AboutLorry Expertise I can answer most questions regarding viruses/Trojans and help to remove them.
Experience This happens to be of interest to me as it boggles my mind that people have nothing better to do than to write a virus. Wish these people, the ones who write viruses would put the knowledge to good use instead. My job as a local tech involves removing viruses and/or spyware.
Question QUESTION: Hi Lorry,
I am a user of window xp professional for few years. A strange thing happen 5 days ago with my computer. Its desktop color changed to red with a toxic sign saying "your privacy is in danger" "download privacy protection software now". Desktop also had three icons"privacy protector","spyware protection", and "Error cleaner". Also, status bar has icons saying "KVM Secure" and "Antispyware master. I tried to locate these files and kept deleting wherever these words exist. When I finished deleting and reboot my PC my desktop background changed white with title "ACTIVE DESKTOP RECOVERY" and a button saying "Restore my active desktop". I felt I have deleted some system files which resulted this change. I clik on restoring button it gives me another window "INTERNET EXPLOER SCRIPT ERROR". At this point my PC is super slow. If I open control panel or other, it takes forever. The internet explorer does not open rather it keeps adding blank internet explorer window. I cannot download nothing. Rather it clears the whole desktop screen and open up window security/spyware alert pop up messages.
To help change the "DESKTOP" i changed the script from 272 to "0" as per instructions I googled from one site. When I restarted "ACTIVE DESKTOP RECOVERY" disappeared. My desktop was again changed to the initial Red Toxic Desktop screen. However, within a minute this red toxic desktop screen automatically changed back to the same "Active DESKTOP RECOVERY " screen.
Can you help me out please.
Thanks.
ANSWER: Hi Irfan,
Hope you didn't click on any of the pop-up windows. Try downloading the free version of Spybot from:
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
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QUESTION: Thanks so much for your prompt response. However, as I have mentioned I am unable to open IE. When I try to run anything it just show me "connecting" but does not connect anything. So how can I run the download you have mentioned.
Any idea?
Answer Hi Irfan,
Figured you were using a different browser as you sent a message to AllExperts. If you are using a different computer, you can download Spybot, put it on a floppy/CD and then install it on the infected computer.
