Member Avatar for luvableleo_josh

heya my best friend has a virus on his computer, which means that he cannot open my documents,my pictures, my computer basicly any folder on the computer. He can run programs such as words internet explorer, and avg antivirues which i have used to try and deleate the viruses, but they jus come back after the computer is restarted?? one time when i opened up my computer avg said it had found the virus but deleating it did nothing??
i am trying to fix it for him as he has no understanding of them himself.
his spex are a 3gig pentium4 with 512ram 120gig memory?
hs anyone else had this problem?or has any ideas about how to fix it would be very gratefull
yours sincerely josh

  • 4 Contributors
  • 4 Replies
  • 214 Views
  • 5 Years Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by caperjack

Dani AI

Generated

Useful, focused follow‑up to the original report from and the helpful baseline steps from .

The symptoms described (folders/documents not opening while some programs still run, and antivirus detections that “come back” after reboot) point to two priorities: preserve user data, and scan/clean from a trusted, offline environment. Immediate isolation of the machine from networks and external drives prevents spread. Before any removal attempts, create a raw backup or copy of important user data from a clean environment (booting the machine from a Linux/WinPE live USB or connecting the drive to a known‑clean system) so files aren’t lost by accident during cleanup.

Recommended troubleshooting sequence:

  1. Try Safe Mode (F8 at boot) and run updated on‑demand scanners from there. If scanners report items that can’t be removed or items reappear after reboot, use a bootable rescue disk/USB (scan before Windows starts).
  2. Reveal possibly hidden files and remove hidden/system attributes from the drive root (run from a Command Prompt on the infected drive): 
attrib -s -h -r *.* /s /d

This often exposes files that were merely hidden or marked system. After that, inspect folders with “Show hidden files and folders” enabled and check NTFS permissions (Properties → Security) for unexpected denies.

  1. Look for persistence mechanisms: check msconfig (Startup/Services), scheduled tasks, and running services. If entries look suspicious and cannot be removed normally, an offline tool or rescue environment is safer than in‑place fixes. Be cautious with System Restore — restore points made after infection can reintroduce malware.

If a rootkit or deeply persistent infection is suspected (undeletable files, scanners repeatedly failing), image the drive and perform a full OS reinstall as a last resort; restore only known‑clean data from the backup/image. For Mac OS X (as asked), the approach differs: boot safe (Shift), repair permissions with Disk Utility (in 10.3 era), and use up‑to‑date Mac malware scanners from a clean environment.

These steps complement the earlier suggestions and focus first on data safety, then on offline cleaning and removing persistence before trusting that the system is clean.

Recommended Answers

All 4 Replies

Member Avatar for caperjack

Please delete your temporary files by deleting all files and folders that are in those folders (do not delete the temp folder itself) like for example
C:\WINDOWS\Temp\
C:\Temp\
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temp\
Also delete your , be sure to also select delete all offline content.

Do a virus scan here.
If you get report of files that can’t be cleaned / deleted please write down the filenames and locations and post that in your reply.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Download then unzip and run CWShredder to clean up clicking "FIX" to have it remove all it finds.

CWShredder available from these places :-


http://www.aluriasoftware.com/tools/cwshredder.zip
Or this as a full download without any unzipping required

We have found that some of the CWS infections can be removed better from safe mode, rather than normal mode.
To get to safe mode use the F8 key while booting the machine. Detailed instructions from :-

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Then please do this since it’s better to use automated tools to get rid of the bad stuff use these 2 programs first before doing the final cleaning with HJT

First use Spybot S&D. (Version 1.3)
Spybot
Unzip, and update. Install the updates and run. Delete all that it marks in red.
Reboot

Then it’s time for Ad-Aware

Install and update by using the globe icon. Restart your computer and run Ad-Aware.
Press scan now and select drives and/or partitions to be scanned. When done select all and click next. Remove all checked items and then reboot your computer.

Please go to this page and read the instructions for how to configure Spybot S&D & Ad-Aware
How To Setup Spybot SD and Ad-Aware


Please do this.
Download 'Hijack This!'. http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/HijackThis.exe
Save it in a convenient permanent folder such as C:\HJT\, double click HijackThis.exe, and hit "Scan".

Your copy of HijackThis needs to be in a folder of it's own. When HJT fixes anything, it makes backups of the original files in the folder it is in. Since Temporary folders are emptied now and then (the files are DELETED), it would not be a good idea to have your backups there. Those backups would be VITAL to restoring your system if something went wrong in the FIX process!


1. Please go to you're 'My Documents' folder, right-click and select 'New > Folder' then name the folder 'HJT'.

2. Copy and paste HijackThis.exe to the new folder.

3. Close ALL windows except HJT

4. SCAN with HJT

5. POST the new log in this thread using 'Add Reply'

DO NOT MAKE ANY CHANGES OR CLICK "FIX CHECKED" UNTIL WE CHECK THE LOG, AS SOME OF THE FILES ARE LEGIT AND VITAL TO YOUR COMPUTER'S HEALTH


Then post a HJT log as a reply to this topic.

Member Avatar for monika.bereza

Hey, I don't know how often these messages are checked - but i'm currently experiencing the same thing on my Mac OSX 10.3.9 any thing i can do?
Monika

Member Avatar for zizimky

hi guys! My advice is to scan your computer completely and clean it. You might have some intruders there and that may be the cause of your issue. If you decide to take my advice I recommend you use one of . There are the best 10 antivirus software of 2010. Good Luck!

Edited by crunchie because: n/a
Member Avatar for caperjack

hi guys! My advice is to scan your computer completely and clean it. You might have some intruders there and that may be the cause of your issue. If you decide to take my advice I recommend you use one of . There are the best 10 antivirus software of 2010. Good Luck!

hi, you are posting a 3 yr old post ,plus your link doesn't work

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.