Worried about Virus In Yahoo email??????

The setup program for Malwarebytes should still be in your My Downloads. If it isn't, you can download it from here:

http://majorgeeks.com/downloadget.php?id=6025&file=1&evp=66cf1a9b85d25ae91ecbc7f4e2cd2cd1

Looks like you are making progress.

1A. The setup program for Malwarebytes should still be in your My Downloads. Setup was still there, but, frankly, I was afraid to use it, because I don't know any better. I was afraid that it was corrupted, or something. Is that possible?

1B. I went to Malwarebytes.org, cause I could not find it at MajorGeeks, & I was sent to C/Net, which I hope you will tell me that site was OK & a safe site???

2. After I got Malwarebytes reinstalled, I was thinking that it would be removed from my downloads, but, when I saw it still in there, I remembered that I would need to manually delete it. So, that's what I'll do when finished here. Is that OK?

3. I've got 2 Malwarebytes screenshots, first one saying the Data base is outdated by 60 days. Now how could that be true when I've been updating every day or 2 since I've had this problem???





4. I hope the Malwarebytes install is OK.??? I plan to go into Safe Mode when finished here & run a full scan there.

5. I find it difficult to get into Safe Mode with this new computer. I saw, I guess it was in Windows Help, that to enter Safe Mode with this computer & Win. 7, that I should hold the F8 key down. Today that did not work, & I finally got it for the first time, to enter Safe Mode from a Restart, but, I was tapping the F8 key. I tried to go to safe mode before I came back here from a Reboot & it didn't work. I don't get a flickering white light on the edges of the black screen as I did in XP. Methinks it's gonna take some getting used to regarding safe mode entry!? I liked the additional warning of the flickering light just before start up on XP.

6. After that, Step 5 of instructions will be complete.

Just completed Step 5 of instructions. The full scan of Malwarebytes in safe mode found no threats, but, I'm not sure if I right the icon to run it as Administrator. I'm about 50/50 sure about that point. I'll leave it here for now til i hear from you again. Thanks Edit: please check my post above also.

1. I gave you the direct download link to Malwarebytes at majorgeeks and checked it to be sure. Yes, but, when I came back here, & saw your majorgeeks link, I had already downloaded it at C/net & installed it.

2. You had a corrupted database problem, remember? No telling what that did. Yes, I do remember, that's what I was talking about "being afraid to use it". What I meant was, I assumed that if the database was corrupted, then the setup program would be corrupted also. I guess I would be wrong about that, & the setup program that had remained in my downloads, would not be corrupted, & would have been OK to use for the Re-Install, is that right???

3. Your second screen print looks ok, so go ahead and run Malwarebytes in safe mode full scan and if it doesn't find anything come back here for further cleanup instructions before going elsewhere or to your email. You must have missed my post just above your last post that I wrote at "Yesterday at 21:12". I said; "The full scan of Malwarebytes in safe mode found no threats". You see, I had already done the scan with Malwarebytes in safe mode before you wrote your last post that's just above this one. Do you mean I should do it again? And, this board is the only place I've been coming to, except major geeks, & C/net for those downloads, & I'm ready for further, final cleanup.

4. When your screen goes black on restart, or as soon as your system starts from a cold start, start tappiing the F8 key rapidly to get into safe mode or hold it down This new machine, so far, has not been consistant in how it wants to go into safe mode. Guess I'll just have to keep playing with it to see if I can figure it out.

5. Since Malwarebytes found no threats in safe mode, unless you want me to run it again in safe mode, I guess I'm ready for further cleanup instructions...??

Ok, everything seems to be ok. Sorry about missing your post on Malwarebytes. We are done looking for malware. Now, let's flush your restore points to get rid of anything bad that was saved during the time you were having problems.

1. On your desktop, right-click Computer > Properties > System Protection. Select your C drive to highlight it. Select Configure. On the screen that appears, select Delete near the bottom-right of the window > click Continue on the pop-up screen that appears > Click Ok to get out of that Window.

