UGH! I Have a trojan!

[JasonR]

Originally Posted by brettallica

No offense, but this is too extreme for this phase of the OP's virus-removal war. Formatting, while good in that it makes your computer like new again and does indeed wipe it of a virus, is pretty much a last-resort scenario. This is especially true if the infected computer has a lot of personal data that must be backed up. Then you've got all the re-installation of whatever programs you use frequently. I agree that it's a good way to go if you really can't fix it any other way, but like I said it's definitely a last-resort course of action. Re-installation of all your programs takes a lot of time; definitely more time than the average procedure for removing a virus.

Like others have said, look for the sites that have virus-specific removal instructions. These are usually pretty good, although they generally are pretty involved as well. The best DIYs for virus (and spyware and such) removal are the ones that tell you exactly how to do it -- where they don't leave anything up for interpretaion. Right down to every last detail with how to find your regedit (if necessary) and all that.

Good luck!

I wouldn't say it is too extreme. You can spend hours trying to get rid of a virus, just to have lingering effects from it that you cannot find. It would be better time spent backing up your personal data and starting from scratch. I try to do it once a year just as maintenance on all of my computers. Trust me, this comes from years of experience cleaning up other peoples computers. Sometimes it is best just to cut your losses.

OP - Since you don't have an OS CD try this.

If Spybot doesn't find it, I have found this online scan finds a lot the others don't.

http://www.ewido.net/en/onlinescan/

If it finds files and cannot kill them. Either manually delete them in safe mode, or use killbox to get rid of them.

http://killbox.net/