PC screwed with Spyware Viruses?

[chewie8008]

Ok, my bro has a PC that has so many viruses/spyware it's ridiculous.

I ran AVG antivirus and antispyware and the antivirus found over 5000 threats. I've never seen that much crap on one PC. And now some file got deleted(I assume was virus ridden) that WinXP needs to run and it won't do crap until the file is replaced.

So I figured instead of messing with that ridiculous pile of crap that i'd just reformat the HDD and start it all over. My question is, is the HDD the only thing that is infected with spyware and viruses or can it infect more?

I've done this before but it's been a while, I should just be able to click reformat, wipe it clean, create a new partition and reinstall XP with the original OS install discs, right?

I have ran the following on it already:

Zonealarm firewall is on
AVG antivirus
AVG antispyware
Hijackthis
Lavasoft Adaware
Stinger
Spybot
Spyware blaster
IE Spyad
FxSasser

[budz]

stick the original xp disc into cd/dvdrom then when you get to the part where it says operating system found.....delete that partition and create a new one then install xp. when you delete that partition that has the spyware ridden operating system it will wipe the hard drive. after you install xp then install all the necessary windows updates & security patches, antivirus and spyware programs.

[redwash1]

yeah I know what you mean, I did it 3 times, until I purchase spy sweeper.
I also have ad-aware SE, spybot, win defender, just in case. Might want to get index.dat program (check where you bro got all the spyware from - heh heh), it's free.
But spy sweeper does it all. Haven't reformatted my HD since, $30 is well worth it, real time protection. I also have Ghost surf but there are also other free stuff like, tor, etc...
Stay way from limewire, bearshare, and other downloading crap like that.
Teach your bro on the do's and don't of surfing, you can get or buy all this S/W but it won't matter until he changes the way he surfs.
oh and one more thing, KEEP HIS FRIENDS OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[budz]

yeah I know what you mean, I did it 3 times, until I purchase spy sweeper.
I also have ad-aware SE, spybot, win defender, just in case. Might want to get index.dat program (check where you bro got all the spyware from - heh heh), it's free.
But spy sweeper does it all. Haven't reformatted my HD since, $30 is well worth it, real time protection. I also have Ghost surf but there are also other free stuff like, tor, etc...
Stay way from limewire, bearshare, and other downloading crap like that.
Teach your bro on the do's and don't of surfing, you can get or buy all this S/W but it won't matter until he changes the way he surfs.
oh and one more thing, KEEP HIS FRIENDS OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The best advice is to teach people how to maintain their computers. The computers itself will not remove spyware and viruses, it takes direction from us humans.

[redwudz]

My brother seems to down load every type of malware conceivable. He said his email wouldn't work. I found he had overloaded his ISP and they shut him off. I counted more than 5000 new spam emails in 24hours. Even worse, he had subscribed to some of this stuff with his full name and home address and phone number. Not surprisingly, he had to change his home phone number.

Since I built his computer originally, my solution was to install AVG free, Spyware Blaster, SpyBot S&D, Stopzilla. The combination seems to work. I also locked out most any modification he could do to the system, such as shut off the antivirus or firewall.

Since he couldn't figure out how to reactivate his email, that was covered.

But the best and final solution was to install Acronis TruImage to make a backup of his system before he messed it up again. Worst case, I can pop in the recovery disc and reinstall the system in a few minutes. Not that I'm recommending Acronis specifically. Most any good backup software should work.

You may find that once you have removed all the malware on your computer, that some of the OS went with it and the machine may be badly crippled. A reinstall is the best cure, but a backup program is a whole lot faster and you don't need to gather all your various software discs together to put all your programs back in.

BTW, if you save any files from the old install, be very careful. I've had malware hide in my IE favorites file and some email files. Better not to install anything from the old OS install if you can avoid it.

[chewie8008]

Yeah, I don't know where he gets all this crap from. Probably chats and direct connecting with myspace.com users. I reinstalled all this crap before when it was my moms PC. Then she gave up and gave the PC to my bro. He has done it again. I have seen the firewall and things like that turned off before, so that's probably a big part of it.

Regardless, i'm gonna do it once more and reinstall all antivirus/spyware programs and if he does it again, he'll be w/o a PC.

Thanks for all the advice guys!