I have a friend in need of some computer assistance.

The computer is a dell , running windows ME.

Her brother got into some , lets say , unacceptable sites for his age, and the computer got loaded up with viruses .

And it stopped short of going into a coma, it basically shut down, her origional virus scan wouldn't open, and she couldn't uninstall it, or reinstall it. I had her download AVG FREE virus scan , it found and got rid of a butt load of viruses , but problems still remain. When she tries to access control panel , it says there is X number of items, but none of them appear, there are certain other programs that will open , but not operate, such as yahoo messenger , virus scan continues to come back clean. The non functioning programs cannot be manually deleted , as it won't allow her , and since she cannot access the control panel , can't remove the programs.

Does anyone have any suggestions before we have to break down and formatt this sucker?

 

There should be a "roll-back" feature on the Dell. I think there is "F" key you can press at re-boot to acess this feature. It should be called "restore point" or something. I would try one or two things, if you don't have sucess right away take it to someone who knows.
I have crashed a few myself, the best thing I did was find a place called "P.C Doctor" twice now, about $75.00 later, computer behaving again.
Just a thought.

 

Fighting a battle you cant win with Windows ME. Might as well be playing the "trying ot keep the oil and smoke in the engine" game and drive a ford.

You just cant win.

One thing you can try is pull out his harddrive and put it in a machine with an up to date antivirus, and scan the harddrive that way.

But really on WinMe its so insecure theyll just walk right back in. Even if he has an a/v app.

 

Between me and HER we don't know exactly what an a/v app is?

she is going to check into the "roll back" feature.

thanks for the help so far fellas, please keep it coming.

 

Are you sure your friend is logged on with her ID? I'm not real familier with ME, but on most Windows systems, programs cannot be deleted unless you have administrator previlages.

 

a/v app .... anti virus application. as to where to go from there if the rollback doesn't work taking it to a shop can be pricey but most of the time thye can fix it.

 

Crobtex , as far as i know , there is only one id on the computer , but i will ask, If she was on the wrong ID would she even be able to open control panel? she can open it no w, but none of the icons appear , it says they are there , but they do not show.

Cash is tight for her right now , so taking it to a shop is kind of out of the question, last resort is to format it again, which we would like to avoid.

I gave her a link to this thread , so hopefully she will get on later and try some of the suggestions , i'll try and report back later with some info.

 

As stated before, try to restore it to a previous date. If it's there, it will probably be in the "Accessories", then "systems" section of "All Programs". If that don't work, re-install ME over the current version.

 

I've had to resort to reloading the IBM thinkpad I use regularly. It's a fix all, but a LOSE all too. The first time it locked up I had some help from a guy in the office, he made a "recovery" CD. My important program files, pictures and documents were saved. It's ALL about "pop-ups" when dealing with less than kosher sites. NEVER click in the body or on a tab of a Pop-Up. Matter of fact, it would be safer for all if the little bother's access to the computer was limited. ?!
Dell usually has decent customer service (I heard), if the unit is used or the rebot/recovery CD is missing that could be a problem though.
Last time I went to PC Doctor is was under $100.00 and they are good about fixing it when you screw it up again a day later (not that I know or anything)

Good Luck.

 

- I don't think the "Rollback" feature (I'ts called a System Restore, and it will return to a previously saved setpoint) was available on ME; Best bet? Get a newer PC! She can set it up with password protected accounts, and set up an account for the young one(s) such that if this acount has Internet Access, she can attach a content filter to it.

...once she DOES get a newer PC, load it up with alll the anti-viral software you can get - Norton or McAffee at the very least, plus the Microsoft Beta Spyware, plus Spybot - these work well at keeping your computer safe from those a**bags who create these viruses and the other invasive garbage....

I also recommend disabling IE and running Firefox for your browser - hackers are after Bill Gates, and pretty much leave other browsers alone...

 

Unless you can find a trusted computer person close to you that can try and fix it, you will have to proably do a "wipe & reload" Reformat the hard drive and reinstall all needed programs. But everything will be gone when this is done. Sorry I can't give you more promising news. Good Luck.

 

would formatting and loading it up with windows XP and firefox instead of IE be a good idea if we end up formatting?

I have already suggested running firefox , it is what i have on my machines , and i have very little or absolutly no problems.

What kind of options are there for keeping the younger brother out of those sites? i know there are so many of them it would be impossible to block them all. Even if you could block them all , what would stop him from jumping onto google and searching for pictures? I have never had to deal with that sort of thing before , so how does one go about filtering the available sites?

 

If you have to re-format, there are some relativley inexpensive recovery programs out there. I bought one called "Recover X Lost Data". It was $25 after a $10 rebate, and it works. The recovered data is a little confusing, as it renames folders, but it was not hard to identify rename them.

 

Go to www.windowsbbs.com and post your problem in the forum called 'Removing spyware and viruses'. You will get the best help on the web.

Daniel

 

Not the solution. Just as many if not more security holes in firefox... Its just not as public.

The point is to avoid the garbage to begin with. Youre going to have to pull the harddrive out, scan it on a good clean machine with up to date antivirus, make a copy of all important data while it is out and accessible on the 2nd machine, then put it back in and try reinstalling win me over the top of itself. This should keep all data and programs in tact.

There will probably be alot of spyware on there too, in which case spysweeper, adaware, spybot, microsoft antispyware, etc. are all good programs to install and run. Along with manual cleanup of the registry.

If that doesnt work, then format/reinstall, since you would have the data on the 2nd machine already..

Its a tough battle, i deal with it 9 hours a day 6 days a week at my job.. Pretty much all i do is clean viruses/spyware and resolve windows problems...

But, being windows me, like i said, its a battle you wont win. It will take alot of time and resources only to have it happen again. Just being plugged into the internet with windows me is enough to get viruses and spyware.