Expert: Brian Benosky - 2/29/2008

Question
Hi Brian, My son has the picts virus on his computer and nothing I've tried seems to get rid of it. The only msg's that are appearing are in his MSN it sends to other people by saying random phrases such as 'see these pics I took last night' or 'check out my new pics'. Please help, I'm at a loss! Many thanks, Nicki

Answer
Hi Nicki

I will need to know exactly what is running in order to fix the problem.  Please download TrendMicro HijackThis! from the following link:
http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/threat_analytics/HJTInstall.exe
* Save HJTInstall.exe to your desktop.
* Doubleclick on the HJTInstall.exe icon on your desktop.
* By default it will install to C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HijackThis.
* Click on Install.
* It will create a HijackThis icon on the desktop.
* Once installed, it will launch Hijackthis.
* Click on the Do a system scan and save a logfile button. It will scan and the log should open in notepad.
* Click on "Edit > Select All" then click on "Edit > Copy" and Paste the entire contents of the log (no attachments) into a follow up here.  I will analyze the log and advise you further.

Brian