Earlier this week my laptop was hijacked. My kid inadvertently installed webcrawler toolbar - which was infected. When the system booted up a fake security software called Green-Av took control of the system and would not allow access to anything - it kept restarting. I contacted the real company (?) who gave me an uninstall. I uninstalled it sucessfully. However, nothing is working properly - I still cannot access the internet. I used all my "fix" tools to clean off any alleged viruses, etc. I used a registry fix, pc tools fix, and Windows defender. I reset all my internet and firewall settings. I even did a netstat and found no foreign processes running. Also when I type an address in the browser, for example: www.yahoo.com, an "invalid address" message appears. Ok, what am I missing? What should I try next? It seems as though the virus prolly renamed my files. There are a bunch of directories that were updated the day this happened (Monday). I would appreciate any suggestions. Thank you!

What antivirus are you using? Have you run any form of AdWare Cleaners like "SpyBot Search & Destroy" from Safer Networking? or "AntiMalwareBytes". Do you have all of your "Critical Updates" _________________________ Embrace paranoia, they ARE out to get you!

she was using windows defender. Yes, I had spy bot and malwarebytes - which i installed POST disaster. how do i check to see if i have all my critical updates? thanks for responding with these questions. :)

Start/Windows Update _________________________ Embrace paranoia, they ARE out to get you!

PLEASE, get an AntiVirus Program. Straight from MicroShafts website, "Windows Defender is software that helps protect your computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software by detecting and removing known spyware from your computer. Windows Defender features Real-Time Protection, a monitoring system that recommends actions against spyware when it's detected, minimizes interruptions" Basicly Windows Defender is BS, always has been, always will be! Microshaft ONLY does one thing, sell operating systems. Get AVG FREE for virus Spybot Search & Destroy AND AntiMalwareBytes for trojans _________________________ Embrace paranoia, they ARE out to get you!

Hi sarahj, First of all, try Ccleaner Slim (no toolbar) http://majorgeeks.com/downloadget.p... run it and clean out all your excess junk in the PC safely: Then, I would suggest Avast Free http://www.filehippo.com/download_a... Install it and allow it to do a bootscan on reboot. Move all it finds to the chest. You may have to download those to a thumbdrive from another PC and then run it on the problem PC. Then run winsockfix for vista: http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/... and run it on your PC. That should get you back on-line....good luck Some HELP in posting on Computing.net plus free progs and instructions Cheers