cant seem to find this adware/spyware/ or virus

jesub

Beta member
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2
How I got it: I was on Aol Instant Messenger and my friend sent me a message saying "I'm so cool, (then a hyperlink)" since i know this kid in real life *he lives 2 blocks down* i clicked the link and it asked me to install something. i did not thinking about it. then i noticed my Windows firewall was off *I didn't turn it off*. Then Microsoft antispyware came up saying that lockx.exe located in C:Windows/System32 was trying to add itself to the startup menu. I hit deny it, and it came back up. I hit deny again and it stopped. I then turned on the Firewall, and ran Microsoft AntiSpyware, Norton Virus, and Adaware. I updated all of them before running. Norton found 2 files that were at risk and the when deleted it said Delete failed. I didn't worry to much because awhile ago it found 11 at risk and couldnt delete em. Then it found 7, and from then on it found 7 at risk files that it couldnt delete every time i ran a scan. This time it found 2. so the other 5 went away I guess. Adaware found 3 signatures of Zango, and deleted those, and Microsoft AntiSpyware found nothing. I thought Zango might be it so i turned off my computer and now its tommorow after school and a popup came up saying. Run, Don't Run lockx.exe located in System32. I did a search on that folder and found nothing named lockx and then I manually searched it and found nothing. now im here.

What it did: So far nothing to my computer, but right after i got it my friend said dont click the link cause it was a virus. then messages to all my friends poped up saying "I'm so cool, (then a hyperlink)" to save my friends i sent THATS A VIRUS DONT CLICK and when i sent it to one guy, it resent the "I'm so cool, (then a hyperlink)" to all my friends. so i signed off, went back on and sent the virus alert to all my friends and the virus didnt spawn any messeges.

What I can do: any suggestions what i can do to kill this virus? it doesnt seem to be doing anything execpt for trying to run when I boot up.
 
try going to safe mode to delete the infected files or run those scanners. also, enable DEP (Data Execution Prevention) to all programs. This prevents damage from viruses and other security threats. It is not a substitute for unprotected computers.

to enable DEP:
right-click my computer
select properties
go to advanced ~>Performance~> settings~>data execution prevention
select turn on dep for all programs...

Note: DEP is only available in XP SP2
 
Yes, booting in safe mode is about your best option, it'll load nothing but the base minimum to operate Windows ... therefore no startup programs or any other programs ... i don't think that your friend sent that intentionally, it could be a worm's way of replicating itself over and over again ...
You probably could delete the files because it was a running process and windows by default denies deleting files which are being used ... so again, go to safe mode, run adware/spyware and virus scanners making sure that they are UPDATED (can't stress that point enough :)) then run full system scans, you should then be able to remove it ...
 
does adaware and spyware and norton need to be on a thumbnail or a bootup disk? can safe mode run those programs?
 
Yes, you will be able to ...
Only the necessary files are loaded at startup ... in safe mode, you can then choose to use which programs you want, safe mode will only limit what programs start when booting but doesn't extend to what programs you can load during that session ...
 
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