Virus gotten from Facebook link

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Shaden - Jun 16, 2010 at 10:56 AM
 Garren - Jun 16, 2010 at 12:48 PM
Hello,

My daughter apparently got a virus from clicking on a link in Facebook. Now when she boots up, her system goes through a disk check (as if she shut down improperly) then a black box appears on her screen and her computer locks. Unfortunately, she didn't have any spyware (Norton) installed. I plan to purchase and install Norton. How can I get her virus cleared out? Will restoring the computer to factory settings take care of this? I sure don't have $200+ to give to Geek Squad. HELP! Thanks


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Firstly, please let me inform you that your assertive decision to purchase Norton is going to come with consequences in the end. Norton has endless problems, is slower on virus definition updates, and is definitely no longer a leading antivirus provider. For real time Protection, look into Kaspersky, they're great.

Secondly, the issue that your daughter is receiving is most likely from a Root Kit virus, which are incredibly difficult to scrub clean, and restore your computer back to it's original state.

If your daughter had 'System Restore' Enabled, she'll be able to select 'Last known good configuration', which will take her back in time before she did the click.

If not, then you're looking at a costly, time consuming fix, which is going to end up giving you endless amounts of headaches.

My advice to you, is if your daughter does not require any data she has on the computer (as in - she's okay with losing her files / pictures / programs, etc ), then you can just do a zero-fill on your hard-drive and start from fresh and brand new again.

You can find A LOT of documentation online about both the 'System Restore Point", and the "Re-Installing Windows ** (Where ** stands for XP, Vista, or 7)".

Good luck.
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