Brief background: Daughter of a guy I work with had a real crappy HP computer that couldn't even handle any sort of high-speed internet. I took the remnants of my old computer and built her a nice computer that she uses for school research, chatting, etc. She got DSL after I got it all hooked up for her. What I forgot, which is why I feel responsible, was to install any sort of spyware or adware protection. It has been about 6 months now, and her computer has been connected to the internet 24/7. It is now so bogged down with so much crap, it won't even finish booting up. She may have a virus, but I don't know. I tried to get it into safe mode, but it won't interrupt its feeble attempt to finish booting. The most I can do is get into bios and change the boot order to boot to a CD. The OS is Windows XP Home Edition.

My very limited tech support expertise tells me I can create a boot CD and get the computer to at least get me to a DOS prompt. I can also bring a CD with Spybot, Adaware, some sort of public domain registry cleaner, etc. I just get a little fuzzy at this point as to what I should do and which order I should do it in. That's why I come to the one place that I know I can get some halfway decent help.

Faced with a similar situation, how would you handle it? What programs would you include to a) fix the problem, and b) teach her to use to make sure it didn't happen again?

Thanks in advance for any advice. Ask anything you might need to know, I'll give you what information I may have forgotten to include.

On your computer (not this computer in question), download an antivirus and antispyware program and burn it to disc.

I recommend the following (all of these are free):

Initial Antivirus Scan: Stinger

Regular Antivirus: Free AVG

Antispyware: Spybot or Windows Defender

Anyway, be sure to disconnect the network cable from the computer (to cut off internet) and try booting up again. Trojan viruses and spyware will try to "call home" through the internet connection, so in this scenario it's important to have the computer offline.

I'd start with a Stinger scan, then install AVG and do a full scan, then finally the antispyware scan. Once it's clean, hook it back up to the internet and reboot. Be sure to install any security updates from Microsoft via the Windows Update site.

can i install all of that in dos mode? or do i have to do it thru safe mode? i cant seem to interrupt the boot up at all...

Well, one of the great things about Stinger is that it doesn't actually install, it's just a self contained executable anti-virus program. This helps isolate it from being targeted by viruses that like to compromise A/V. This is one of the reasons why I'd begin with a Stinger scan before installing AVG.

Even being a self-contained executable, I don't think it can be run from a dos prompt. Pretty sure it requires the Windows GUI to be setup and run, but you can try it out.

Something else you could try is to add a 2nd hard drive to the computer, making the problem drive the secondary and the new one the primary. Boot from the primary drive (you'll need Windows on it). Install your security software on the primary drive and start scanning the secondary.

try to google for dos mode virus or spyware / trojan scanners.

women/girls have the WORST browsing habits.

well, actually, i think "the bad guys" target this crowd more for their bullshit, since the average soccer/myspace mom has no idea how to take care of their computer.

I let my wife (who loves myspace) use my laptop last year . It took all of about 2 days for her to get every piece of spyware/malware bonzaibuddy shit on the internet crammed onto my laptop. Her crime? trying to find "themes" for myspace. I went to a few of the sites she visited, and holy shit.

Anyhoo, since then I set up her own limited user account and showed her how to use adware. I also found some "safe" myspace sites for her to mess with.

thing is... I can go to a site and right away I know it's bad - shit, I can tell in the search results if a site is going to be fucked up. most users don't have that sense of impending doom though.

get stuff that blocks popups and you might wanna disable java and activeX

In a situation like that man, you're pretty much better off just formatting the drive and starting over, especially since it's just a kidputer and not something full of thesis papers..etc. My uncle's kidputer was like what you describe however it would boot but take 5+ minutes just to open up a window. Chock full of viruses, spyware, worms..was insane. In his case though, he had a truckload of photos on it and wouldn't allow a format. Took forever to get it even remotely useable.

Tee hee that's because we're just girls! Its like so hard to think about those com.. comp.. uter thingees when there is more fun stuff to do, like shop for shoes! /twirls hair