I am new to the forum and seeking advice on how I might repair an Adware.gen infection on an older computer with Windows ME, Norton System Works 2005, and dial-up. I've seen some of the Adware.gen forum postings for Norton 360 users, however, I’ve found that some of the suggestions won’t work with my old set-up.The antivirus component of System Works has largely been disabled; I was able to detect it only after using Symantec’s on-line scanning tool (virus found in c:\_RESTORE\TEMP).I downloaded and ran the Adware.JustFindIt removal tool, but this found nothing.Is there anything else that I can try before purchasing other WIN-ME compatible virus removal software (if it exists) or forking over a large sum of cash for in-home pro-help?
The path would seem to indicate that the threat is being located in the system restore files. If you disable system restore to clear all of the restore points, and then run another scan, does Norton still find it? If it does not, re-enable system restore and manually set a new restore point.
I'll try disabling system restore and rescanning as you suggest. As far as manually setting a new restore point, what should I set it to? I've had this virus since early November. Wouldn't any restore point between then and now be likely infected?
The path of the virus showed it to be in the system restore. If you delete your old system restore points, that should take away the virus. After you do a full system scan and it comes up clean, then you can create a new system restore point. If the only location of the virus was in the old system restore points, then deleting them should clean up the virus. Once you are sure that your computer is clean, you can make a new restore point which would then be a clean one.
I've disabled system restore and rebooted. Sys-restore tool/wizard shows no available restore points. If none are shown, are the old points really deleted? I'm uncertain about simply deleting the files shown under c:\_RESTORE; doing this type of thing has gotten me into some serious trouble before. Some additional information:
- There is a .cfg file in the RESTORE directory that is being updated w/ every reboot.
- Error 3031.9 still pops up w/ Norton Anti-virus ("component not installed or failed to load"). I ran Live-update, but Norton "System Status" still shows red for virus definitions, renewel date, e-mail scanning, and auto-protect (even though "start auto protect at start-up" is checked).
Is the time and date correct on your computer? Since you have WIN ME, you haven't been getting any windows updates either. Everything is old on your computer and out of date. Things aren't going to work correctly under those circumstances without getting any viruses.
deetwo, you might still have malware on your pc. A scan with MBAM would be ideal, but it’s not compatible with Windows ME. A good alternative would be Dr. Web CureIt, it’s an on demand scanner and one of the few antimalware apps. that is still compatible with ME. There is no need to install it, you just download the executable to your desktop and run it. By default it runs a quick scan first, after that scan completes you will have the option to run a full scan. CureIt is updated several times times a day so when you download it from the Dr.Web website it’s always up to date. You can learn more and download it here
Date and time are correct. As far as things being out of date, yes that's true, however, Norton anti-virus was working properly until this Adware.gen infection showed up. It appears that Norton failed to detect this even for users w/ more advanced anti-virus and up to date Windows software.
You didn't mention anything about the RESTORE directory files; I should NOT attempt to delete those right?
I am new to the forum and seeking advice on how I might repair an Adware.gen infection on an older computer with Windows ME, Norton System Works 2005, and dial-up. I've seen some of the Adware.gen forum postings for Norton 360 users, however, I’ve found that some of the suggestions won’t work with my old set-up.The antivirus component of System Works has largely been disabled; I was able to detect it only after using Symantec’s on-line scanning tool (virus found in c:\_RESTORE\TEMP).I downloaded and ran the Adware.JustFindIt removal tool, but this found nothing.Is there anything else that I can try before purchasing other WIN-ME compatible virus removal software (if it exists) or forking over a large sum of cash for in-home pro-help?
I downloaded Dr. Web Cure-It and ran it Saturday night.The express scan found nothing.Oddly, a scan of c:\\_RESTORE also found nothing.Four infections were finally found with a full C-drive scan, two were in RESTORE directory files.Dr. Web Cure-It identified all the files as “infections”.It flagged nothing as Adware, and nothing named Adware.gen was found.Details from the .csv report follow below.
On Sunday I attempted to re-run Symantec’s on-line scan as a final check, but the Active-X controls would not load even after multiple attempts; web-browser options should have allowed it.Virus scanning via my SystemWorks program was still disabled, and I finally decided to uninstall/re-install SystemWorks altogether.A very long Live-Update was finished by Monday evening.All Anti-Virus functionality appears to be restored.I did another scan, this time with Norton; no infections were found.Interestingly, Norton scanned about 9000 few files than Dr. Web.I might try getting Symantec’s on-line scan to work again, or re-run Dr. Web in another few days.It appears that Dr. Web Cure-It did the trick, so kudo’s go to Turbo for this one. While I'm very happy that things appear to be fixed, I remain rather disappointed with my Norton anti-virus product.