Hiya People, was wondering if any of you intelligent people out there could help me out, ive been having major computer problems recently and i need serious help. Ok here goes... 1. My computers running really slow, its not usually fast neway but its worse than ever and when i press ctrl alt dlt i get things like: uhtkjgwz cryv2clt alchem BW which ive never seen on there before. 2. Zestyfind keeps coming up as my homepage even though i change it everyday! 3. my e-mail address is being used to send viruses to people ive never heard of. 4. Explorer keeps performing illegal operations when ive just switched the computer on. 5. computer won't shut down somtimes, have to turn it off by the plug. ive not got a anti virus program that i know of. ive tried running spysweeper and all the spyware and adware detectors but after deleting everything it finds i still get the same problems! i would be very very greatfull if someone could help me, ive no idea what to do and its doing my head in now. i feel like chucking the computer out the window. plz help if possible thanx for your time luv Nic xXx

HiYa' Nikki, The following is a standard post I made up; be aware that since you have a lot of spyware on your computer, it may prevent you from going to the websites that I list; if so, find a friend to burn these proggies to a CD, then just drag & drip them onto your folder. Here goes: On your C drive in Program Files, create a new folder and label it SECURITY (or whatever you want). Download and drag&drop into this folder the following free programs from the web: AD Aware: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/ SPYBOT:http://www.safer-networking.org/ SPYWAREBLASTER: http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html COOL WEB SHREDDER: http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/index.html Also, Drag & Drop HiJack This program into this folder. Okay, now you have them all together. There are many virus/spyware (such as Cool Web Search) that prevent you from accessing antispyware sites; they can do nothing if you already have the programs on your computer. Now Install the programs in the order I have here. BEFORE you run them, update all the indexes from within each program first (except for CWS, that must be re-downloaded occasionally as he updates the program). Ad Aware is extremely powerful; to get the most efficiency, configure it this way: After it is installed and open and you have downloaded the newest updates: -Under Ad-aware 6 > Settings (Gear at the top) > Tweaks > Scanning Engine: check: "Unload recognized processes during scanning." - Under Ad-aware 6 > Settings (Gear at the top) > Tweaks > Cleaning Engine: Check: "Let Windows remove files in use after reboot." Press "Scan Now" - Check option "Use Custom scanning options" - Check option "Activate In-Depth Scan" - Press "Select drives\folders to scan" - Select the active partition which is usually C: Now press "Next" to let Ad-aware scan your drives... kill anything it finds. Then run the others and allow them to kill anything that they find. Now go here and run the free, online virus scan: http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ Post back and let us know what happened.

There comes a time when it is more reasonable to start over with a fresh install and I think you may be there. You can try installing every single spyzapping program on the planet and slow your machine down even further or save what you want to CD or DVD, Format your drive and start fresh. 808

Ok, Nikki, please run, don't walk, to follow the excellent advice from Ranchhand. With respect, I do not agree that you need to reformat at this time, there is much to do to heal it. Open your System restore and leave it open. Do this right away: right click My Computer on desktop > left click 'Properties' > click Performance tab > at the bottom on the left click File System >at the top right click Trouble Shooting > then put a check in the box that says "disable system restore." If it indicates shut down click "no", then go to start > shutdown > let it shut down for TWO FULL MINUTES. And leave it diabled until we get rid of these problems. After it's all cleaned up you go back and take out the check, shut down for two full minutes and set a new restore date if the system hasn't already, but not until we are SURE your machine is 100% clean. When you download CWShredder be sure to click "Fix" in the lower right hand corner. It should take a minute or two to do its job. If you clicked 'scan' the first time, do it again and click "fix" this time. When you download HijackThis, MAKE SURE TO CHECK THE BOX OR HOWEVER THE OPTION IS LISTED TO UNZIP AND AND EXTRACT IT TO A c:\ FILE. RUNNING IT FROM TEMP FILES OR FROM DESKTOP IS NOT EFFECTIVE. When you open it, close all internet browers and windows, log off the net. Click on 'Scan'. The scan button them becomes the 'save-file' button, click it, and when it converts to file save it, DO NOT FIX ANYTHING YOURSELF, MOST OF IT IS ESSENTIAL, click on edit to select all in the save-file form, then log back onto the net, come here, and paste it in a blank form, title it HJT LOG, or, post it here: http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/ It is imperative that you disable your system restore before you do anything, the bugs will hide in there, that's why they're coming back. This is a situation unique to Win Me and Xp. You also need to dump your TEMP files, TIF, cookies, and your trash bin right after that. To dump TEMP> shut down, wait two full minutes> start up in Safe Mode> when you hit the 'on' button hold down BOTH CTRL buttons on the keyboard (left and right sides)> menu appears after a while > arrow down to Safe Mode > clcik enter> when you get into Safe Mode > double click My Computer > in the address bar > %TEMP% > click enter, select all and delete all. If you have Spybot and ADaware run both from Safe Mode, Run your AV from Safe Mode. Shut down and wait TWO FULL MINUTES. See if you can do this from Safe Mode while you're there: Click tools > Internet options > General tab > in the middle of the box click "Delete Files" when the box opens check "Delete all off line content" > click ok, then click on "Delete Cookies" click ok> click apply, click ok, and that's done. If not, do it from any IE page once you restart after two minute shut down. And come to think of it, you may as well download and run Stinger: http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/ It only takes a few minutes, and you never know what might be in there. That should keep you busy for a half hour or so. Post results back here. Any change in anything? Thresher

hi nikki, with due respect to these fixes which make a lot of sense, you may if you wish try this out also: first priority is to get a good anti-virus, either a good free one like avg, or a good payware anti-virus such as nod32 you might have the adware spyware Alchemy & browser hijacker Zestyfind. get your latest virus defs, go to safe mode. next: Click Start, and then click Run. Type regedit Then click OK. Navigate to the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run In the right pane, delete the value that refers to the file detected as Alchemy and Zestyfind etc. you will have to right click on these values For example right click on the value: "Alchem"="C:\Windows\System\Alchem.exe" and a box will pop up click on delete. Exit the Registry Editor. next: run your anti-virus, adaware, and spybot etc. delete any file that you av comes up with, same with adaware, spybot etc. clean your temp. internet files, temp files, history files, and cookies. do a search for the files that showed up in your in your task list and delete them from there. also to see if zestyfind is still in your computer, go to tools, internet options, in the temporary internet section, click on the settings button, next a box will open up click on view objects, right click on each entry, if you find the zestyfind entry right click on it and delete it and on any other browser hijacker that is there. empty your recycle bin. reboot your computer. hopes this helps, all the best, murve

hi nikki, i have to correct myself: "right click on each entry, if you find the zestyfind entry right click on it and delete it and on any other browser hijacker that is there" it should be: right click on each entry you find there, a box will open up hit the properties button, it should tell you the name of the company that puts out the active x control, or browser helper, make note of it, go to google and do a search, if it turn out negative, go back and click on remove. sorry, all the best, murve

Hi Nikki, If those great ideas cause cranial hemoraging or you wasted another week without success, you can now start over! 808