[Glaswegian]

Hi again

McAfee is a bit of resource hog – Avast will be lighter. I would uninstall McAfee. The XP firewall only monitors incoming traffic – not outgoing, so I would use a third party firewall – see below for some suggestions.

Time to tidy up and let you go, along with my recommendations for staying safe and secure.


The following procedure will clear out the tools we've used as well as the backups and quarantines created by the fix. It will also reset your System Restore by flushing out previous restore points (which contain the infections) and create a new restore point.

Referring to the image below



Click Start > Run and copy/paste, or type the following bold text into the Run box and click OK:


ComboFix /u



Now that you are clean, to help protect your computer in the future I recommend that you get the following free programs:


General Protection
Spyware Blaster to help prevent spyware from installing in the first place.
Spyware Guard to catch and block spyware before it can execute.
Spybot - Search & Destroy with its TeaTimer option. This will provide realtime spyware & hijacker protection on your computer alongside your virus protection. You should also scan your computer with the program on a regular basis just as you would an antivirus software. A tutorial on installing & using this product can be found here.


Ad-aware 2008 Free Edition
Download and install Ad-Aware 2008 Free Edition. You should use this program to scan your computer on a regular basis just as you would an antivirus software in conjunction with Spybot. A tutorial on installing & using this product can be found here.



SnoopFree
SnoopFree is a real time monitor that notifies you when a programme wants to record your keystrokes or read your screen. Note that SnoopFree is only for XP systems.


MVPS Hosts File
The MVPS Hosts file replaces your current HOSTS file with one that will restrict known ad sites from serving you unsolicited advertisements. Basically, this prevents your computer from connecting to those sites by redirecting them to 127.0.0.1 which is the IP of your local computer. Note that if you use a company provided HOSTS file you should not use the MVPS HOSTS file.

Alternate Browsers
Try the following free alternate browsers rather than Internet Explorer
Firefox
Opera
Maxthon

Firewalls
A good firewall will monitor incoming and outgoing traffic. NOTE: Microsoft's Firewall for XP does not monitor outgoing traffic. If you do not have a firewall, here are 3 free ones available for personal use:
Comodo Personal Firewall
Sygate Personal Firewall
ZoneAlarm


Other Protection
Winpatrol - Download and install the free version of Winpatrol. A tutorial for this product is located here:
Using Winpatrol to protect your computer.

ERUNT & NTREGOPT
ERUNT is a programme that will create automatic backups of your Registry. These backups can be used to help restore your system in the event of a serious crash.
NTREGOPT will compact and optimise your Registry, to assist the smooth running of your system


Additional Reading
In light of your recent troubles, I'm sure you'll like to avoid any future infections. Please take a look at these well written articles

Keeping Safe on the Web.
Making Internet Explorer Safer.
Think Prevention!

Have a look here if your PC is still running a bit slow
Is your PC still a bit slow?


Keep clean and safe and enjoy your computing!

Please respond to this thread one more time so we can mark this thread as resolved.

[koolfilter]

Man your good.
Thanks