First you will need alot of patience.  Second, I would not put this machine
on your network, unless you are ready for network problems!  Third, don't
mess with the registry, it isn't necessary.  You will need  to restart the
computer in safe mode (use the F8  key) and disable System Restore or your
virus will return time after time.  You will need to get a antivirus program
on CD to use as the one you have on your hard disk has probably been
compromised.  You could also get Stinger from  McAfee and put it on a disk
too, it's free from www.mcafee.com.  Symantec has some individual remover
programs that you can use on disk.  Run your anyivirus till you are
satisfied your system is clean.  If your file system is  so totally damaged
by the virus, you can reinstall or repair your system with the XP CD, but
you should never find a problem so bad you have to format.  I haven't
formated a customer's system for problems like these in over 15  years when
I didn't know better and got into lots of trouble with no backups!  With
your virus free system, download, install, update and run AdAware and SpyBot
S &  D.  Turn on system Restore back on and you should have a good system
going again.

Howard Rubin
The Computer Doctor
Fortaleza, Brazil

RE:  Date:    Mon, 5 Jan 2004 18:12:33 -0500
From:    Emie <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Trojans & Worms shared nest

Backdoor.IRC.Aladinz.F, W32.ASpam.Trojan, Welchia, Swen, Worm_AGobot.Av
live here!

I'm trying to revive a hopeless case laptop that turned to be a mating hole
for viruses, spywares, malwares, worms (ugh!) and trojans.  This is just
unreal to me.  The owner, a poor mis-informed lady (an elementary teacher)
was told on January 2003 when she bought the unit that the laptop already
had a virus protection and a mcaffee something firewall .  Worse, she said
the salesman never mentioned to her about updating the anti-virus. duh!  So,
since the beginning of 2003 she had been on the internet, with only the
initial virus protection that came with the system.

About September/October timeframe, her laptop began to slow down and "took
time to boot up and Windows quit doing the auto shutdown."  Towards the end
of the year, the laptop was hopelessly crawling, very slow and oftentime,
locks up.  Few days ago, a timer popped up on screen (this is also the time
she called me) with a warning that "the system is shutting down" and she
couldn't do anything about it but to reboot, only to be shutdown again.

I hooked up this baby up to our network and went to TrendMicro's webssite.
TrendMicro's free Housecall online virus scanning service identified 535
files infected and was able to clean all but 32 files "uncleanable."  I
believe these 32 files have something to do with the Registry and I don't
think I am interested in doing battle with these electro-pests in the
Registry.  So, my question.... I am assuming that this laptop's operating
system is just so badly infected with these viruses that I recommended a
full format of her 10 GB HD and reload O/S and Office 97 (and one school
grading software.)  Is there a special way of doing this reformatting to
make sure that all these pests go away and don't hide anywhere, like the
MBR?  Is there any precautionary steps I need to take during the formatting
to ensure that all the pests on this laptop are either destroyed or
eradicated?   I have yet to find out the payloads of the viruses, worms and
trojans left on the hard drive and the MOs they each take.

Any help extended will be greatly appreciated!  (WinBook J401 15" from
MicroCenter, Intel P4- 2.0GHz, WinXP-Home, 256 MB PC2100, 10 GBHD, DVD/CRW
Combo, Internet via dial up conn.)  Thank you very much!

Emie DelRosario

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