Calling all TMF Puter Boffins.................

[red indian]

......Virus problem
...."Norton" and "Trend House call" both tell me I have a number of viruses, but my machine will not allow me to remove them. It keeps telling me the "file is in use". They are all windows media player files and are stored in "C:\_RESTORE\TEMP "I would like to clear this folder completely of all 200 files but it wont let me touch any of them. Neither will it let me play any of them to see what they are.

They all try to open in a version of WMP that never works on my puter (presumably an older version).

I have a fairly new version of WMP as well which works perfectly well, but none of the contents of RESTORE\TEMP open in the new version.

As far as I can recall, this older version of WMP has never worked anyway.

How do I get rid of these files which I have never seen and dont want?

 

[qjakal]

Howdy redhead

"It keeps telling me the "file is in use"."

That means you have to get it out of the inital start up sequence/load aka "boot". Depends on what operating system you're using, but with that information in hand you can Google the answer on how to get it out of your boot sequence, ok?. Once you remove it from the initialization you'll be able to delete the files/folders. Same thing a lot of spyware does to protect itself.

Q

 

[AquaFeline]

Try pressing F8 during before the windows logo comes up when you turn your computer on. Boot into safe mode.

 

[red indian]

Thanks guys.....

....for the help, but still no joy, I booted up and pressed F8 and got to "safe mode" and then tried deleting, but they wont budge, any of em!!

Here is an example ofwhat the files are called C:\_RESTORE\TEMP\A0186291.CPY this particular one has TROJ_J.A virus in it.


Does this help any?

 

[drew70]

You might try booting from a "boot disk" floppy. It should boot up in DOS mode without running any autoexec. Then use the DOS commands to hunt down the files and delete them.

 

[Leo tickles]

I'm no computer expert but last year when my computer broke I grabbed a hammer, smashed it, bought a new one, problem solved.

 

[red indian]

Mmmmmm.............

.....food for thought indeed Leo but knowimng my luck, when i go to the hardware store there will be a sign saying "can not delete, hammer in use"

 

[qjakal]

XP

If you're running XP use the msconfig function that's built into the OS. Hit Start, Run and type msconfig into the text prompt. It'll bring up a control box you can use to analyze what runs at start up and enable you to easily disable it.

Restart, then right click on the Start button and Explore your drive until you locate the offending folder...delete it, empty your recycling bin, run a spyware program or 2 and go back to watching soccer/futball/rugby/whatever happily...

If you're NOT running XP PM me and we'll chat.

Q

 

[Krazy]

WOW u mess up your computer a lot.. how u keep getting these virus's?

 

[Cav88]

Red, and anyone else here for that matter download mozilla firefox as your new web browser. It's a free download and a lot safer than microsoft internet explorer. Microsoft internet explorer is integrated into windows itself, so anything that happens in IE will affect windows. Microsoft does this so you can't uninstall microsoft I.e. Firefox also has some better features as well.

 

[red indian]

Thanks...........

....to all of you for taking the trouble to try and help me, its very much appreciated. Thankyou all.

Having said that, I am still no further along the way to fixing the problem. I think i have some kind of virus that is eluding all attempts to expell it from my system.

I have run Norton, Spybot,Trend House Call, Adaware repeatedly, but they all show me as having the cleanest puter outside the pentagon.

The main problem is my processor appears to be running at 100% capacity even though its not actually doing anything, then, when you reboot a few times it drops right down to almost totally inactive.

Also it routinely will not boot up from cold, I nearly awlays have to press the little button for an emergency restart.

Also it does not like being shut down either! I have to press the little button with a biro to restart, and then shut down again.

Then of course i have this collection of weird WMP files that refuse to open, but some of wich are shown as carrying a virus. They resist any attempt to delete them.

Q....I think I will take up your offer of a PM, thank you me old china.

Once again thanks to all for taking the trouble to reply.

 

[AquaFeline]

Bleah

Are you running XP or something else?

 

[TummyDragon]

If it keeps coming back, you might be stuck in the System Restore circle from hell. If the virus is in a file that has been saved in the System Restore folder, you can delete that devil until hell freezes over and windows will just put it right back.

So, you might want to try disabling the System Restore feature, and then run your scan, eradicate the virus, then reactivate the feature.

 

[Cav88]

Google for zombie bot. What you have sounds something similar to that. What zombie bot basically is your computer's processing and bandwith are being used to help spam other people.

 

[AquaFeline]

You know, a full system wipe might be less of a hassle than going through all this...