Greetings,
slates wrote on 02/06/09 at 07:30:24:
Dragan Glas wrote on 02/06/09 at 00:48:54:
Greetings,
@DrKodos
I'd suggest, rather than running this or that software, that you go to a reputable site for malware removal - no offence to slates' suggestion.
You can find a list
here - see the "
Visit a spyware removal forum" list.
Whichever one you chose, give them the relevant information and follow their instructions to the letter. [Depending on which one you visit, you can tell them that I sent you - I work on some of them (SpywareHammer, Bleeping Computer)].
Kindest regards,
Dragan Glas
For what it's worth, the one I recommended is on the list (which itself only consists of 7 or 8) of reputable, free products they suggest at the site Dragan points you to.
The IT company I work for have now adopted it as their usual choice of product when cleaning infected customer's computers, too. As I said, I have no vested interest in this beyond the fact that it is free (I am somewhat financially 'restricted'!) and was the only software that rid me of the vundo variant trojan problem I had, despite trying others. I'm sure the other products on the short list mentioned above may well be as good, but Dragan's point is valid that there are plenty of rogue products out there masquerading as your panacea, too.
Slates, I meant no offence to you or your suggestion, it is merely that, depending on what he's downloaded - on each computer - he needs to follow a procedure; it's different for whether it's a rootkit or a (mere) virus. If the laptop problem is definitely a BIOS corruption - no guarantee that it is at this stage(!) - that too will have to be diagnosed and addressed according to what the results indicate.
Although, in most cases, where one's just downloaded/been infected with a virus [
How does the average person know with what they've infected their system??] can be dealt with through a suitable product - such as SAS - if one uses such out-of-context/sequence, one can render the situation worse - even unrecoverable: at which point, wipe/reinstall may be the only option - and if the victim's files/data have not been copied first...!!
It's best to go to a specialist site, as listed, to see what they recommend first, rather than "have a go yourself" and then find you've just "fubarred" your system.
Kindest regards,
Dragan Glas
No problem, Dragan, I bow to your superior knowledge on this. Good luck to the Doc!