2. On the remaining screen, select Create and follow the prompts to create a new restore point.

Now you can surf. When you go to your Yahoo email account, I suggest you immediately go to your account settings and change your password to a very strong password consisting of up to 14 upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters (#,$,@). Do not use words - select the arrangement of letters, numbers and special characters randomly, and write it down somewhere so you will remember what you did. If you entered private information to answer questions from Yahoo in the event you are unable to get into your yahoo account and need help, change those questions/information.

If I were you, I would delete everything in your email boxes (Inbox, Outbox, Junk Mail, etc., whatever boxes you have). If you don't want to delete everything, then only open mail that is from someone you absolutely trust and delete the rest.

This should do it. Be aware over the next few days of anything out of the ordinary that occurs and make a note of it: full description of the problem, what you were doing at the time, and the application(s) you had open at the time. Remember that a lot of problems are resolved by doing a system restore to an earlier date if you do it when you first notice a problem. Be careful of where you go on the internet. There's bad people out there just waiting for you to cross their path! (lol) Just kidding!

A. Do you think the eBay.lnk thing we deleted was the cause of all this?

B. I deleted the first Malwarebytes setup, that I used when beginning on this new computer. And, I'm thinking about deleting that C/Net setup, & uninstalling it, & going to majorgeeks using the link you provided me with, just to be sure all's OK with Malwarebytes. What's your take on this?

And, Here's a couple things I haven't finished from instructions on setting up this new computer.
1. I didn't get to do #14, the black viper stuff.

2. Didn't get to do #21, create backup Image. And, last weekend, my daughter & wife were shopping, & had heard me mention an external hard drive, so they came home with one. Can we talk about that later?

Now for a couple items you had mentioned for finishing up on this virus thing.
1. Repa said: we'll need to restore your HP Support Assistant and make sure your Services settings are set back correctly for the HP services you changed in that other thread.

2. Got to Re-Hide those files & folders that were hidden.

3. Can you think of anything else that you had mentioned doing to finish up?
Thanks.

There's bad people out there just waiting for you to cross their path! That would be funny if it weren't true.

1. I've got one post above for you to see, & I'll get ahead again here..

2. Screen shots:







3. The old restores deleted on the 2nd. try, but, I didn't expect them to actually delete. For anybody else, YES, but, not for me. That's why I get uptight about doing this computer stuff. For some reason it doesn't seem to work out for me. Something always pops up outta the blue, that should not pop up. It should go ahead & complete like it is intended to do! Why does it always happen to me????????

4. Look up at the post above this one, please.

1. Repa said: we'll need to restore your HP Support Assistant and make sure your Services settings are set back correctly for the HP services you changed in that other thread. If you get a chance, can you give me instructions on how to do this, & maybe I can get it done this weekend?

2.About changing my yahoo password, I changed it on 10/20/2012, to 15 characters, just as you suggested in your earlier post today, using upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters. Do you still feel I should change it again, I can if you think it's warranted?

WC.

I have a friend that feels about comuters the same way you do. She said somthing is always going wrong. So you are not alone.

Fay

Go to Control Panel, Programs & Features.Select HP Support Assistant and uninstall it. Restart your machine after removing it.

Next download the HP Support Assistant installation software for your machine (the one that says "Home and Business Desktops") from here:

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/hpsupportassistant/hpsupport.html

Click the link that says "Home and business desktops" near the top right side of the page to start the download and save it to your "My Downloads" folder. When the download is complete, start the application and follow the instructions given to do the install.

Note: for information purposes about the HP Support Assistant, you might want to take a look at the short video that's just below the download link for the HP Support Assistant

Do #14 if you want to. If you are happy with the way things are running, then it isn't critical to do that step.

Do #21 now that you have an external hard drive. Use it for both image backups of your partition and important folder and file backups.

With the problem you had with your yahoo email account, what I said is the least I would do even if I changed my password last week. I would be inclined to delete the account altogether and establish a new account, but I didn't think you would like that idea very much. Still, if you were opening an email when those blocks occurred and only then, it is certainly possible that only certain contacts are sending you bad emails, and even possibly without being aware of it. You'll have to decide just how cautious you want to be with this.

Do #21 now that you have an external hard drive. Use it for both image backups of your partition and important folder and file backups. When should I begin using the external hard drive, after I finish the last few things I need to do? I'll probably need you to help me get it set up & going, if you will?? I don't know the first thing about them???

