Umm ya so I realized last night that I had a worm and a virus on my computer.

So tonight figured I'd run a couple programs and see if I could get rid of the crapolla.

Looked like I had something called "syncroad.exe" and a real real bad worm called "W32.Netsky.P@mm" which had attahced itself everywhere.

So anyways after running spybot, adaware, and a 3 hour scan with spy sweeper, everything was starting to look a bit better although the worm was still consistently everywhere so I downloaded a patch program from Symantecs website.

Soo While the patch is running, my desktop flashes and about 16 gigs worth of pictures, work files, music, and basically everything that was in a folder or a subfolder located on my desktop disappeared.

I have done searches now for almost 2 hours trying to find where they have disappeared too and nadda...they be gone.

ANY IDEAS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!

oh ya forgot to mention that conveniently symantecs site says that in order for the patch to work u have to turn off system restore ...never turned it off before ...and murphys law the one time I do ...everting gone.

[ October 07, 2004, 09:54 PM: Message edited by: Casper137 ]

damn patches from symantec!!, I hate how u gotta turn off system restore...and then it looses all its info...I cant think of a way to recover those files...Microsofts number is 1-800-936-5700, I dont know symantecs of heart though.....lol

true....just bout every update from symantec or similar will require disabling system restore which will remove any previously saved restore points.


That being said 16gig's of stuff can't be that hard to find. You've only got so many main folders. Is my documents magically 16gig's bigger?

did some norton quarintine folder get 16gig's bigger?

i'd find those files first just to make sure. If all else fails, run the system restore, if that doesn't work, then try the patch!

Maybe I misread something but isn't a virus to be removed with virus software not spyware software, cause a virus and spyware is completely different [img]graemlins/dunno.gif[/img]

spyware and virus generally run hand n hand though. And they kinda act the same.....well not really but to explain to a person who knows jack about computer....it's easiest to explain its similar to a virus, and thats why spyware scanners need to be ran similarly to antivirus programs.

Either way, they generally run hand in hand. I'd say 9 outta 10 times people that have virus's also have some spyware on there.

9 out of 10 PC's are infected with Spyware. I don't know where all those gigs went. They were probably moved somewhere else. A little searching should uncover them!

9 out of 10?! Are you counting cookies here or what .. that is a little high depending on your definition of spyware!

I doubt you will get rid of your viruses without a complete format and reinstall of Windows. Hopefully you backed up your data so that when this stuff happens you can replace it [img]graemlins/wavey.gif[/img]

Well by turning off system restore it doesnt create any new restore points. Can't you just restore from an older point?

wish I could restore from an old point but when I turned off system restore it erases all old points and only lets you restore from when you turn it back on.

And ya been about that backing up of files...hindsight is always 20/20.

so ya I'm lookin like I'm screwed.

Tried to look for hidden files maybe ..nothing
Tried to do te system restore...can't
Tried to look at my quarantine files ...nothing
I can't comprehend how 16 gigs worth of files can be deleted almost instantly.

this is gonna cause some serious iisues.
Yikes

That quote came straight out of an issue of PC magazine that I read. They said that no matter what. Most people end up with some form of Spyware from installing some kind of program. In this day in age it is simply almost unavoidable!