Windows 7 not operating properly

I noticed close after the new year that iTunes was gone. I reinstalled and everything was ok. Next time on the computer I noticed a black screen and several things missing on my home screen. There was a note saying Windows is not Genuine. Well I bought my HP Pavilion Slimline s5747 Desktop bundle at Sams Club so I highly doubt thats the case. I assumed it to be a virus or malware so I ran MalwareBytes and it found nothing. Someone at work recommended ComboFix. Guess I should have read this website first and seen the warnings.

Once I ran ComboFix I could no longer connect to the internet in IE or Chrome. I tried looking at the settings and unclicking "proxy" but that wasn't the case.

I went to control panels to look at Network Settings and it won't let me. I also tried in Safe Mode and Safe Mode with Networking. Nothing. Looking at my Connections tabs in Tools in IE, it looks like there's not a connection and possibly not communicating with my 2wire ATT DSL. I do have access to WIFI via my iPhone and iPad with the WIFI. I changed out the chord to the computer and that didn't help.

Here is a link to the help I received in the Malware Forum if interested.
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=273158&goto=newpost
I ran all the removal tools and posted the logs. I also ran a reboot back to a month ago to see if that would help.


I called HP and Microsoft and thought I'd check here first before I paid through the nose for their assistance. Plus I find some sense of pleasure in trying to fix things without their assistance. Glad I stumbled onto this forum in my search.

I was able to move all my pictures, music, and documents off the machine. This is a home computer and no special software has been installed or used.
Pretty much I backup my Apple Products, Pictures and kids do school work on this machine.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, and as I mentioned above all the issues started when I saw something about needing to verify that my Windows was Genuine. I unfortunately have gone the cheap route and was just running the Free Home version of AVG.

I will greatly appreciate any help or advice!

 

Sorry, "System Restore" is what I think is the correct term. I believe that's where is takes you back in time to a specific point as far as the settings are concerned? I went back to mid-December to see if that would help anything.

I'll download and run the REVO Uninstaller.

I'm not able to connect to the internet so I'm not sure how I'll be able to do the Microsoft Verification.

 

Hi,

Since you don't have anything you need on the machine, why don't you simply reset the machine to factory settings? Ensure your external hard drive is DISCONNECTED before doing this. You should be able to do the factory reset by pressing the F11 key within a few seconds of powering on the machine (when the initial boot screen shows up, way before Windows starts loading).

The prompts are fairly easy to follow through. Once you've completed this (it can take a few hours):

Before doing ANYTHING else, get it connected to the internet, DOWNLOAD but DO NOT install AVG Free (or another good free antivirus program suggested by this site).

Then, DISCONNECT the machine from the internet, completely uninstall/remove McAfee or whatever other antivirus is already on the PC.

Reboot, and install AVG Free.

Connect to the internet and update the definitions of AVG.

Run Windows Update and reboot when prompted repeatedly until Windows is fully up to date.

The idea of paying for "better" antivirus software is a MYTH. AVG Free provides just as much protection as the paid version.