Virus Has Taken Over Most Functionality?

Okay, total newbie at this malware stuff.

Infected machine is an HP Pavilion 7955, running Windows XP; just recently given to me (2nd generation employee) for business use (at home) so it has basic company info on it along with several files/apps left on it by my predecessor at the company.

Virus apparently got in yesterday morning via some bogus Active X opt in box (I wasn't the user at the time so this is a best guess).

It acted so quickly that by the time I found out about Spyware Doctor & you guys it had taken over much functionality on the machine and I've shut it down, disconnected it, and reverted to an old Windows '95 machine for internet access (IE 5.5 etc; pretty primitive screen/imaging).

It installed a 'security toolbar.' Completely shut me out of Yahoo (default homepage) log-in page (flashes in & out, kicking that page away) so I couldn't get to email, eg. Kept trying to load 'aprotectiveservice' page, which Kaspersky was blocking along with MaxiFile-type stuff.

Kaspersky seems effectively disabled now, or at least bogged down to the point of uselessness.

Spyware Doc scan showed 143 infections & counting. I tried searching for the malicious .exe files it displayed but by that time the computer would just reboot in the middle of the search. Could barely get Control Panel open; couldn't open Explorer ("Not Responding/End Task"). Spyware Doc won't even open now.

So my questions are: What can I do? How do I begin given that I don't seem to be able to access the internet to download any Anti-Malware stuff?

Help???

edit: Son adds that the immediate thing that happened when he clicked 'Yes' for the X control (while playing video games) was that all browser windows--5 were open--closed. When he reopened them that's when he noticed the new Toolbar at the top of the page.

Thanks.

 

I'm guessing from the lack of response that I'm basically screwed?

Is the machine toast, or can it &/or the files on it, be salvaged somehow?

 

Welcome to MajorGeeks.com, please follow the steps below:

- Run ALL the steps in this Sticky thread READ & RUN ME FIRST Before Asking for Support

• Make sure you check version numbers and get all updates.

After doing ALL of the above you still have a problem make sure you have booted to normal mode and run the steps in the below link to properly use HijackThis:

Downloading, Installing, and Running HijackThis

Make sure you also rename HijackThis.exe as suggested in the procedures. Use analyse.exe for the new name. This is very important due to some new infections going around.

When you return to make your next post, make sure you attach the following logs and that you have run these scans in the following order too:

• CounterSpy - only for Windows XP, 2K, & NT users
• AVG Antispyware Log - ONLY IF NEEDED you were not able to run CounterSpy - only for Windows XP, 2K, & NT users
• Bitdefender - from step 6
• Panda Scan - from step 6
• runkeys.txt - the log from GetRunKey.bat
• newfiles.txt - the log from ShowNew.bat
• HijackThis