My neigbor had this EXACT PROBLEM. He kept thinking he needed more ram etc.

He had so many viruses and spyware and trojan horses it was unbelieveable.

A quick purchase of a new hard drive and re-install got him going again.

Then we bought a firewire/usb ide drive case.

stuck the old drive into it
SCANNED FOR BAD THINGS
DELETED 12 trojans, 11 SPYWARES, 3 viruses etc. Got all his data back. Then reformatted that drive as well.

Finally we used Norton Ghost to make an Image of his drive onto the newely formatted one.

Then whenever it gets slow we boot to floppy and GHOST over the whole mess to clear the decks.

yeah, I do that too. Works great.

Speedstep:

 

What di9d you use to scan for all those things? I have IHateSpam, IHatePopups and Pest{atrol with Sophos anti-virus. What more do I need?

Thanks,

Frank

PS: Once when I had s virus one of the Dell Forum perosns had me send info to him to look over and he was able to clean the mess up. I think it was drpeper that time.

---

@TNG wrote:

Speedstep:What di9d you use to scan for all those things? I have IHateSpam, IHatePopups and Pest{atrol with Sophos anti-virus. What more do I need?

Thanks, Frank

PS: Once when I had s virus one of the Dell Forum perosns had me send info to him to look over and he was able to clean the mess up. I think it was drpeper that time.

---

http://www.trendmicro.com/download/dcs.asp

 This self-extracting archive is a stand-alone fix package that
    incorporates the Damage Cleanup Engine and Template. It replaces the
    traditional fix tool by addressing a wide variety of system infections
    rather than a specific malware infection.
   

    This tool supports the following features:

    o   Terminate all malware instances in memory
    o   Remove malware registry entries
    o   Remove malware entries from system files
    o   Scan for and delete all malware copies in all local hard drives
   

II. File List

    o   sysclean.com - the main executable module
    o   readme.txt   - this file   
    o   lpt$vpn.XXX  - downloadable component (see Requirements)

 

III. Requirements

    1.  Download the latest pattern file lpt$vpn.XXX in ZIP format as
        lptXXX.ZIP from the following location:
       
        http://www.trendmicro.com/ftp/products/tsc/sysclean.com

        http://www.trendmicro.com/download/pattern.asp
 
        This file must be unzipped and saved in the same folder where you run
        this fix package.

    2.  This tool is designed to run under Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP.

    For users running Windows NT 4.0, you need to copy the file, PSAPI.DLL,
    to the Windows system directory, which is usually C:\WINNT\system32.
    You can find the file in the Windows NT 4.0 Setup CD at the
    following locations:

        \Support\Debug\i386\PSAPI.DLL    

Spybot - Search & Destroy can detect and remove a multitude of adware files
and modules from your computer. Spybot can also clean program and Web usage
tracks from your system, which is especially useful if you share your
computer with other users. Modules chosen for removal can be sent
directly to the included file shredder, ensuring complete elimination
from your system. And for advanced users, it allows you to fix Registry
inconsistencies related to adware or malicious program installations.
The handy online update feature ensures that Spybot always has the most
current and complete listing of adware, dialers, and other uninvited
system residents.

Note that some pests will PREVENT you from downloading these files
You may need to save them to a cd, copy them over then boot safe mode
to install and run them.

Spybot search and destroy
http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10194058.html?tag=lst-0-1

Spybot pattern update
http://spybot.eon.net.au/files/spybotsd_includes.exe

Spybot tools update
http://spybot.eon.net.au/files/spybotsd_tools.exe

A free alternative to norton ghost. I use this to take a snapshot of my XP install (1.5GB) which compresses down to about 700mb - restoring XP takes about 5 mins. Best to install XP on a separate partition of about 6GB with your data on other partitions.

 

http://perso.club-internet.fr/guiboure/en/