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System restore & software install

18 years ago

Hello

I'm not very computer literate, and my step-daughter is even less so I'm here looking for help. She has a Lenovo laptop with windows vista - we have comcast highspeed internet which supplies free mcafee antivirus - I don't actually know what happened, but I think she got one of those ad pop-ups when she was online, and it said something about her computer being at risk and click here blah blah blah - so she did - and I think she downloaded a trial version of an anti-virus called "Anti-virus 2008" or some such as that - anyway - it has her computer tied up and keeps wanting her to buy the antivirus so that it can remove a virus that is on her computer - sounds fishy to me - esp since it won't let you uninstall anything - if she has a virus, the computer store said it would cost $119 to remove - hopefully it doesn't and it's just some crazy download that has it tangled up - I'm thinking she could at least try running a system restore, and that would at least not hurt anything and might actually fix it - now ..... for the question - she and I recently bought MS office 2007 - she has installed to her computer, I have not yet - and the software says it can be installed on 3 computers - so that we don't lose one of those installations, do we need to uninstall MS office before we do the system restore? - is that how a software program tracks the number of installations you have? the reason I ask is I fear if she has to restore back to the original then she would lose the MS Office install and then we would need to re-install MS Office 2007 to her computer, and I'd rather NOT lose the ability to have 2 more installations. Hope this states my question clearly enough. Thanks in advance for any help.

Frances

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Comments (3)

bob414
18 years ago
You can find help at this site. Just click that link to find out about that badware.
owbist
18 years ago
When you use the link Bob provided be cool and follow along carefully, if you get flustered simply walk away for a while and return with a clear head and it will work great.

You really need to have confidence in the anti virus installed on a computer, in this case McAfee. As long as it is up to date and allowed to scan daily you should be safe from a virus attack. Why would you click to download a second program?

Does this Lenovo have any other protection besides McAfee? You might consider installing Superantispyware for protection from Trojans and the like. Be sure to click on the free version. Once installed look immediately for updates and run a full scan. This may take 45 minutes or more. Repeat that every one or 2 weeks to stay clean.

Here is a link that might be useful: Superantispyware free
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First you need to see if this is a legit program called System Mechanic or a virus called System check - from what I have just read. What are you trying to achieve? What operating system do you have? Only you can decide if you wish to spend the money, I like free programs personally. This is one of those cases where I advise something I always fail to do myself. One should create a Restore point prior to installing stuff so they can revert if the new software does not live up to expectation.
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Sorry I didn't mention what I have running. I have WindowsXP. I have Norton Internet Security. I ran Malwarebytes (a full scan). Anyway, I thought if I did a system restore I could install my printer. This is the second new printer I have tried to install. It just continually loops and doesn't install. I removed any printer that had been installed on my computer. Here is the result of my scan:Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware 1.40 Database version: 2670 Windows 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 8/29/2009 4:06:04 AM mbam-log-2009-08-29 (04-06-04).txt Scan type: Full Scan (C:\:) Objects scanned: 275483 Time elapsed: 1 hour(s), 57 minute(s), 9 second(s) Memory Processes Infected: 0 Memory Modules Infected: 1 Registry Keys Infected: 4 Registry Values Infected: 1 Registry Data Items Infected: 0 Folders Infected: 0 Files Infected: 1 Memory Processes Infected: (No malicious items detected) Memory Modules Infected: C:\Program Files\alot\bin\alot.dll (Adware.BHO) -> Delete on reboot. Registry Keys Infected: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\"5aa2ba46-9913-4dc7-9620-69ab0fa17ae7> (Adware.BHO) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\"5aa2ba46-9913-4dc7-9620-69ab0fa17ae7> (Adware.BHO) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Stats\"5aa2ba46-9913-4dc7-9620-69ab0fa17ae7> (Adware.BHO) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\"5aa2ba46-9913-4dc7-9620-69ab0fa17ae7> (Adware.BHO) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully. Registry Values Infected: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\"5aa2ba46-9913-4dc7-9620-69ab0fa17ae7> (Adware.BHO) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully. Registry Data Items Infected: (No malicious items detected) Folders Infected: (No malicious items detected) Files Infected: C:\Program Files\alot\bin\alot.dll (Adware.BHO) -> Delete on reboot. I am so computer challenged. Is this what I needed to do? What do I do next? Thank you for any help you can give me.
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ravencajun Zone 8b TX
18 years ago
This is very simply many here have had that problem and simply installing superantispyware free running the scan and letting it clean what it finds WILL clean this infection!!

YOU do not need to do anything else. Just install superantispyware hit the update button, run the full scan, let it clean. Then do that once a week to keep your pc clean this is an antispyware program which is different from your antivirus.

SUPERAntiSpyware Free

AND please from now on NEVER ever click on any type of pop up or fall for these type scams, you never want to trust anything that simply suddenly pops up with that type of scare tactic they are all scams. Come here or a good tech forum to ask for help if you have questions or need good trustworthy programs.

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