nothing works on bro's computer

[bball_1523]

Recently my brother's 1 year old computer does not work after windows xp loads. He says at first his Firefox was having trouble, then he uninstalled sygate free firewall and something installed itself (he said something about bravenet installing something without his permission).

Here are five things that happen that are problems:

1) When pc loads bottom right corner has popup that says “Windows has detected spyware infection”

2) Can't load internet on firefox or IE in both regular and safe modes

3) Can't copy/paste files to usb drive or burn files to discs

4) no taskbar or start menu bar

5) Bravenet got downloaded after uninstalling sygate firewall.

6) Can't load some of the other programs

Does anyone know what the problem is and how to resolve it? I tried telling him to use safe mode, but even there some of the same problems happen such as not being able to copy and paste.

[law99]

Did he run his av & antispywares in SM? Does he have HJT installed & can run it?

[bball_1523]

I don't think he has an AV, and I didn't ask him about the anti-spyware programs or hijack this, but will ask tomorrow. I get the thought that no program loads up in either regular or safe mode, at least that's what I think based on what he's told me so far.

[Negeva]

Excuse my ignorance, but in my defence I'm British: what is this Bravenet? An ISP or something?







[w00t, I'm half a devil with this post count ]

[bball_1523]

Originally Posted by Negeva Excuse my ignorance, but in my defence I'm British: what is this Bravenet? An ISP or something? [w00t, I'm half a devil with this post count ]

I don't know, and he doesn't know. He just said it installed itself after he removed Sygate firewall.

[bball_1523]

update: my brother let my friend install his harddrive on his friend's pc, and they are backing up the files before reformatting, so something has worked! Thanks for all your help anyway.

Oh and about using the anti-spyware programs, they did not work properly for him.

[Negeva]

Originally Posted by bball_1523 update: my brother let my friend install his harddrive on his friend's pc, and they are backing up the files before reformatting, so something has worked! Thanks for all your help anyway. Oh and about using the anti-spyware programs, they did not work properly for him.

This is what Bravenet means to me: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bravenet


Regarding the anti-spyware tools; most won't work after the fact as modern malware can actually cripple/disable security applications. This is especially true on heavy infected systems. It would be far better for your brother to take a more pro-active approach to his computer security.

Start doing the following;

1. Keep Windows fully patched and up-to-date.
2. Use a firewall: Comodo Firewall is free and good.
3. Install a decent Anti-Virus program: AVG Free, AVAST Home or a paid for item.
4. Install, update and regularly scan with SUPERAntiSpyware.
5. Install, update, immunize with Spybot Search and Destroy.
6. Use CCleaner to remove 'junk' files. Lots of malware starts it's life in temporary files.