Virtumonde and other possible problems

Hello everyone, I just want to start out saying that this forum seems very helpful and informative. I have read the "Read this first" threads and this is what I have come up with. Please forgive anything I say that might be naive, as I am not an expert with computers. Any help is greatly appreciated.

My computer is a Dell Dimension 8300 running
Windows XP Home Edition Version 2002 SP1
Pentium 4 CPU 2.80 GHz
2.79 GHz
512 MB of RAM
40 GB hard drive
This information I gathered from system information in My Computer Menu. I decided not to install SP2 until all my computer problems were resolved.

I had originally tried to get help from another site concerning WinFixer but I believe that it has only been partially removed. I have not disabled system restore because I do not feel that the malware was removed. I have enabled viewing of hidden files. I uninstalled the multiple antivirus applications (I think). I rebooted in safe mode and physically unplugged the internet connection. I ran Ccleaner. I ran Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal and there was nothing found. I ran Ad-Aware and nothing was found. I ran Spybot Search & Destroy and there was one thing found: WildTangent. It said that it fixed it, but I've done that before. I also had trouble finding how to turn off the Teatimer other than turning it off in the tray by the clock on the lower right. I couldn't do this in safe mode. Microsoft Antispyware also found nothing. I scanned with Bitdefender and there was some things found (see attached). I then ran Panda ActiveScan which found nothing.

I read the Virtumonde fix tool thread but I am not confident in my ablility to properly read the HijackThis file. Please give me your advice. Thank you.

 

Thank you for your help! I actually never had that as my home page in IE, I had reset it to Altavista. Now I use Firefox and I am much happier. No popups and tabbed browsing is very cool. I am considering MajorGeeks as my new home page.

I am concerned that I partially removed Virtumonde and it will rebuild itself eventually. I read somewhere that it can do that, but I really don't know what I'm talking about.

What was it that Bitdefender found and will I ever get rid of WildTangent? I don't seem to be having any more problems, but I take that sort of thing one day at a time. Do you think I could do my Windows updates without fear now? I have yet to do a more recent backup of my files and system. Which would you do first?

I'm just full of questions.

 

I ran Ewido and it didn't show anything so there's no log. Thank you for explaining Bitdefender and AIM. I'm putting off uninstalling AIM for now though. WildTangent was something that SpyBot found and I allowed it to fix it. It had come up with that before and supposedly fixed it before. I mostly was wondering if I should be worried about it.

I followed the instructions you gave and I feel much better about my computer's security. I can't say thank you enough for taking the time to help me with my computer. I have to take some time to investigate how my newly installed programs work. So far everything is running smoothly.

The only thing that I haven't done is the Java section of the "How to Protect yourself from malware." I'm afraid of messing it up. I'll read it again more carefully. Anything further that you may have for me is welcome.

Thanks again for all your help.