Norton Not Deleting Trojan Horse(s)

[jbbrown211]

yes, i'll switch. I did scan the files i backed up, there weren't many of them. I am trying to reinstall windows and there were (2) partition options for me to use. One was FAT and only had about 56 MB available. The other was C: and had tons of space. I selected C: and it is saying that there is another OS on this partition, and it is warning me that installing multiple OS's on the same partition is not recommended. The other partition is too small so should I still install it on C: ??

Do I have to uninstall windows, or does the reinstall automatically install over the previous version? Just want to make sure I don't screw up the install.

[rjfvillarosa]

Does it give you the option to Fomat "C"? if not carry on with the installation and maybe it will then give you the option to format C.
You can't uninstall Windows, you always format the harddrive and reinstall Windows (unless you are carrying out a repair, but thats another story).

[jbbrown211]

"C" drive is the option i selected, but it is telling me that there is already an operating system on that partition. I assume that is my current windows xp? Can I go ahead and install, or will it actually end up installing (2) operating systems on the drive?

[rjfvillarosa]

Keep going right up to accepting the EULA (press F8 to accept the end user agreement) and see if it comes up with the option to format C, you can always cancel the install and start again and watch for the format option.

[jbbrown211]

I already accepted the EULA. If you look at the link you sent me for the instructions, I am looking at #3 & #4 in the "Windows XP Setup" section for the install, I hit "esc" to install a new copy of windows. Should I have done #3?

[rjfvillarosa]

You are doing right, I would have thought it was going to offer to do a format but obviously it does it behind the scenes, hence the reason it says that depending on your disk size depends how long the install will take, it must be allowing time to carry out the format.
Watch out for the next instruction "press any key to boot from the cd" leave everything alone until the install is finished, don't remove anything, if you have any peripherals like printers or USB devices installed it would be better to remove them untill after the install and then reinstall them.

[jbbrown211]

Got it, I'll move on with it and let you know if anything else comes up. Thanks.

[jbbrown211]

I selected "C" drive, now it's giving me the following options:

Format the partition using the NTFS file system (quick)
Format the partition using the NTFS file system
Leave the current file system intact (no changes)

It doesn't mention this part on the instructions...

[rjfvillarosa]

Originally Posted by jbbrown211 I selected "C" drive, now it's giving me the following options: Format the partition using the NTFS file system (quick) Format the partition using the NTFS file system Leave the current file system intact (no changes) It doesn't mention this part on the instructions...

Excellent that was what I was waiting for.
"quick" is going to do a simple format that only formats the first part of the disk making the rest of the disk unreadable to your average PC owner, for a more secure format select the next option, be warned, depending on the size of your harddrive this could take some time.

[jbbrown211]

OK, I believe my HDD is about 80GB..I'll run option 2.....it is formatting now.

[rjfvillarosa]

Go and get your self a rum coffee and sit back and relax, that is going to take about an hour to format, less if your lucky.

[jbbrown211]

Yup, will do. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm guessing that after the HDD format, the rest of the install should proceed as the Dell instructions state?

[rjfvillarosa]

Yeah it will be a breeze.
While you are waiting you can carryout a few tasks.
Download to your laptop and copy these to your memstick for installation on the tower:
AVG antivirus free version http://free.grisoft.com/doc/avg-anti.../lng/us/tpl/v5
Ewido antispyware http://www.ewido.net/en/
Easy cleaner from "toniarts" http://www.download.com/3120-20_4-0....iarts&tag=srch this is a nice little tool to keep your registry clean and get rid of unnecessary files.
Think of a name for your laptop and a name for your tower for when you reinstate the network between them,the network name by default is MSHOME so you can think of an alternative to that as well if you want.

[jbbrown211]

Excellent, I'll get started. Should I also install these on my laptop and get rid of Norton? Also, I remember you saying that xp had a good firewall. Is that true, and what settings do I need to tweak for that to be "optimized"?

[rjfvillarosa]

That is up to you but I certainly would.
Norton doesn't have a very good name around here any more ( I am a Symantec recommended software partner ). It is a good antivirus scanner but it is a major system resource hog and slows your machine right down, I think the problem is that it is somewhat over zealous and scans everything that is happening including what you are doing as you do it.
Windows Defender is a good spyware scanner and you can install it straight from the Microsoft site, but a lot of people consider Ewido to be a better one, Ewido certainly gives your more tools to check your system with.
EasyCleaner has been around for a few years now and I personally consider it a nice little spring cleaning tool, it cleans out cookies and temporary internet files, it will search out and delete redundant registry entries, it can also find and delete unnecessary files including old temporary files from internet browsing and temporary installation files that are no longer required and there can be a few of them left around after a Windows install, just do not use the duplicate file remover this can remove system files and has been known to crash and render a sytem useless.
You don't need to tweak the Windows Firewall unless you wish to allow something specific to access your machine or something on your machine to access the internet.

