WinME Spyware removal issue...

[Frey Grimrod]

Ok so the system is an old Dell Inspiron 2100 running windows ME had gotten bogged down with spyware/adware to the point one could not browse the net. So I installed Spybot Search & Destroy off a CD, downloaded all its updates, ran its immunization function then checked for problems 268 found told it to fix selected problems deleted all but 68 that were presumably in memory I told it to run at the next startup I then quit out of spybot and told windows to restart

up until this point I wasnt worried then

I get a message NAV Cannot locate configuration files (assume this means Nortons Antivirus) so I hit ok and then the computer is trying to setup a fresh install of windows ME!?!? Did some of that spyware attach itself to config files or what?

Has anyone ever experienced anything similiar to this?

Any Ideas?

Should I just pull the drive and put it in another machine and try and salvage some files? Or boot it off a startup disk and try and copy some things onto a zip drive?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[glc]

The last ME box I worked on that was eaten up with spyware, I had to nuke and pave (wipe and reinstall). You may well be able to get it working okay without doing this, but I'd go for file salvage now while you can just in case. Pull the drive, put it in a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter, slave it into a desktop computer, scan it for viruses, and start copying files.