[QUOTE="JN_Fenrir"]Gah! It annoys me to no end that people think they need to format their hard drives every time something goes awry. I've had a few viruses on my machine over the years, but I have always taken care of them myself, have never formatted, and as of last night's virus and spyware scans, not one file is infected. Besides, anybody who knows anything about computers will tell you that a format isn't guaranteed to get rid of malware anyway. games619, It sounds like you might be infected with Vundo, a.k.a. Virtumonde. Those are the same symptoms I had, and I found a few different solutions on Google. If you aren't getting a notification about an infection from your antivirus or antispyware program, you might try installing a new one and see if it picks it up. I recommend AVG and Ad-Aware. When you get the issue resolved, be sure to download the latest updates for any web-connected software, especially Java, Flash and Acrobat. It is very common for security flaws in these programs to be exploited to give malware a doorway onto your system. In the meanwhile, don't restart your system unless absolutely necessary. If you are infected, restarting might trigger the program to activate. Also, don't use System Restore, as many malicious programs infect System Restore points, and this could actually make matters worse. And really don't format your drive, that's just stupid.WhiteSnake5000
No one said he needs to. It would just be the fastest and most effective method. Or you can go waste a half a day trying to get rid of it. Sometimes you can't get rid of them unless you plan on crippling your operating system. And yeah, reformatting does get rid of malware, 100%, as you practically wipe the whole HDD clean then follow to install a fresh copy of Windows XP. Anybody who knows anything about computers will tell you that. Plus, it's always a good idea to reformat and start fresh every few months or so. Actually, many people recommended formatting as the best option, which is why I wanted to make the point that I did. I just don't see how backing up all one's important files and reinstalling the OS along with every program, driver and patch is at all a practical solution. That would certainly take at least half a day. Furthermore, if all he's infected with is a low-grade trojan that a good antivirus program will take care of, wouldn't it be a pretty dumb move to go through all the trouble of formatting the hard drive? That's what I'm talking about: you don't have any idea what's wrong with his system, or that he's even infected with anything at all, and yet your first thought is to wipe everything out and start over. That's crazy. 
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