Please Help! Wish I'd Discovered You Earlier

[kiwikay]

Hello Again,

Please don't apologize for a late reply. I feel very appreciative that you put the time and effort in at all. A couple of things:

1. Do you consider DropBox and Evernote in the same class of file sharing as Peer-to-Peer, when I'm only sharing files to family & friends through invitation?

2. Just to be clear on SPAM, sometimes things accidentally get looked at (opened) that are spam. Other than sending a notification back to the spammer (and thus verifying your address), can just opening it cause infection if no links are clicked?

3. My control panel shows 2 versions of Java. The one I just updated is "JavaFX 2.1.1" and the other is "Java(TM) 7 Update 5" but with a date of June 1st. Should I delete either of these?

4-7. So if I upgrade to Malwarebytes, that will give me real-time malware (but not virus) protection, Microsoft Security Essentials will give me real-time virus and malware protection, and SpyBot can be run regularly as an extra layer of virus and malware protection. Do I need firewall protection, or would Microsoft Security Essentials provide this?

8. I'll take your advice on a system upgrade, and steering clear of registry cleaners. But since I'd already run RegZooka, which deleted hundreds of items, is there a tool I can run to make sure my registries are currently in order?

9. Does SpyBot include connected external drives or devices when it runs? From this point, now that this computer's clean, and once I upgrade my virus protection, will it be safe to simply connect externals and scan them (and will zipped or archived files get scanned)?

10. Should I now uninstall HouseCall, aswMBR, ERUNDT, OTL, and dds, or could they be useful to me in ongoing system care?

11. Is it ever recommended, or not recommended for a relative novice like me to scan for viruses/malware in safe mode?

I'll spend some time reading the pages you've linked to (this one's broken: http://forums.whatthetech.com/index.php?showtopic=57817). Thank you so much for your support. It's nice having a functioning computer again.

Kiwikay

[ken545]

Hi,


Try this one, it opened for me
http://forums.whatthetech.com/index.php?showtopic=57817



These are fine
DropBox and Evernote


This is the developer version and came bundled with Version 7 Update 5 and can be uninstalled
JavaFX 2.1.1 <-- Uninstall



Spam is funny, you never know whats inside to its best just to not open them


When you run a scan with Malwarebytes we usually just run the Quick Scan but if you have your external drives connected a run the Full scan it will list connected drives and you can just put a checkmark in the ones you want scanned. Spybot may not have the same option.



As far as these, lets get rid of them as if you should need them in the future you should get updated versions
HouseCall, aswMBR, ERUNDT, OTL, and dds


OTL has a clean up feature, lets run it and it will remove most of the tools we used, the ones it did not you can uninstall or drag to the trash

Open OTL and click on Clean Up and it will remove programs we used to clean your system along with there backups, any programs that where not removed you can just drag to the trash.

Ken

[kiwikay]

Thank you so very much Ken for your hand holding through something that didn't turn out to be so awful or difficult, but was needed anyway. I plugged my external hard drive and 2 USB sticks and re-ran SpyBot, Malwarebytes & Microsoft Security Essentials. It took forever, but I seemed to get them cleaned up (though I'm not sure if it scanned zipped or archived files -- I'm assuming they'll get scanned if and when they are opened).

Overall my computer's running much better, and my "Window's Experience" rating went up from a 3.9 to a 4.0. I think the next step is for me to take it into the shop for some upgrade options, and I'm still incorporating the advice from the various links you gave me. For future reference, what, in your opinion would be the best site for me to visit to get some sound advice on windows maintenance issues? I understand registry cleaners are out, but there are still other tools out there that promise all sorts of things.

I'm getting ready now to start doing some basic scans and upgrades on the other 2 computers using the same malware tools, so it may turn out that I don't need support after all. One of the computers is running Vista, and my husband and I are debating whether it would be best to upgrade to Windows 7. Do you have an opinion on that?

Thank you again for your help, and I will definitely make a donation to SpyBot to show my appreciation.

KiwiKay

Oh, if it looks like my other computers are in need of additional malware removal support, should I contact you, or just post here again?

[ken545]

I understand registry cleaners are out, but there are still other tools out there that promise all sorts of things. <--Dont believe them. You will find all kinds of garbage on the internet, basically like I said, keep one Anti Virus program, keep both Malwarebytes and Spybot, run a cleaner now and then , a whole lot more are not really needed.


You can go to PcPitStop and run the free analyzer scan, keep the link when its done and you can paste it into a forum of your choice so they can see where you stand.

http://www.pcpitstop.com/techexpress/default.asp


You can also post in this nice windows forum with help cleaning up your system
http://forums.whatthetech.com/index.php?showforum=119



What I am going to do is close this thread and mark it as resolved, what you want to do when your ready is to come back to this forum and START A NEW TOPIC. Make sure you let them know its your second system, if I miss your post we have a great team of people and one of us will pick it up.

Ken

[ken545]

Since this issue appears to be resolved ... this Topic has been closed. Glad I could help.