Expert: Lorry - 3/13/2008

Question
last night I was on my computer and everything was going fine, AVG didnt detect anything the entire time I was online, however this morning when I turned on my computer I kept recieveing an error message "Unable to retrieve saved user profile starting temporary profile instead" all my data seems to be there and exept for a few things operational but my virus scan still showed nothing wrong I have been told by a local computer tech company that this is due to a particularly nasty virus and I should bring it in to them to look at I hesitate to do this because of the fees that they are able to charge due to this being a small town do you have any suggestions for me?

Answer
Hi William,

Check out the following from Microsoft:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318011/en-us

Verify that you have the latest Windows Updates, go to Windows Updates and download the available updates.

Even though you have AVG installed, try using Internet Explorer and go to:

http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/default.asp?langid=ie&venid=sym

Click the GO button, then under Virus Detection, click Start. You might be told that you need to download and install ActiveX Controls for the scan to work, answer Yes.

Write down exactly anything it finds, then go to: http://www.symantec.com/search/  and do a search for what was found. Symantec usually has a removal tool and/or directions for removing manually. Make sure that you follow the instructions for removal, step by step, especially the part regarding disabling System Restore.

Hope this helps!
Lorry