Alright. I have a netbook. It is a HP Mini110-1012NR. Windows XP SP3. And I had a Norton 360 Premier installed (I don't know the exact specs for all these at the moment...but I could get them if the netbook decides to cooperate). And recently (August 18 was when I first noticed it) Norton says that I had a Backdoor,trojan. At first it quarantined it, but now it says removal failed.
It says the two locations affected were winlogon.exe and a browser cache. And I've looked in System 32, but there seems to be no misspelled "infected" filed of winlogon. I have noticed the virus's vicious symptoms though. If I try to connect to the internet, it freaks out and quickly flashes a blue screen and then restarts...so I'm guessing that's the entire deal with the browser cache (I am using Google Chrome) I have not tried to access the internet with another program. The same goes when I'm in safe mode with networking. And with winlogon I've noticed that it won't shut completely down from the menu if I try (only restarts itself) and sometimes it will freeze when I try to type in my password to my account. It also states "Winlogon has encountered a problem and has to close."
An option does pop up that says "insert your Windows XP SP3 disk because files have been replaced that require windows to run properly." Which I would, but I don't have an external disk drive (A friend does so I was wondering...just out of curiosity, is it safe to use hers when I have this trojan? I just want to make sure because I don't want her to get this virus or something)
My guess is that I got this trojan from a website because I didn't download any "suspicious" files I don't think (I downloaded Chrome, AIM, Skype, Windows Live, Norton...and that's all I believe) ...which I'm guessing would explain the effected browser cache?
And I had a question...would system restore work? Or would the virus still be intact and I would be left with a computer without Norton or any type of anti-virus program on it?
Or is my only option at this point is to take it somewhere to get it fixed (which I don't really want to if I can fix it by myself...and I am completely okay with losing all my files if I have to reinstall windows. I had nothing really valuable on there anyways since I just got it in June---and it was used, but the previous owner had restored it---maybe buying used wasn't the best idea, but...it was better on bank account)
Thanks so much.