Thank you geeks!!!

There seems to be something missing from the FAQs...
Where do you thank the geeks?

Last week my stupid brother stayed over at my mum's place. Naturally he jumps on her PC and heads straight for the pr0n... but since he's an idiot, he ends up in dialer land and inadvertantly installs every piece of malware spyware trojan nasty known to the internet.
The next day my mum compains to me that she can't access the internet, could I help. Thinking its something trivial, like it typically always is, I inspect her PC expecting to see some basic error, such as not connecting to the router.
I jump on and load IE to check if I can 'see out', and land myself on a nasty search page with links to all manner of .. 'personnel aides'.. we'll call them. I try and leave, but clicking anywhere does nothing. You can't exit this page no matter what you do. Seems a kind of pointless hack seeing you can't even get access to buy any of the said... 'aides'...
As it turns out the page was a smokescreen to the multitude of dialers sitting in the background trying to find a modem to call out to a premium hotline.
Sucks to be a dialer here, since the PC is on broadband. No modem installed, just a software connection to the wireless dsl modem. Hopefully no large telephone bills coming.

I fear the worst. Great... full format.. full re-install. I can't see any way out of this to fix the PC.
I dread installing anything to do with windows these days. The other week I tried to install just a basic graphics card update. What could be simpler right? 6 hours later I can finally use my PC again... but the software for the TV-in card is gone and can't come back. I was defeated. I hate PC's.

Every single time I've tried to install anything to do with windows, no matter how simple, you can guarentee that a whole weekend will be lost. Some people have claimed that they can do a full windows re-install in 20 minutes. Others claim to have seen leprachauns. I put the two people in the same category. I hate 'installing' things... nothing can be more frustrating...
Well.. maybe the things that require the 'personnel aides'... but lets not go there.


I see mum's PC as a lost cause. Dead to the world. There is a pulse.. but weak... what to do?

I head over to google on my PC. Maybe something will be able to help. At least google could confirm that something is nasty on the PC. Then I'd at least be able to say to mum.. see here... your PC has a virus... google tells me so... you'll need a full reformat.

Google is our friend. Low and behold the search I entered brought back many tales of woe... pain and suffering...

But also hope. Here.

Just Brilliant:
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407
So simple, yet covers everything you need to know. An excellent guide that perfectly sums up all any computer novice could possibly want. Great stuff.

I head into the guide full of excitement. This guide is simple enough to read. I can do this. I start to feel happier. Maybe the PC is not dead? Just download all the programs I'd ever need, linked straight from the article. All updated to the latest versions.
A simple transport from my PC to mum's, including the guide as a txt file. And what the heck, a different browser as well. Mum will never be PC confident enough to use anything but IE, but at least then I'd be able to see the internet from her PC, grab whatever was needed.

I run through the guide and try everything. All seems to go well. Things are removed... actually many many things are removed. The little sucker spawned quickly. But now they are gone. All fixed?
A reboot, load IE and ... still there. Damn.
But IE is half fixed. You can now at least navigate out of the hijacked start page.

Only a little disheartened, I venture further into the majorgeek site and find another article of pure genius.
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=38772
Legend. This guide simply is perfectly written. It covers all, skips nothing. Follow the steps and it all works properly. Guides like this make the internet worthwhile.

Every single instruction manual I've ever encounted leads to heartache. There's always something missing... something vital that is missing. Like in the graphics card update I alluded to previously. After installing then rebooting, windows install was supposed to detect the card. OK... maybe it did,... but the message window that popped up had absolutely zero text on it. None. Just two buttons. One I assume was OK, the other cancel. No text on them. Very helpful. I guess one button, hoping for OK... I guessed wrong, the card didn't install and instead left traces of itself that meant it couldn't uninstall / re-install either. Just great.

No such nonsense in this guide to remove the spyware. Every step covered. Follow them and it all works as stated. Just a great article. I followed it completely and in fact found myself enjoying the process.
Sure it still took the whole day (I'd say at least 10-20hrs so far on the nasties), but I always felt confident that things will work due to the expertly written guides to which I'm following.

You really need to have a dedicated thank-you post or forum. Just for all of what must be many many people who've stumbled this way and solved the internet.

Yes this is sucking up and long, but dammit I'm happy. Something works. Things get fixed. Joy!


As good as the articles are, there are still a few leftovers still to be killed. A file sqle.dll stopped the about:buster program from working. This seems to be a rare problem though. But another helpful crew over here http://mytechsupport.ca/support/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4929 solved that one.
If you ever head into Canada, go have a beer with these guys. You'll be in geek heaven.

Finally, a more common nasty persisted through all the club bashing I'd given it. A Websiteviewer dialer keeps coming back. I'd say I'll have this one nailed shortly. http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,11393040~mode=flat
http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/virusencyclo/default5.asp?VName=TROJ_PORNDIAL.BP&VSect=T
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/dialer.wsv.html
Yeah, it be gone once I next get to mum's PC to take it out.


I feel it's important to give credit where credit is due. Most people will come here, solve their problems and hope to never have to venture to these forums ever ever again. I know I'm one of them. I never want to get attacked by spyware again and need this site, but am extremely greatful that there is resources out here available to help.

Thanks again geeks. You're doing a great job here, solving what can seem like the impossible.

 

I too must say thanks, I have been helped with every problem I have ever had, except 1 so far. But is not possible to be fixed, I believe... But THis is a big THANKS to all of you MAJOR GEEKS out there.

 

ironcladstu wrote:

Guides like this make the internet worthwhile.

What about "Sites like this make the internet worthwhile"?

For me Major Geeks is like the Red Cross. You are like heroes.