Virus ?

[fudge]

To day i went to connect up to my ntl broadband , (sync and ready light on the internet modem ok) and first of all i got a message
Local area connection status limited or no connectivity.
I turned the computor and the modem off to reboot and got the same messge. After a couple of reboots the monitor stayed blank , in the end all i could do was switch off at mains as nothing was responding.
I then tried starting up again and this time all switched on ok , i got into internet and was surfing then all of a sudden i started getting
page cannot be dissplayed , and all my favorites dissopeared of the favorites page.
I tried shuting down when a message came up basicly telling me outlook exploer has hung , do i want to send this problem to microsoft, which i did and got a list back of things i should do , ie do a virus scan , spy bot etc,
A virus scan found no virus but when i did the spybot it came back with 1 object found, i got this fixed and have now been able to surf again. The thing found was something like homeing.biz what ever that is. Do you think that is what prob was.

[Rob]

Impossible to say if the one file was an issue or not.

I'd suggest you spend a little time and work through the following:


1)
Windows Patches Make sure you have all the latest patches loaded (use windows update - I'd suggest yo udo the custom rather than express option, as that can pick up hardware drivers that manufacturers have said need patching too)

2)
Antivirus. I don't know which brand you have. Make sure it's definitions are up to date. Run an online antivirus scan from an alternative a/v supplier too just to be safe - try the panda activescan link on www.pandasoftware.co.uk

3)
Now have a look at the spyware again. If spybot is current. Just try an alternative vendor and see what is there. Maybe ad-aware by lavasoft (you can get a free download - www.lavasoft.com)

[nffc]

If you're still getting the no connectivity message try this:

open a command prompt
type in "%windir%\system32\netsh.exe winsock reset catalog" and press enter

As for the problems try running Ad-Aware, Spybot and MS Anti Spyware in safemode. Also get Avast if you're using AVG (it's better) and run that again in safemode.

Also take your pc to one of the online scanners like Housecall or Symantec...

[fudge]

Hi thanks for replies ,

Started up ok this morning all seems fine at this moment , im running xp home with sp2, i am up to date with window updates , and run both spybot and ad-aware and have norton antivirus all up to date.
Im hopeing what ever spybot found last night has cured the problem.
One other question though , i brought my computor last year from pc world and after a year you get a free service but they keep it for about a week, is it worth takeing up this offer .

[Rob M]

Originally Posted by fudge

Hi thanks for replies ,

Started up ok this morning all seems fine at this moment , im running xp home with sp2, i am up to date with window updates , and run both spybot and ad-aware and have norton antivirus all up to date.
Im hopeing what ever spybot found last night has cured the problem.
One other question though , i brought my computor last year from pc world and after a year you get a free service but they keep it for about a week, is it worth takeing up this offer .

Ummm..... Almost definately not.....

There have been a number of stories (here and elsewhere) about botched "services" from PC world. They probably won't do anything that you couldn't do yourself.
__________________

Read at least one horror story here:

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...t=spring+clean

And an excellent article from Halcyon here:

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...t=spring+clean

[fudge]

Thats what i thought , i regually do maintanance ie disc clean up ,

anti virus scan etc. and was told thats prob. all they will do.

[Rob M]

I may be wrong, if I am I'm sure someone will be along soon to contradict me