Desktop Icons Gone and computer not working???

[bballer20]

I turned on my computer today and all my desktop icons were gone and I could use some of my programs, but not all of them. My internet is not working as well??? Does anyone have any idea what could have caused this or how to fix it?? My computer was running fine last night and I turned it off and started it this morning. Any help with this would be appreciated.

Thanks!!

 

[Lac3y]

try system restore

 

[bballer20]

I have a Compaq laptop.....how would I do that on there??? I dont know much about computers??

 

[PerfectSK]

Well dont panic, the people at CF are sure to help you out man. Your description sounds like a case of bad virus, or some kind of malicious program. You should install AVG free anti-virus, and Lavasoft's Ad-aware. Both are free programs, and personally they work pretty darn good.

Here are the links...
http://www.download.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition/3000-2239_4-10503939.html?tag=lst-0-2
http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Edition/3000-8022_4-10399602.html?tag=lst-0-1

 

[PerfectSK]

Oh yeah, my bad. Didnt see the other guys post. System restore sets things back to the way they were a short time ago. If you have Win XP or Win ME you should have system restore. To get to it, just click on start > programs > accessories > system tools > system restore.

 

[Bahawolf1]

System Restore will not remove the virus.

Do a scan right from your browser (so you don't have to download anything) from http://housecall.antivirus.com

Then, download AVG Free from http://free.avg.com - This is a great FREE antivirus program.

If you want to prevent and / or remove Adware, which I reccomend, download Adaware Personal from http://adaware.com

If you want to prevent and / or remove spyware, which I reccomend, download Windows Defender from http://microsoft.com

Do all of these steps and tell us what happens..

 

[Ronco Rox]

yes a sytem restore will get rid of any viruses. well at least for me it did. i had gotten a virus quick similar to your case. except all my destop icons were all highlighted and new programs would start up and eat away at my ram. also my internet wouldn't work either. the virus screwed with all my drivers so just hit the restore key when the computer starts up if you want to do a restore.

 

[borat_sagdiyev]

no, they mean system restore from within windows, not complete reformat and restore

 

[Bahawolf1]

yes a sytem restore will get rid of any viruses. well at least for me it did. i had gotten a virus quick similar to your case. except all my destop icons were all highlighted and new programs would start up and eat away at my ram. also my internet wouldn't work either. the virus screwed with all my drivers so just hit the restore key when the computer starts up if you want to do a restore.

Yes, you seem to be discussing the option of erasing the hard drive and reformatting with an installation disk.

That works, sometimes, but some viruses will hide inside of the boot sector of your drive which would result in you needing to completely zero out the drive to remove traces of the virus completely.

 

[dude_se]

just do a restore then clean up your pc. atleast if you can restore it to an earlier date your internet and programs will work. then you can get rid of all the crap