virus questions

My cousin brought over his pc for me to try to fix for him, it is a Compaq 700 AMD, 256 Ram 20G HD. when I boot it up, before the Desktop's contents can be displayed there is a warning of Spyware detected and that the pc is infected.

1] My first question is, if I were to connect to the net through my network of which I have 3 pc's connected via a Router, is is possible for the virus to spread to any of my other pc's or is there a chance that the virus might remain anywehre in my system?

2] How should I proceed with this? Should I try to get rid of the virus by going to the net and downloading a virus protection software to get rid of it or should I simply reload windows? Please note that because of the virus, going to and doing anything on the net is a very difficult task, if not, impossible becuase of the virus.

Thanks.

 

It can't spread to the other computers on your network if you don't run the executable that he ran. If it a worm that exploits a vulnearbilty in Windows then it can spread to your network if the computers are not patched.
First find out what the box is infected with. Use an online virus scanner to find out. Don't trust whatever AV is installed on the system. Once you find out what is infecting the box then you can fix it.
More than likely the box is infected with multiple spyware. If that is the case I would reinstall and then give your cousin a lesson in securing his box to keep it from getting infected again.

 

Major problem, I was able to get in and uninstall everything I saw that has to do with spyware or virus but I can't get to load my antivirus software to run the scan and I can't get online, I can only get in in Safe mode and of course, I can't load Norton that way. The problem is that the pc boots to windows desktop in normal mode but the desktop's icons don't load and I can't get to the Start button, I put in the norton cd and it does not show on the screen so is there any way that I can "force" the installation of the norton software to run the scan and then try to get rid of the virus or spyware?

 

Never install any virus scanner on an infected system. There must still be something infecting the system. That is why Norton will not install. If you made the Norton boot disks then you should be able to boot with them and clean the box that way.

 

No, I have never made a boot disk but thanks for the advice, will attempt to do so now, is that possible? I will go to the Norton site to see "how" to create a boot disk, in the meantime, will appreciate any inputs.

 

Just went to the Norton site and what I see is that the "Rescue" disk has to be made on the pc without it being infected, what I'd like to ask now is if I can create this rescue disk on "another" pc and then use it back on the infected pc?

 

Should be able to. Give it a try.

 

I don't know Bob, this is what they have on their site:

"Using Rescue Disks
Note: Rescue disks contain information specific to the computer they were created on. Attempting to use rescue disks on a computer other than the one they were created on could cause more damage to the machine."

Since my software is considered a "discontinued" product by Norton, I have no phone or email support so I can't get any help from them, everything now seems to point to the fact that I will have to reformat and install an antivirus program for my cousin as you had suggested earlier, this pains me Bob, I saw this as a challenge, trying to get rid of the virus without reformatting so I guess I lost this battle, hopefully I'll win the others, appreciate the help as always!

 

You gained some knowledge in your quest. I wouldn't give up just yet. Boot to safe mode with networking and go to one of the free online scanner sites. Do a scan and remove what you find.
If networking doesn't work then boot in safe mode and run msconfig and disable all the startup items. Then reboot to safe mode with networking again. Keep trying. My bet is that the box is so infected with various spyware and such that it is unrecoverable. Even if it is you can still learn a lot by trying to fix it.

 

Still didn't work, appreciate you trying to help Bob and yes, I have learned a lot from this but will go now and reformat, will post any questions concerning that in the other thread, thanks.

 

Problem with the reformat, after the first reformatting went to 100%, I am now seeing an error message that reads:

Windows XP Professional Setup

"The following value in the .SIF file used by setup is corrupted or missing:

Value O on the line in section [SourceDisksFiles] with key "SP1.cab."

Setup cannot continue. To quit Setup, press F3"

Any ideas what to do here guys?

 

Simple fix, the wife told me to try installing a second time and it worked. Got one more question about this virus situation, I need to go on the net to install his av software but I am still worried about spreading any possible virus into my network system, what I'd like to ask is this, if I were to connect his pc directly to my modem bypassing my router [to which has my 3 pc's are hooked up to], is there ANY chance whatsoever that when I reconnect my router to the modem that I might get my pc's infected?

 

You can't infect your network unless the problem is a worm and one of your pc is vulnerable to the worm. If one was vulnerable it would be infected already.

 

Then this tells me NOT to take any chances, thanks. All is well again for him though, installed Norton ran a scan, turned up empty and his pc is working as normal again, he has to do the updates from his house, that's all.

 

I don't understand the difference between a worm and a virus, can anyone explain this please? Thanks.

 

A worm can infect you even if you don't run an excutable. It traverses the internet looking for vulnerable boxes. A virus has to executed on the box to infect you.