Virus help, please

[zulu9812]

Got this email from me mum. Anyone have any ideas?

I have detected this Trojan Horse on my computer: Tojan horse Downloader Agent.11.Q. But our anti-virus software (AVG) doesn't seem able to get rid of it. It seems to be in system files. When I open my Internet Browser, I get an "AVG Resident Shield" message, drawing my attention to the Trojan. But I don't want to delete it, because I get a warning that doing so may make my operating system unusable. I seem to be able to "heal" the file, but the Trojan reappears next time I switch on Internet Explorer. I can get on to the Internet OK, but my usual Internet homepage doesn't come up.

The Trojan does not appear to be interfering with my FirstClass software, nor with Microsoft Office - in fact, apart from the Internet browser [Explorer], most other programmes seem to be running normally - though Chris says the Trojan does seem to be affecting Kazaa.

 

[Neomega]

It's just a homepage hijacker, nothing serious.

She has about 4 options:

1) go to a forum like
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/security
and jump through the hoops required here:
http://www.dslreports.com/faq/8428

2) back up everything and format her drive

3) subscribe to a real anti-virus company with good technical support, and that means not McAfee or Norton or AVG.

4) Download Firefox at http://www.mozilla.org, and forget the trojan is in there. (it is really quite harmless)

 

[ainwood]

Get her to go to this website and scan her PC:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

Its free (not sure if cleaning is free as well).

 

[Zakharov]

Get her to go to this website and scan her PC:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

Its free (not sure if cleaning is free as well).

I'm not sure whether or not their cleaning tools are free, but I know from experience that they give detailed instructions on how to remove worms and trojans manually.

 

[oldStatesman]

I'm not sure whether or not their cleaning tools are free, but I know from experience that they give detailed instructions on how to remove worms and trojans manually.

It cleans for free too. BTW, PC-Cillan by Trend Micro is my recommendation for a top notch AV/Firewall package. I got sick of Norton's Bloated resource hogging and McAfee's compatibility problems...blew away Norton (no easy task - you have to use a tool they provide if you search their website) installed Trend Micro's product and got a 10-15% resource performance bonus over Noton 2005. And it works with Windows XP Security Monitor! It is small, fast and best of all it is about 20-30 dollars cheaper than Norton or McAfee. And I was a 15 year loyal supporter of Norton...but it went to hades when Symantec aquired it.