All,
Slowly and bit by bit, I'm getting my computer programs working again. (Thank you all for your help) To answer some of the questions posted: Yes, they did demand the $120 to get all of my computer working again. I was looking at pictures on peopleofwalmart.com (and their other picture links) when I got hit. The only AV program that I had at the time was Symantec (US Goverment version) and the standard MS Firewall & AV programs. Symantec did catch the virus but was unable to do anything about it. My computer is now up and running (OK, more like walking and hobbling!) as it does have a few problems remaining.
The good news: I had several AV programs look (and installed) on my computer and they say there are no remnants of the virus. I installed AVG (free version) and did the free AVG PC Health. I was able to find my e-mail folder (.dbx file) and now have IE and Outlook back up and running. I reloaded MS Office 2000 so I am also able to generate new files. I have downloaded a few different files from the internet and saved them on my computer, restarted it a few times and nothing got encrypted. And, I have been able to restore almost all of my added programs/games.
Now the bad news: All my MS Word, Excel, PPT, PDF, BMP, TXT, FLV, and JPG files that were on my computer before I got slammed by the virus (except the ones that were in my e-mail) are still encrypted. (Those got save onto an external HD and then unplugged!) Also, when I click "Start", the links to: Windows Update, Microsoft Update, etc and click "Start/Programs", those quick links are all worthless. When I click on their properties they all say "ENCODED File" and have an .Ink after them.
And finally I have a problem with the Symantec AV, for some reason it does not want to Liveupdate. It tries to connect but I get the error, "LU1803: LiveUpdate failed...If fails again...reinstall LiveUpdate. I go start/settings/control pannel click on the LiveUpdate icon and get "LiveUpdate could not access settings. Program failed to create an instance of LiveUpdate engine or a LiveUpdate settings pointer." I then click C:/Program files/Symantec/LiveUpdate/LSETUP. It asks if I want to install, click yes, and then displays "The installed version of LiveUpdate on this system is already up-to-date.
That is a few of the last major hurdle's left to complete.
Again thanks to any help that you all can provide with this problem.
v/r
RetiredMan
