Re: I am not sure if I downloaded a worm or virus last Friday or not
You might want to list the files on your machine by date - just the ones in your windows directory may be enough, \winnt or \windows. You can use dir *.* /l /s /n > c:\files.txt. Then open the file "files.txt" in excel and sort it by date.
Take a look at the most recently edited/created files and try to delete any suspicious ones. But don't delete anything that you might need later - it can be hard to know which is which. Sometimes, when you can't delete a file it isn't because it's in use, but because it's marked read only or system. You can use the attrib command (attrib -s to remove system attribute, for example) to make the file eraseable. Right clicking on the file in file manager or explorer will usually let you do the same thing (pick properties, and uncheck the appropriate boxes), but you'll have to adjust the settings in folder options to let you see system files, etc, first. Attrib will sometimes work when the GUI tools won't.
Sometimes, a file that can't be deleted because it's in use can be renamed - then it won't be started up the next time you restart. You can also do a regedit search to try to locate the entry that's starting the executable.
There are a lot of ways to screw up a windows machine, and sometimes trying to kill off a nuisance exe causes as much damage as the file itself.
It is possible that the file you found was there prior to your clicking on that email (it's neither related to the email nor a virus)...
Or that it is some kind of harmless marketing device that isn't a true virus, but just acts a lot like one (think of the crap AOL Instant Messenger, Microsoft Instant Messenger, Real Player, and others install on your machine that is so hard to remove)...
Or that it's a vicious worm that's been sending out emails from your machine, and will shortly format your hard drive (though the last one is actually pretty unlikely).
If norton won't install, anymore, try this site to download a free scanner:
antivirus.com
It should find anything that's really nasty, and, at least, you'll know.
Good luck fighting this!
Regards,
Dan |
