There probably aren't viruses in the registry , but rather entries placed in the registry by the intruder .
Just offhand , I would tell your friend to install a decent AV scanner .........
Now here's what I would suggest ......
1 Turn off system restore .
2 Reboot into Safe Mode .
3 Run you antivirus and delete whatever it finds . ***Make certain you have the latest updates.
4 Run M/S antispyware Beta ........and delete whatever it finds .
5 If you don't already have it ......D/L   Spybot .....
http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10122137.html  ...... after installing it ...make sure to get the latest updates.
Run a full system scan and remove whatever is found .
6 Now I would run Ad aware SE ......
http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10045910.html
Run a full system scan and delete what is found .
7 Delete all temporary internet files and all cookies.

Don't turn system restore back on yet .

Now reboot back into normal and see how things are ....
let us know.

dl65