Again I have a virus. It has buggered up my PC totally. Vista will not load and XP can not open a single program. Weirdly the CPU hogging part of it was a virus iexplore.exe that replaced the genuine one. I deleted that and when I switched my PC on the virus actually started teasing me by playing annoying music. After the music it cut off my internet access and disabled all programs. Before today, I had done scans with MBAM and Ad-Aware. They did not fully remove the virus. I can not use either of my OSes and my only other, Ubuntu, Vista replaced its bootloader. I am posting this from my DS. What can I do?

Stop downloading from dodgey porn sites.

delete your system32 folder, should work

oh, and stop downloading from dodgy porn sites and get a better antivirus

If you have a multiple HDD's try reformatting a different one,along side of that hdd,then install "AVAST Anti-virus" & do a boot scan of all drives & make sure to scan "archives" files too..(they also have a virus checker tool too)

Here's a link to there website
http://www.avast.com/index.html
Best of luck

Have you tried safe mode yet? Try using diferent anti-viruses like Avira Antivirus or Avast. They might give you different results.

Sometimes I go out and delete programs, files, and folders that I absolutely know I have not created and use RevoUninstaller to clean them up if they are an installed program. NEVER GO INTO THE WINDOWS FOLDER NO MATTER WHAT. I made a huge mistake way back then deleting some key files.

If that doesn't solve it, don't format the drive. Wipe it completely clean with something like this http://www.dban.org/ or with another hard drive wiper (make sure it's really effective though). There is a very very good chance that the virus won't come back since I had viruses come back from a reformat, but not from full hard drive erasure.

Luke, I do not have a copy of XP. My version was pre-installed. And Klutch, seriously this is no joke. My IP is what I think has been hacked to access my PC.

EDIT: I have had to delete some files that had replaced important ones in the WINDOWS folder. I also found out that if I don't run explorer.exe and quickly shut down the virus' temporary files (e.g. BN4.tmp) after loading that I can run programs on XP. This is Firefox 3.5 Beta 4 on XP.

when will you learn...only use good porn donwloading sites

i had a simular one ( Curse you mininova.org ! ) re-formed the hard drive and the bugger was still their,


full re-install + better sources for stuff = win

Quote from shaun463 :

My IP is what I think has been hacked to access my PC.

well it's got to have been hacked from somewhere, my guess is dodgy porn sites

remove windows, install a linux distro and then after you have everything working the way you wanted, run: rm -rf /

Sorry, had to.

I have Linux installed but Vista removed Ubuntu's bootloader and replaced it with it's own. Damn you Vista. And for goodness sake stop the adult site accusations.

Quote from shaun463 :

Luke, I do not have a copy of XP. My version was pre-installed. And Klutch, seriously this is no joke. My IP is what I think has been hacked to access my PC.

EDIT: I have had to delete some files that had replaced important ones in the WINDOWS folder. I also found out that if I don't run explorer.exe and quickly shut down the virus' temporary files (e.g. BN4.tmp) after loading that I can run programs on XP. This is Firefox 3.5 Beta 4 on XP.

Well write down your key then download a torrent. It ain't illegal if you have a legal key for it.

Erm, what on earth are you on about Luke?

Quote from shaun463 :

Erm, what on earth are you on about Luke?

He's saying if you don't have an original XP cd but you do have an original XP CD-key, then he's telling you write down your key and download a XP ISO through torrents.

My main problem is the key was in my XP manual which I lost. Damn.

Well from the sounds of it, the best option does seem like a full OS reinstall so... I don't know what to tell you. You could always reinstall Ubuntu for the time being and then when you figure out a way to install Windows again, do that.

Re-install Windows and stop being such a nub - this is like the 3rd virus you've had in a year ffs.

Quote from Jakg :

this is like the 3rd virus you've had in a year ffs.

That's two more than I've had in my life. When will these people learn...

Quote from shaun463 :

My main problem is the key was in my XP manual which I lost. Damn.

You can find your key easily. Control Panel - System.

Quote from Töki (HUN) :

You can find your key easily. Control Panel - System.

Thats the OEM number, not the actual product key that you need when you install.

If you can get a copy of Tuneup Utilities, there is a program on there that if you open, somewhere in the program, it will tell you your XP seriel number.
I can't remember which Tuneup Utility program it is, but it's one of them included with the software.

Quote from shaun463 :

And Klutch, seriously this is no joke.

I agree.


Which is why you need to stop downloading from dodgey porn sites.


I've never had a major virus, the occasional spyware or adaware, sure. But never to the point of making my computer unusable.

Quote from sam93 :

If you can get a copy of Tuneup Utilities, there is a program on there that if you open, somewhere in the program, it will tell you your XP seriel number.
I can't remember which Tuneup Utility program it is, but it's one of them included with the software.

Its under Additional Tools > TuneUp System Information > Windows Tab.

Quote from shaun463 :

My main problem is the key was in my XP manual which I lost. Damn.

My PC was pre-loaded with XP when my mate bought it from new years ago, (packard bell imedia 5094) and i just looked on the back of the case and there was a sticker with the product key on it.

I have re-cased the PC now, but i still kept the sticker and glued it to the new case, so i don't lose it.