Help needed removing malware from a laptop with Windows 7(browser related problem)

True Colors

Baseband Member
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Hello. I am trying to fix a friend's laptop computer that has Windows 7 installed.

When he gave it to me it was infected with some assorted malware(trojans, etc.). At first, I could not open any applications whatsoever. Every time I would try it would ask me if I wanted to use internet explorer to open it.

I created a few rescue CD's(dr web, avira, avg, etc) and ran those. They cleaned up most of the problems.

Also, I installed AVG free edition and malware bytes. I ran both of those. That removed several more pieces of malware.

At that point, things were mostly good. But I noticed that almost all of the files on the computer had been marked as hidden(the desktop images were all faint, etc). So I went through and manually removed the "hidden" setting from all the PC files.

It seems like I am 99% good. However, when I open firefox browser and enter a google search, and click on a link in the search results, it sometimes redirects me to some other unwanted site. So I guess that there is still some malware lingering in the background that could not be found by AVG and malware bytes.

Any recommendations to fix this?

Thanks!

TC
 
superantispyware followed by a xoftspyscan finished with a winaso registry clean..

do disk cleanup first and delete all temp files to speed up scan times- a trick most ppl overlook. Also don't hesitate to scan in safe mode if virus/malware is persistant.
 
You can also use CCleaner, which'll do an even better job than the Windows disk cleanup service.

Which can also destroy a Dynamic RSS Theme. Like the Bing Dynamic RSS Theme that it has for Vista/Win7. It removes the permissions of the installed theme from downloading any pictures and rendering the Theme useless. So using CCleaner can do just as much damage as it can good. I just found out about the Dynamic thing today myself helping someone on the Answers Site. It isnt pretty when CCleaner go heywire and starts taking permissions away that it shouldnt.
 
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