Computer Virus

He probably has AT&T as his ISP. Tell him to follow this proceedure.

in Internet Explorer:
click on Tools
click on Manage Add-ons
find the one from AT&T (probably near the top), right click on it and DISABLE it
close all your Internet Explorer windows
start Internet Explorer, try again

if still a problem (and you might want to do this anyway):
click on Start
click on Control Panel
click on Add or Remove Programs
find AT&T Parental Controls and uninstall it, reboot as required

1. Try a different browser. There may be an issue with some plug-in for Chrome that is not actually a virus. Firefox is free, and can be downloaded from another computer and then installed on the malfunctioning computer.

2. Try restoring the computer to a previous state, from a date prior to the beginning of the problem. If you don't have any restore points available, it is a good indication that this is, in fact, a virus.

2. Acquire a bottable Linux distro CD (any distro will do), and boot from this. A distro on a usb drive will also work. Try accessing the Internet when booted from the LiveCD or usb drive.

3. If #2 gives access to the Internet, then you can browse your main boot sector for any questionable *.exe files or *.dll files. It helps if you can identify the virus. Pay attention to the dates on the files- anything suspicious that is executable that was installed about the time the problem began, delete it. When deleted from the Linux distro, it works. Usually viruses have backup copies that prevent this from the normal operating system, but you can clean a Windows file system from a Linux install.

4. I am assuming we are dealing with a Windows primary boot sector. If your friend boots in "Safe" mode, does the problem go away? In older versions of Windows, there were utilities to identify what programs, daemons, etc. are actually running. If you can't identify the virus by any other means, you can go through the list of running processes and start disabling the ones that you don't understand (a quick Internet search of the weirdly named ones can identify whether they are important or not). If something stops working, reboot, and don't disable that particular process again. Pay especial attention to any processes that don't start until Chrome is started.

5. If all else fails, you may need to reformat the hard drive and reload the operating system. This is difficult with Windows, because most computer manufacturers no longer provide installation disks, but, rather, have the *.iso disk image stored on the hard drive (sometimes, if you are lucky, on a different sector of the hard drive). Also, Microsoft is rather touchy about re-authenticating an installation. You will need to burn installation CD's before reformatting. If you are using Linux, chances are it is a configuration error rather than a virus, but rebuilding a Linux system is a whole lot easier than rebuilding a Windows system.

Hey All, I resently dumped my temperary files by mistake and thought it no big deal. Till I went to a site I use for video / tutorial help and got nothing. To make story short I had to go to internet options (I have windows 7 with IE 9 but also google chrome and firefox-IE 9 as default browser). I first went to javasite and checked the search my computer to see if it was on computer and was going to re-down load it. That was not the issue, so something told me to go to internet options. I had an email issue 6 months ago and this helped fix it then, so behold! In the top right hand corner you have home,favorites and gear / tool icons. Click tool and scroll down to internet options. Going thru each option and reading about each to get understanding BEFORE YOU TOUCH ANYTHING ELSE. This way you know what your doing and YOU are fixing it. I reset settings to where I thought they should be for me. It worked because I remembered where they where from email trouble. You may need to set to default(each) choice box there are seven to select. In time you can adjust settings to "fine tune" settings but the default should get you back to operateing agian. You will see in security, privacy and programs these three are main culprits for blocking causing issues. The cookies setting should be set to medium-medium high. The Advanced selection is just that, it should not be affected but you can set or make sure it`s on default setting and then leave it alone-get out. You start changing these you will have more trouble then you started with. The cookie settings and you can configure multipule browser`s. Hopes this helps you out and it is the place I go for removing tool bars and start up programs, it`s very helpful and something to " be the go to place" when your stumped. I taught myself how to use computer I`m no genuis just stubborn ( and stupid-on 2nd hard drive and mother board!). But I had to chase my tail around for 8 months to get comfortable, but now I`m learning 2D CAD and Web design with Visual Studio,ASP.NET-AJAX-C++ and JAVA. So this should hold water, I know what it is to feel helpless, and in my case at first I had no idea what I was doing and to ask for help could`nt explain issue to get help. Please give try and reply if you get results. I have gotten a lot of help along the way and wouldn`t be here with out it. So it a pleasure to share and know I retured / payed forward something to help someone else move forward or to better themselfs and family. *PEACE* p.s.: you need to hit APPLY when you change a setting in a selection box. THEN hit OK only when you have finish and are leaving. So apply when changing something in a selection and OK only once when you leave.

Here`s one: Being surrounded in a room by a thousand gienus`s I knew I would come across at least one dumb ass!! TRUE!!

Google Chrome was unstable for me, Firefox is my preferred.

It could be as simple as a hijacked homepage, which isn't a virus, but can be hard to restore. the homepage now leads to sites that lead to popups that lead to sites, and on and on. The easiest way is to have a working computer next to the broken one, and google each unwanted result. You will find it has been experienced before, and the cure. Maybe not straight away, but there will be relevant info there.

Alternatively there are some brilliant free programmes which will find and kill the virus if it is one.

some virus will prevent access to these sites, ( and they can't access the net anway) but they can be put on the pc from data sticks. In fact I think Combofix (fantastic) runs from the stick. Antimalwarebytes (Mbam) advises renaming the folder you install it into so the virus does not prevent access. These two should be very useful, and have instructions on their sites.

Don't go to a computer shop unless you're prepared to lose all your data. A friend of mine had his laptop 'restored' to working order: 'where's my 14 years of research?' 'Oh we had to format the drive, so it's gone'

However, there are lots of Javascript void problems reported on the net

cnc jim

Im back! It started out blocking me from chrome and gmail. I tried going to MSN and then to gmail but it kept cutting me off. So I tried updating the MSN security essentials but it would break the connection before the updates were installed. So I tried looking in my computer to check settings, but it would lead me down paths that got more and more complicated but never ended. Then it started blocking my broadband signal and disconnecting. I got error messages like"Logon UI exe. system error" and "cant start because DEVOBJ.dll is missing" and then"at Broker.exe" Then when I restarted I got a box that said "Startup Repair, your computer was unable to start, attempting repairs" and there was a button marked "Cancel" and when I hit the cancel button another box came on saying "Cannot be canceled" The more I tried the worse it got. System restore made it worse. Seemed like everything made it worse. So today I reset to factory settings, wiped the drive clean (I have all my files on CDs) and started over. What a nightmare! Thank you all for your suggestions.

One more suggestion, don't just simply reload all your files from the CDs, you stand a pretty good chance of reloading an infected file that will put you back where you don't want to be. Scan for viruses before you reload the file from the CD.

Bit late to this discussion but I keep a copy of Portable Chrome on a memory stick. I normally use Fire-Fox but, if there is a problem with internet connection Portable Chrome can be run from the memory stick without having to install anything. This can eliminate the browser from the list of queries.