Windows 7 I have no idea how to fix my computer or even fully explain what happened to it...need help

Kali Nichols

New Member
My computer is less than a year old and has current anti-virus protection through McAfee Total Protection - however on March 16th when I attempted to open internet explorer a small screen popped up stating it couldn't open because it didn't exist, I had been on the internet the night before and everything worked fine. Then suddenly a program called E-set Antivirus was claiming I had dozens of viruses and that I should buy their product to rid my hard drive of all the problems and thats when I noticed there was also a destop icon for this program even though I've never heard of it. I tried deleting it from the computer but it wouldn't let me delete it from the system. McAfee did not detect any viruses, malware, or spyware. After talking to several people who had similar problems I resorted to a restore, but at first the computer wouldn't allow me to do a restore. Finally a restore went through but then McAfee wasn't working properly, at first it didn't work at all and then it kept saying that the scanning was off - I'd hit the button to turn it on and it wouldn't do anything, then it would go on but after three seconds it would turn itself off. I shut down the computer for about a day and tried again, when I turned the computer on McAfee was working properly but I still couldn't open internet explorer.

So right now the computer is working properly with the exception of Internet Explorer and without that I can't go online to re-install it (I'm currently using a friend's computer). Everyone I spoke to believes I have or at least had a serious virus and that I should crash the system and re-install windows and everything else but the computer won't allow me to do a factory restore. I called Dell and according to them its a software issue and software issues aren't covered under my warrantly, but said they could easily fix the problem if I buy their software warranty for $430 - I only paid $600 for the computer and I don't have $430. There are several people my mom knows, as well as an uncle, who fix computers for a living but if this is something I can fix on my own I'd rather not have to spend money I don't really have.
 
e-set is "rogueware" - it is a serious infection meant to mimic a genuine prodcut called eset (without the hyphen). Goto this link to find out how to remove it. If you have any remaining problems do get back to us. You don't need to reinstall your system and you certainly don't need to be shelling out to Dell!

http://www.2-spyware.com/remove-e-set-antivirus-2011.html

Also have a look at downloading and installing mbam - run it to check for any remaining problems - free from here:

Link Removed - Invalid URL
 
Last edited:
Difficult problem. I would suggest that you first try to boot your computer into safemode with networking follow those instructions but instead of choosing safemode choose safemode with networking.
If you are successful download, install and then run the update utility built into both to make sure you have the latest signatures
Link Removed - Invalid URL and
Spybot Search and Destroy
just stay in safemode and after you have installed and updated the signatures go ahead and run them both. You can run them simultaneously without issue.
Hopefully this will help get rid of any lingering malware and then (back in normal boot mode) uninstall McAfee from the control panel and then use the vendor specific proprietary removal tool to get rid of any remnants, step #2 here. Then download and install Link Removed due to 404 Error, update and run full scan.
Lastly regarding Internet explorer. It's possible that the malware has placed a black hole proxy entry into the connection properties of IE so take a look at Control Panel, upper right corner "View by", choose small icons, then select Internet Options, then the Connection Tab, then the LAN settings button and uncheck everything in there. Ok your way back out of there and see if IE works now. The only other thing that comes to mind right now is a mulititude of bad entries in the hosts file. We can address that in a later post.
 
Thanks sirloyne for that link. I will add it to my list of things to suggest. I love SuperAntiSpyware but I usually don't suggest it since I've never been able to get it to install in safemode. This portable version looks like an excellent alternative.
Much appreciated.
Randy
 
First thought: With a competent Anti-Virus program running, that malware should have never gotten a foothold.
Two programs I regularly remove from a new computer..... Norton and McAfee. I have the factory issued removal tools for both.

By the way, Portable programs are becoming more and more common. I just recently downloaded and updated a Portable version of
Spybot Search & Destroy. I ran it from my Flash Drive and it updated itself there, from their internet site. Now I take that with me on
every service call. There are also several stand alone Anti-Virus programs from well known vendors. AVG has one and so does PCTools.

Cheers Mates!
Old Timer :)
 
Back
Top