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General discussion

Help!! Please!!!!!!

Feb 24, 2004 3:19AM PST

Might I have a virus? Sometimes when I type in a web-site address, or click on an icon within a website, my entire browser dissapears, and I am left staring at my desktop. Any advise on how to remedy this problem? I am running windows XP Office edition.

Discussion is locked

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virus?
Feb 24, 2004 3:40AM PST

run an on-line scan:

- http://housecall.antivirus.com/
- http://www.pandasoftware.es/activescan/activescan-com.asp

If your computer has NO virus and is clean:

Download, install and run one of these spyware cleaning programs:

Ad-aware
Download Ad-aware from here: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware
Install by double-clicking on the downloaded file.
After installing but before running, update Ad-aware by using its Globe icon.
After updating, shutdown and restart Ad-aware.
Ad-aware is ready to scan and clean your system following these steps:

Under Ad-aware 6 > Settings (Gear at the top) > Tweaks > Scanning Engine:
"Unload recognized processes during scanning."
Under Ad-aware 6 > Settings (Gear at the top) > Tweaks > Cleaning Engine:
"Let Windows remove files in use after reboot."
Press "Scan Now"
Check option "Use Custom scanning options"
Check option "Activate In-Depth Scan"
Press "Select drives\folders to scan"
Select the active partition which is usually C:
Press "Next" to let Ad-aware scan your drives...
If it finds "bad" files and registry keys, press "Next" again
Right-click in that pane and choose "select all"
Press "next"
When it asks to remove all checked items, Press "OK"
Close Ad-aware, reboot your system

more to come

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virus ..... more (1)
Feb 24, 2004 3:40AM PST

Spybot S&D
The download for Spybot S&D is available here: http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=spybotsd

Install by double-clicking on the downloaded file.
Run Spybot S&D from desktop icon or Start menu.
Press "Search for updates" button to get list of updates available.
Press "Download updates" button.
Close all IE windows and close & restart Spybot S&D.
Press "Check for problems" button.
Have SpyBot remove all it marks in red by pressing "Fix selected problems"
Close Spybot S&D, reboot your system

Pls. let us know how it goes.

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Re:virus ..... more (1)
Feb 26, 2004 3:20AM PST

I have tried everything, spybot, adaware, etc. None of these have helped. When I go to certain web-sites, my entire browser just disappears altogether. Any advise?

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webpage
Feb 26, 2004 4:01AM PST

Could you pls. give us the webpage - so we can SEE it?