I was here the other night looking for some advice on some bundled trojans and spyware that has plagued my computer for the past week. I have a Kaspersky AV 5.0, XoftSpy, MS Antispyware, and Adaware. Running all of these in safe mode with explorer shut down still has something hidden that keeps reinfecting my machine. This one particular pop up unlike anything I've seen before is particularly annoying. The only way I can describe it is that it is not in a pop up window. (it actually looks like a large clipart picture that comes in front of what ever you are working on) It's sort of like a GUI in itself and leaves nothing on the taskbar. It also makes you wait ten seconds before producing an X to close on random locations depending on the picture that pops up. Anyone know what particular spyware has these characteristics? Anyway, I need some help before I take a sledgehammer to this machine. Someone recomended a few online scans that did not work last time. So, my backs against the wall and I seek more advice from the friendly, genius's that lurk around this place who are just waiting to help the whiners like me. Thanks in advance. Matt

Have you turned off System Restore before running your scans??

No, Wasn't aware of doing that. Is it important?

Sure is - you will lose ALL your Restore Points but it's worth it. Should also d/l, update & run SpyBot S&D - in Safe mode of course. Re-enable System Restore when you are clean. You should consider d/l, install, update, run SpywareBlaster. It's free, doesn't run in the background (its job is to set "kill bits" in the Registry). It should be updated and run occasionally. Good luck

Also download & install M$ Antispyware: http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx - it's (currently) free & does a good job of keeping crap off your system. Please post back & let the rest of us know if you were successful. "I know that I'm mad - I've always been mad..."

Thanks guys I will try this and get back to you. It will be a day though, because I have to work today. Thanks again. matt

Just to add more info. Virus's love to hide in the System Volume Information folder(this is where System Restore points are kept). The reason why these virus's are not found in a scan is because this folder is protected by the OS and all virus scanners are not allowed to look in there. Therefore it is very important to turn off System Restore, reboot your computer and then scan for virus's. If this scan turns up clean then you can assume that your system is clean. The reboot mentioned above will delete all of your existing restore points (and any virus's if present). When your scan is complete you can create another restore point. DO NOT FORGET to turn System Restore back on after you have scanned.