Trojan Horse Virus

[downside]

There is no way of preventing a trojam from being downloaded on to your PC.  A trojan is usually a fake anti-spyware program that attaches itself to another item that is being downloaded.  Someone visits a website and they then download something that looks tempting.  They are then asked to press a button called ACCEPT before the download actually begins.  What they do not know is that they are giving permission for the trojan to be installed.

Your anti-virus program will probably go berserk telling you that you installed a virus/trojan but it cannot actually remove it because the trojan is a live process.  Live processes cannot be terminated by anti-virus programs.  Additionally the trojan will put add an entry to your list of start-up processes which it makes it very difficult to get rid of.  Normally you have to bring the PC up in Safe Mode and delete the main trojan executable file that way.

You may need to get several software programs to get rid of every trace of a trojan.  Even if you manage to terminate the main process it will still leave tens of entries in your registry.

[Silas]

Thank you Michael, Growler and Downside.  I have got to the stage now where I dread switching the pc on in case it does what it is intermittently doing - switching itself off.  I feel like just giving up using the pc altogether and cancelling my Broadband and never using a pc again - sorry, but I am getting very depressed by the whole problem.  Thank you all for your advice.

Silas

[lil growler]

Can't do that silas

You won't be able to chat. I'm sure someone will have some suggestions for you to help you out.( step by step instructions) if your anything like me. Unfortunately my knowledge doesn't extend that far. As Downside said removing the trogan completely is difficult. I can imagine it's getting you down and probably has a lot to do with not knowing what to do about it. I get that way at times with my computer. Fortunately for me I have a computer geek friend  ( and I mean that in the nicest way ) that helps me out.

Hang in there.

lil growler

[Silas]

Thanks for those kind words Growler, but even after I quarantined the Trojan with AVG, the darned pc still played up, so the problem could be something else entirely - aaargh !

[lil growler]

I know what you mean.

The term- throw it out the window comes to mind at times.

[Silas]

Don't tempt me Growler !!  Thank you for your help.

Silas

[downside]

Get to know what processes run on your PC by using Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Delete and click on the Applications tab.  Ignore the ons that have SYSTEM NETWORK or LOCAL SERVICE next to them but do a Google search on the others to see what they do.  You'll get to know what should be running on your PC and what should not be there.

Additionally, check what gets loaded at startup by doing the following:

Start->Run and type: msconfig in the box and press OK.
Click on the Startup tab and scroll through the list of entries.  Again if there is something that you do not understand then do a Google search on the filename.exe name to see what it does.

To get rid of a startup process uncheck the name.  Most of those things listed probably do need to startup at boot time except your security items like anti-virus and anti-spyware.  If you uncheck something and your PC does not work properly then you can always go back and put a check mark next to the program to put it back to how it was.

[Silas]

Thank you Downside.  I cannot do it right now as have to go out, but as it seems very technical for me, a pc novice, I will get my son to do it.  Thank you for your help.

Silas

[Silas]

Downside - don't know if this helps, but the files that AVG showed up with Trojan were

AOO 56031 exe
AOO 56032 exe         
 AOO 56033 exe         Being a pc novice, I do not understand what these files are.

Silas