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    Vicious spyware on my 1505

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by gosman, Feb 4, 2007.

  1. gosman

    gosman Notebook Consultant

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    My 1505 is nearly shut down from a spyware infection. Is there anyone in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area that can help me with this. I bought Ad Aware SE but it is too late. I'm afraid that I will have to wipe the drive. I need someone that works on Dells and familiar with the partitions. CompUSA will do it for $129 but I'm not sure if I trust them.

    Any suggestions?
     
    gosman, Feb 4, 2007
    #1
  2. vespoli

    vespoli 402 NBR Reviewer

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    vespoli, Feb 4, 2007
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  3. Phillip

    Phillip Phillip J. Fry

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    You know, there is an entire thread dedicated to reformating HDs and partitioning for Dells in this forum by SouthernGirl
     
    Phillip, Feb 4, 2007
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  4. jpagel

    jpagel Notebook Evangelist

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    Once peice of adware/spyware should not cause you to do a format, its never too late - Ad-Aware personal would have been fine (free) paired with Spybot, Windows Defender, and if things got really sticky, Pest Patrol - There is also Hijack This, along posting hte HJ T log things can be troublshot online, there is manual registry editting and file deletion - but if you have no data you want to save or applications to reinstall (or can reinstall) / XP cd and drivers discs then you can just reformat and reload windows -
    here is a step by step on the reformat -
    http://home.jam.rr.com/joshua627/how2reformat.htm
    Post back if you want to try to fix your pc -
     
    jpagel, Feb 4, 2007
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  5. WackyT

    WackyT Notebook Deity

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    Bring it down to Austin.
     
    WackyT, Feb 4, 2007
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  6. Syndrome

    Syndrome Torque Matters

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    Gotta stay off those pr0n sites man..
     
    Syndrome, Feb 5, 2007
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  7. Mikeoo17

    Mikeoo17 Notebook Deity

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    How do you know it's spyware... it doesn't make much sense since spyware is supposed to sit silently in the back and gather information. If spyware did in fact cause havoc, it wouldn't be doing it's job correctly. Most spywares simply slow down your computer by using it's resources.

    I would...

    Check for running processes that are using large amounts of resources. Do this by hitting Ctrl+Alt+Del and go to processes tab. Scan the list for programs using large amounts of Memory. Just to be safe, google the file names of any programs you intend to terminate.

    Download/Run CCleaner
    Download/Run AVG
    Download/Run Avast!
    Download/Run Spybot Search & Destroy

    If still not working properly, uninstall the last 1 or 2 programs you put on your computer as they may be conflicting.
    -Note:I always install a program and wait a couple days before installing anything else just to make sure it doesn't act up on my system.

    After your system is running properly again, use the optimization guide to speed your system up.
     
    Mikeoo17, Feb 5, 2007
    #7