Date: 12/24/07 (Computer Help)    Keywords: security, virus, spyware

Usually I can take care of nasty spyware thingers on my own, but this one has got me stumped.

My mom's machine runs XP, upgraded from ME [go ahead and cringe, i do it too].

She emailed me in a panic a few days ago, saying I broke her computer [bullshit], because this "internet speed monitor" thing keeps popping up.

Unfortunately, my mom doesn't know the wonders of Firefox, so she uses IE. I'm pretty certain IE is to blame, so I reinstalled Firefox [after she had uninstalled it].

She's run the CA security system scan that came with our Roadrunner broadband. It's caught quite a few things, Internet Speed Monitor being one of them.

However, when I used Firefox to try and download AVG-free and Ad-Aware, it wouldn't let me. It downloaded as some insane file extension that I don't even think exists. It's labeled as an "EFW file".

While waiting for the virus scan to finish, I checked my facebook [lolz], and this was in the place where an ad should have been:

"Removed by HIPS FW"

So now what? The virus scan is still running, and I don't have another way to get decent anti-shit programs onto this machine right now.

Suggestions? Do we just trash it? Reformat is the last thing I want to have to do, as all my mom's college coursework is on the harddrive...but I'm afraid that if I back it up on a CD, I may reinfect the fresh install.

Help? Please and thank you. :)

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/850776.html