Virus on my laptop - help!

from xkcd.com

A pc can do that... providing you have a bootable image on a second drive.

All you need do is go into your BIOS and change the boot device. Simple as.

PC's have been able to do this since 1982 guys.

there is your answer, no need to buy a caddy and get jiggy with the screwdriver, just connect with a usb cable and do the above. then drag the important files across onto the other P.C.

Don't get Linux, get Plan 9 from Bell Labs. I think you'll find they don't make viruses for that anymore.

Tomasito, I can give you a hand, maybe no the best, not may work.

take the HD out of your machine, put it on a cady and connect it to mine. then try to save your files, this with luck and God help, put the HD back to yours, format and reinstal OS.

we can do this friday or sunday aftermoon.

PM me

this may be risky, depending on the type of virus. make sure that the pc you connect tomasito's drive to is running up to date AV or it runs the risk of being infected too. unless it is a mac or *nix box.

10 Print 'Skully is a technophobe'
20 goto 10

you forgot to type 'run' and hit return with a manic look of glee .

Thanks everyone. Greetings from an internet cafe in Stamford Hill :)
I'll be sending one or two PMs on the back of all your sound advice.

Tomasito, I can give you a hand, maybe no the best, not may work.

take the HD out of your machine, put it on a cady and connect it to mine. then try to save your files, this with luck and God help, put the HD back to yours, format and reinstal OS.

we can do this friday or sunday aftermoon.

PM me

Rik, you're a gent. I have no idea what a cady/caddy is, or whatever else you are suggesting, but let's give it a whirl (as long as your own machine will be safe.) I'll send a PM and hopefully see you at polo later.

Hey tom,

If all this Linux malarky is a bit daunting for you you can come over to my place (E3 5AT) and I'll sort you out. Remember though what VB said, if the virus has fucked with your data it is probably unsafeable. Still worth a try.

Oh, and don't forget to bring your chainring bolt tightener. :-)

Lenni, if/when I'm up and running and virus-free and ready for Linux (hmm, I might never be all of these) I'll give you a shout. And I'll bring the tool. Or maybe you will be a polo too? It's in the bag.

Thread dredge:

I gave a young relative an old but functional Dell laptop some months back. I reinstalled the software to remove all my stuff and installed some freebie anti virus software.

The laptop is now running really slow, probably as a result of all the adaware, toolbars and other crap that's found it's way into the machine.

So, question is, how do I go about restoring it to it's original condition and getting the performance back. There's nothing of value stored on the machine so a fresh install is not a problem if that's the favoured solution.

yep. Reinstall. By far the easiest way, with Windows (which I assume you are running), it's not the worst idea to reinstall it every 6 months anyway.

Reinstall in progress as we speak. This was one poorly computer. Kids!

Downloading 100 updates...

ubuntu

^Yarp, do this, no more problem

Unequivocally ban unruly nasty teenagers usingit?

That would also work- or simply remove the battery and take away the power cord.

Short of those steps, sticking a Linux operating system on it will make it a lot more resistant to crapware/viral infection/etc, as 99.9% of that is designed for Windows machines.

Looking at the state of the machine since giving it to her earlier this year I doubt it'll last until Xmas when she's hoping Santa will get her a new one. Noted for future reference though, thanks.

Set up a user account for her that does not have admin rights. Let her use that account.

Only logon with admin rights if you need to, for updates or installing software. Be picky about ever using the admin account.

This will give you longer before it becomes unstable.

^
this. rootkits are overriding system reinstallations since 8 years now.

ubuntu

Not any more, Mint is the way to go now:
http://linuxmint.com/

Damn, I wish you guys replied quicker. I took a different route but still used forum advice. Consequently she's been killed in the face twice and I've smeared Tynan paste on the enter and left click mouse buttons.
TBH it's no biggie if the laptop gets killed every so often. It only gets used for social networks and youtube so the worse thing likely to happen is her FB account could get hacked.

Not any more, Mint is the way to go now:
http://linuxmint.com/

I've thought about it, any reasons to switch?

dredge

weird one, wonder what you think - I'm stumped so far

started to get redirect pop ups in Chrome on my home laptop - usually something like ad sense/ad server/open serve/ quickly on tab, then redirect to marketing/games pages/casino/usual shite

then same started on Macbook :(

Ran some mac kinda malware bytes software - nothing
ran some Mac AV scan - nothing
Nothing on PC either

Now I've got the same happening using Chrome on work PC!

So must be in Google profile? I've installed a pop up blocker extension which works but.....

It's weird - when it happens everything slows down, it's like it's running a process, then you say, click on a link in You Tube and the new tab will open

I've Googled to the point that my eyes are bleeding!

Some people saying it's on the router, so I'm going to reset to default settings later - contacted my ISP, they of course deny all knowledge of anything wrong

I've changed my DNS settings on my Mac to use open dns but still the same

Any thoughts?

have you tried cleaning your keyboard with alcoholic wipes?

erm

possibly?

I think it started after going to some daily ableton tutorial site.......fuckers