i need help with this spyware/virus, i duno how i got it but all i know is i cant get rid of it, norton doesnt pick it up and microsoft doesn't. just hope someone can help me get rid of it because i hate it its makes my desktop look a mess
can you post a screenshot of your desktop please. Also try using avast, spysweeper and ad-aware. *oops didnt see the screenshot sorry. I had I just got rid of it by doing a system restore to a few days before cause the virus and spyware programs didnt work.
dam, it happend a while ago, i wish i'd of done that tho, i've done to much to do a restore now. any over ways you can think of?
Never encountered something like this. You could start by going into a picture in IE and then click set as desktop that would take away the bad desktop if it works. The next step would be to find an anti-spyware program such as spybot search and destroy, ad-aware or microsoft anti spyware. I'm not sure at all if these will fix your problem but they are definately a step in the right direction.
Remember rule of thumb you should always have at least two anti-spyware packages the two free versions Im recommend would be Spybot and Ad-Ware, have a firewall microsoft firewall is not adequate since it only scans in-bound connections, download ZoneAlarm (it comes as ZoneAlarm Pro trail then turns into Free edition when the trail expires [ I assume you know what to do to get a fully working Pro edition ]). Your anti-virus package is quite good so hang on to it and keep it updated and finally make the switch to Mozilla Firefox you'll be better off than with IE. Hope I explained well enough ^_^
a good adition to your spyware collection would be Microsoft Spyware and SpyDefense. I have Avast and Symantec Corp. AV v.10 Symantec's AV isn't as hogging as Norton can be. and it's a one-time cost too, so you don't have to pay 50 bucks a year. Avast and Symantec also don't fight that much, it's only that the realtime scanner on Avast can not run while Symantec's is, but I let that run, and it found some trojans that Avast could not find. A little popup will come up every time you start up saying that the Avast and Symantec realtime checker can not run at the same time.. only comes up once, too. edit: oh, and I use Sygate Personal firewall. It is now owned by Symantec, so you can no longer download it for free, but if you want a copy of the free version, PM me. this isn't warez, it was free, until Symantec bought them out (damn Symantec )
XoftSpy is good imho though there are a lot of spyware wich can not be removed completly. If the antispyware prog deletes a part of it, it generates new files in the pc and sometimes forces auto downloads to other spyware progrms.. so with hard fckers like this one you got I suggest to reformat if the xoftspy does not remove it
Remember that re-formating your windows partition is to be the last resort do just re-format over a small problem, since your running XP you can try re-installing it (Repair or the upgrade option on the XP CD ).
