AboutCarolyn Meinel Expertise I cover Windows, Unix, TCP/IP and Ethernet security questions. I do not cover Mac, Palm Pilot, or other networking issues.
Experience Books by Carolyn Meinel: wrote a chapter for The Hacking of America book (see http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1567204600/happyhacker)
My article Code Red for the Web for Scientific American was reprinted in the book Best American Science Writing 2002 (see http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060936509/happyhacker). My book The Happy Hacker: A Guide to Mostly Harmless Hacking is now in 4th edition with a Japanese edition (see http://happyhacker.org/hhbook/).
Question Dear Madam,
Please be so kind as to help me: I have little understanding of computers, and am struggling with what seems to be the "Registrycleanerxp" virus. Symptoms are: a popup appears saying "Registry damaged and corrupted". The modem also disconnects, and the computer shuts down. I have downloaded and run Ewido, Spyhunter, HijackThis, Spybot and Threatfire antivirus programs - but they detect nothing on the computer. I hav WindowsXP Professional on the computer (Pentium3).
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
thankyou
Alan Cobban
Karoo, South Africa
Answer Your basic problem is that none of the programs you list is a true antivirus program.
In particular, according to a review of Threatfire at PC Magazine, it is not designed to detect this particular kind of attack. (See http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2191337,00.asp for details.) Indeed, none of the products you have tried are designed to combat viruses. Ewido is designed to remove Trojans and the others you have tried are all designed to remove adware or spyware.
Your best chance of easily getting rid of your virus is to install a complete Internet security suite, one designed to defend against any and every kind of damaging programs. Unfortunately, none of the Internet security suites are free. However, there is one that is excellent and you can try it for free for thirty days.
Here's how to solve your problem.
1) Download F-Secure's Complete Internet security suite, which offers a free trial: https://store.f-secure.com/cgi-bin/dlreg/ml=EN?ID=FSISTB&desid=TRIAL
2) Disconnect from the Internet.
3) Uninstall Ewido and Threatfire because they might conflict with F-Secure. You can keep Spyhunter, HijackThis, and Spybot.
4)Install F-Secure. Get online and check for any updates.
5) Run a complete scan of your computer. Follow any instructions F-Secure might give you.
