I’m asked to ’clean up’ a pc that was once infected with many nasties (but cleaned up since), and to get it working on an existing wireless network.
I install ewido and antivir, and do a scan & cleanup a few more ‘trojans’ etc…
But it still cannot work on the wireless network… at this stage, since I cannot activate the antivir Guard option, I figure there is something severely wrong with this PC. So I decide its time to work on it from the office.
I remove the HDD and scan it from another computer… it finds and removes a few more nasties (remnants of vundo, webhancer)
Once I reassemble the PC, windows I notice a few more peculiarities:
- I cannot display windows firewall settings.
- I find the solution mentioned at: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/sharedaccess.htm, but it doesn’t help
- It won’t recognise usb drives
- Antivir still cannot active the guard function (I first thought it was the new gard function in ewido that was interfering)
- I had to redo the tcp stack using lspfix (to correct problems with tcp networking)… but that doesn’t help much
- Antivir would stop pc from shutting down.
- Nero complained about unregistered dll’s
I eventually admitted defeat and told the customer that a windows reinstall is the only solution. The only problem is that he cannot find his acer XP CDs.
I backup the PC.
I try my OEM copy of XP home, but it won’t accept the acer XP serial number on the box… Grrr. One of the main reasons NOT to buy a name-brand PC… its much better to buy a nameless PC & get some proper OEM XP cds.
So I now have no choice but to install my ‘special’ copy of XP Pro.
The install and subsequent tuning goes without a hitch (except for a flaky DVD writer). The wireless setup works well.
I take it back to the customer, and installing his usb wireless dongle works perfectly.
A quick training session with the family, and I’m on my way again (at last!).
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Posted by Computer Help in Technical