Wallpaper Virus

[Monak]

I feel like a total noob for asking , but does anyone know how to get rid of a wallpaper virus? My desktop wallpaper is blue with a little yellow box with a spyware warning in it , I know it is a virus I just have no idea how to get rid of the damn thing. My computer seems to be pretty badly infect , it has crashed when trying to run a virus scan and I am locked out of some system controls. Anyone know how to kill this thing?

 

[Pi]

Spybot, Ad-Aware, Hijackthis.

 

[Runefox]

That sort of infection might be just as simple to reformat over than to try to fix yourself if you're not familiar. If you want to know where it might be residing, you can go to the control panel, then display properties, then go to desktop, then Customize. Then go to Web, and there you have your problem. But it's deeper-rooted than that, I assure you, and it probably won't go quietly that way.

Spybot in safe mode might work for you. You should also look into a program called Combofix. Ad-Aware isn't something I'd recommend anymore, and HijackThis can be a little difficult if you don't know what you're looking for.

 

[Adelio Altomar]

My sister's computer got something like that. Try doing this:
>click Start
>click Control Panel

If you're using Windows XP, try looking for System Restore and try that. I don't seem to have so I don't have much more reference than that . But if you have Vista, try to look for I'm sorrySystem and Maintanence, and then Backup and Restore Center and see if that'll help. Again I'm sorry if I can't help you more than that.


Quick question: do you happen to know the name of the virus?

 

[net-cat]

SmitFraudFix
ComboFix

... and another that I forgot.

One of those usually works.

 

[Monak]

I do thank you for the help everyone , but it would seem I have encountered a very new form of computer virus with extremely advance self preservation programming , it was even able to crash my computer when I attempted a scan in safe mode. I have done everything short of doing a full restore of my PC which is what I will have to do. I do thank you all for the help.

 

[diosoth]

If you have your Windows CD, you CAN reinstall Windows without reformatting the drive. Just set your BIOS upon reboot to check a CD drive for boot data first. I owuld highly suggest buying a cheap USB flash stick and grabbing your broadband modem, video card and sound card drivers first, though, so you can reinstall them quickly as a Windows reinstall WILL wipe out drivers.

You may also find that some programs need to be reinstalled, primarily anything made by Adobe.