[jbbrown211]

I'm fine with deleting it...at this point I want to be running whatever is the most effective at making sure this situation NEVER happens again. So if I have it right, I should be running:

Spyware: Ewido
Anti Virus: AVG
Firewall: Windows Firewall
Misc: Easy Cleaner

Is there anything I need to do after initial install to make sure they run regularly scheduled scans, stay "always on", etc.)?

Finished formatting and it looks like windows install is about 35 minutes to completion.

[rjfvillarosa]

With all free ware you are limited in what you can do compared to the paid version, I find that letting AVG update itself everyday at a time when I know I usually have my machines switched on and running the scheduled scan about an hour later works fine for me, I also have it to scan imediately the machine is switched on if a scheduled scan is missed.
Ewido I just leave running in the background and it is set to scan at about the same time as AVG and install updates automatically, I also have the real time scanners switched on so that they are watching my system for abnormal behaviour.
Easy cleaner is all manual and very simple to use, I run the clean up scans about once a month.



I am turning in now, I need to get some sleep after last nights party, I will be here all day tomorrow as I am putting up some shelves in my work area and doing a little bit of a stock check, so I will check in to see how you got on.

[jbbrown211]

Thanks, I'm sure we'll be chatting tomorrow. If I were payng for protection, what do you think of BitDefender for antivirus, and Webroot for spyware?

[jbbrown211]

I just finished with the reinstall....only thing is that it didn't do steps 13-17 on the instructions. Did I miss something?

Also- I just ran Ewido and AVG, both came back with no instances of malware. I guess the next step would be to re-connect the tower to the internet and see if I can get connected.

One last thing..is windows firewall a SP2 update? I can't find it anywhere. If that is the case, should I re-install Norton until I can get SP2 downloaded so I am protected on the web?

[glc]

Download the full SP2 to your laptop and burn it to a CD or use a memory key if yours is 512mb or larger.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

[rjfvillarosa]

Do as glc says and download SP2 to your laptop and burn it to a cd, SP2 will take quite a while to download and you don't want your machine on the net that long without the firewall.
At the moment, with AVG and Ewido your machine is well protected from virus and malware attack but not from intrusion until the firewall is installed.
Does your laptop have SP2 installed?
Have you checked "device manager" in control panel>system>hardware on your tower? look to see if you have any yellow triangles, any sign of one of these will indicate a piece of hardware is not fully installed.

[jbbrown211]

I'll have a bit of a lull now since I'm back at work and won't have access to my tower until this evening. I have a 1 gig memory stick, so I will download SP2 and install on my tower. Haven't checked the device manager on my tower yet, will do that this evening.

[jbbrown211]

Ethernet controller and multimedia audio controller both have yellow triangles next to them. I have to connect to the net and see if I can install the drivers. I have downloaded and installed SP2 onto y tower and enabled windows firewall. I'll be trying to connect to the internet shortly.

[rjfvillarosa]

You need to get the ethernet controller working before you can connect the tower to the internet, it is what operates your lan connection, do you know what drivers are required? can you download them from Dell to your laptop?

[jbbrown211]

I have no idea what drivers are needed. I don't have a resource disc for this machine, I don't think it came with one since I am usually good at keeping all that info. Do you know where the best place to find it for my machine would be? I'll start checking the net on my laptop...

Also, what are the repercussions of not having the audio controller up (sounds obvious). I guess I need to get that driver as well?

[rjfvillarosa]

Here's a link to the downloads for your machine http://support.dell.com/support/down...&os=WW1&osl=EN the drivers you need are going to be in audio and network, do the usual and download them to your laptop and transfer them to your memstick, do you know how to install them from the memstick?

[jbbrown211]

How do I know which network driver, there are several listed? Do I also need to download the diagnostics?

[rjfvillarosa]

Does it not say in "device manager" what network card it is?
I wouldn't bother with the diagnostics, you know yourself if it is working ok or not.
Download all four of these and put them on your memstick then allow Windows to choose the correct driver.
3Com 3C905C-TXM Ethernet Adaptor
Intel 8254x 1000 Integrated Network
Intel Gigabit LOM
Intel WMI Provider

[jbbrown211]

It actually doesn't say, just has a question mark next to it in the device list. Would it hurt to install them all?

[rjfvillarosa]

Put the four I listed above on your memstick then plug it in your tower, right click on the ethernet controller and click update driver, when you can, select the source of the driver (your memstick) and let windows choose which one.