I think my computer is infected by virus. Periodically, add titled “Only the best” at the top of the window shows up. Also, web home page is hijacked, and always set up to “about:blank”. Another malfunction is that in “Favorites” on the IE browser there are always some unwanted bookmarks and it appears even though I eliminate them. I really need help.

I am using IE 6.0 on Win2000 Professional.
Jen

Perhaps one these will help?
cwshredder (it's out there on the www). ccleaner (from ccleaner.com).

Also the M$ Beta (anti-spyware/pest) util may help get rid of it?

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

and also note the comments re' the util at:

http://blogs.msdn.com/larryosterman/archive/2005/01/06/347804.aspx

You're using IE6 so there should be no problem running the M$ util; it apparently isn't available for IE5x.

Once you are "clean" install (and keep upto date) AdAware and Spybot; also maintain your anti-virus util upto date (which almost certainly you are...), and the M$ Beta util.

I can recommend MS AntiSpyware (ex Giant AntiSpyware!) - it found several nasty little exploits that SpyBot and Hijack This failed to discover.

However, anyone trying AntiSpyware's Advanced Tools should beware. It identified an "Unknown Shell Execute Hook" (URL Exec Hook) which I allowed it to remove. I later discovered that:

1. I couldn't launch webpages from links in Help files or emails.

2. The program hadn't logged the registry change so I couldn't undo it and restore the association.

I managed to get out of it by searching through the registry on my old PC, which luckily also runs W2000 and identified the missing reg entry.

I purchased Spyware Vanisher, and performed scan and removal. But the problems didn't resolve at all. I don't know what else to do. Could anyone help me?

Have you tried AdAware (not Ad Aware) and the other utils suggested in my ealier post?

The M$ beta util is getting good reveiews overall, often suceeding where others seem to fai; but be aware of the caveats posted by others re' the beta util.

Sounds like spyware to me, download "adaware se personal" and make sure you run the definition update before you run the scan. its free, and pretty reliable.

I tried Adaware SE Personal too. I tried like 10 times until detection number becomes zero. But still virus is there. seems hopeless.

M$ beta util?