Seems I've caught something...

[killa_zn]

Somekind of malware virus? I dunno. I'm just a novice
user with not much clue about this...

SO anyway, I came home from work last night. Tired, so I
just get to the computer for emails and messages. Tell my
brother to get off the computer so I can use it.

Then I noticed...
A whole mess load of desktop icons of trail offers, casio games,
"anti-virus" offers and etc. My little brother says he did "something"
and I was furious.

I delete all the icons and then go to control panel to get rid of
them permently from there, the problem is, my control panel
is not there anymore...

So I go firefox to look up for whats wrong. THEN firefox couldnt
open and a alert window says "... has failed to start because
firefox was not found. Re-installing the program may fix this
problem."

Then a whole crap load of pop ups appear in less than a second
after that alert window popped up. Computer frezzes for a while, so
I "ctrl alt del" but another alert window pops up and says "... must
be an administrator to use the task manager"

So not being an admistrator of my OWN computer, seems like I
cant change any file. I cant even reboot the junk. After my move,
I have no clue where the reboot cd even is. So I use Internet Explorer
which happens to work fine but pop ups coming out the ass appear.

I DL a anti virus program from here, but then every time Im in the
process of installing it, it closes randomly and I have to start the
process all over again. which never works.

So I fiddle around here and there. Nothing, plus I'm tired and pissed
and decided to call it a night and try again tomorrow. I ask my little
brother what he did last night. Of course a "IDUNNO" answer appears
and I hold back from yelling since its "too early in the morning"

Help me here...

[juneau]

And this is why you don't let non computer literate family members use your PC.

It's sound like you have some nasty malware and viruses. Firefox will still be installed but as a guess i would say that a lot of your registry settings have changed.

I'd use a restore point from before he started to meddle with your PC. See how that goes, and if it seems to be better, run windows in safe mode, turn off system restore, run Spybot Search & Destroy, and then re-enable system restore.

Being completely honest here but i wouldn't be suprised if you'll need to do a fresh install of Windows.

[killa_zn]

And this is why you don't let non computer literate family members use your PC.

Heh, boy was I wrong to think a little boy could not do alot of damage...

I'd use a restore point from before he started to meddle with your PC. See how that goes

Doesnt work.

and if it seems to be better, run windows in safe mode, turn off system restore, run Spybot Search & Destroy, and then re-enable system restore..

This ones tricky. The "virus" closes the spybot program while im installing it, so I never finish no matter how many times I retry.

BUT havnt tried the safe mode and system restore yet. thanks.

Being completely honest here but i wouldn't be suprised if you'll need to do a fresh install of Windows.

hmm?

[juneau]

Try and install Spybot in safe mode. Make sure you turn off system restore before running it though.

[th3st1ck]

well, if you have a separate computer, or have access to another one, just look around the web for a "portable" free anti virus/spyware program, if it is portable it will not need to be installed, you can just run it

if you are technically inclined you can always find a boot CD on the internet with some type of antivirus, that way you can run it before windows even starts

and i doubt you will need to do a fresh install, unless it is extremely bad and it like deletes your system files, i had a very bad virus a few weeks ago, infected mostly all of my computer files -- but i was able to clean it out with the help of a boot cd and some antivirus

[BenKenobi]

Yeah if you have access to another computer get to it and with a Flash USB drive and install these on it: Ad-Aware SE personal for the adware and malware and AVG antivirus for the viruses.... wouldnt hurt if you got a few more lol. By the way make sure after you install them on the drive that you check for updates on the good computer so it can get all the new stuff.

And if you can't get them working or installed for some reason I think your only choice would be fresh install, lol.

[random_id]

Here's one of the ways to clean the viruses - create a http://www.ubcd4win.com and use an included tool (AntiVir antivirus) to clean your system from all the nasties. Just make sure to update the AntiVir's virus definitions first before doing any scanning/cleaning with it (here's how it's done: http://www.ubcd4win.com/faq.htm#howto1).

Edit: another way involves installation of trial version of Kaspersky Antivirus (www.kaspersky.com) on your clean/working PC then creating a rescue bootable CD as described here:
http://usa.kaspersky.com/support/hom...cted_topic_id=
then using that created CD to clean all the nasties from the infected PC. If you'll use this way, don't forget to update the antivirus BEFORE creating a rescue CD.

[killa_zn]

Ok cool, just got around today and now everything is going smoothly again. Thanks for all your help.

Now, any good programs to prevent this from happening again?

[juneau]

What AntiVir and Spyware apps do you already have installed?

[killa_zn]

nothing ATM, everything is fresh.

[juneau]

Spyware

Spybot Search and Destroy with Spyware Blaster

AntiVirus

Nod32 is my personal choice, but you will have to pay for it.

[random_id]

nothing ATM, everything is fresh.

www.free-av.com , it's free and (In my personal experience) has an excellent detection rate. The only drawback is that the free version will open a pop-up window (advertising a paid version of product) every time it will update itself, but it's a pretty minor inconvenience (I just usually schedule the updates during night time and then just close this pop-up when I return to my PC next day). As for paid versions, AntiVir, Kaspersky and NOD32 are all pretty good at detection rates (though I personally favor first 2 because eSet is rather slow company when it comes to analyzing the virus samples I've sent to them).
Oh, and with a good antivirus you usually don't need any other programs (like anti-spyware and such). If some spyware does get past your antivirus, it simply means your antivirus program is bad and you need to get a better one :P

[imlittlev]

i would suggest AVG antivirus . its free and it works.

[rusty99]

Ok cool, just got around today and now everything is going smoothly again. Thanks for all your help.

Now, any good programs to prevent this from happening again?

Put a password on your account, and create a very limited profile for your little brother.

Be sure to disable java and javascript on it as well, and if he complains, tell him it's punishment for screwing up the machine last time.

[BenKenobi]

Tell him thats what happens when you look at pr0n.