With the problem you had with your yahoo email account, what I said is the least I would do even if I changed my password last week. I would be inclined to delete the account altogether and establish a new account, but I didn't think you would like that idea very much. Still, if you were opening an email when those blocks occurred and only then, it is certainly possible that only certain contacts are sending you bad emails, and even possibly without being aware of it. You'll have to decide just how cautious you want to be with this. Oh, I'm very cautious & serious! Today, even after you said "Now you can surf", I've been reluctant to go back to my yahoo email. I had thought about deleteing the account altogether and establishing a new account, but, don't know really where to start.? Especially, since there's some stuff on the account I wanted to keep, not to mention email addresses. I definitely don't want more infections, but, hate to lose all the stuff I was wanting to keep. Is there any way to do that, or not? It seems that I'm caught between a rock & a hard place.

Looks like I've got some decisions to make. Now that it seems this problem is taken care of I can get to the hard drive. I'll keep ya'll updated here.
Thanks

Repa, I need you to clarify this for me:

1. Repa said: I always have hidden files and folders and hidden protected system files set to be revealed and the default is to not have them revealed. Please tell me if I'm understanding you corectly. You keep yours set to always be revealed, so if you're looking for malware, you don't have to go & change them to be showing, you are ready to run the scans from the git go, correct?

2. I changed my "Hide protected operating system files (recommended)", back to hidden, & after I did that, those Icons on the desk top removed themselves, after I Re-Hid them, which is what I expected.

3. Do you think I should go ahead & "Re-Hide" the others that are still revealed, or just leave them?


Edit: 1. I was going to do your instructions regarding the uninstall & the Re-installation of HP Support Assistant , but I got to thinking that maybe the System Restore fixed that also. The other day sometime after the System Restore, the blue circle with white question mark reappeared in the task bar, & I have not had any problems with it since. Is there any way of knowing if it is still a problem with it? I don't want to have to do the uninstall if it's not necessary? thanks

Thanks for the confirmation!

1. Finally got this external hard drive outta the box. It was on sale for $39.95. It is a Toshiba Portable Canvio Basics 3.0, USB 3.0 & 2.0, 500GB. I'm surprised how small it is, 4.7" x 3.1", & I think that's a good thing!. The little manual is pretty much useless, like all this Tech stuff these days, it all seems to be online or software. I prefer a real book to hold in my hands! It's printed in several languages, and in the front where the United States(English) was shown first, all that's mentioned is system requirements, warranty, etc. There's several other English speaking sections listed, Canada, Australia, New Zealand.

2. Also, written on the front of the box it says Plug & Play Operation, Drag & Drop Use, & it's got 500, then below that is GB/GO, & next to the "B" in GB, & next to the "O" in GO a small cross is printed. Maybe you know what that means?

3. Finally, while turning pages to see if there might be some instructions of some kind, I came across South & SouthEast Asia (English). Would you believe that's the only place where Installation Instructions(Windows) was mentioned in the whole booklet.? It only consists of 4 items. Make sure it is connected to your computer with USB cable. And, sounds like that places an Icon on desktop, which you click, & carries you through some type of setup.

4. A USB 3.0 cable(compatible with USB 2.0 Computers) was included. My Compaq has 2 USB Ports on the front, & it says USB 2.0 in between them. Correct me if I'm wrong, but, I think I can use either of these ports for this cable...?

5. I still haven't done any surfing yet. I plan to try to get this hard drive going & copy the hard drive image, & try to make sure the HP Support Assistant is OK, or else go on & uninstall & the Re-installation, before surfing internet. You think that would be best?

6. This Toshiba should do alright for my purposes, correct?

Repa,
Another "One Bites The Dust"! After the Download, I went to C:\ Drive, & Downloads, to make sure the App was there. When I first hovered the Mouse over the App, the balloon said "Partial Download". Then a minute or so later, hovered again, & this time no mention of a "Partial Download". I guess maybe it had not finished downloading upon first hover?????? Anyway, it says it installed.

But, that's the reason I ask a lot of these, what you probably consider "dumb questions", is for my future Info, just so I'll know. I'm trying to be more alert, & pay more attention to details when doing this stuff, & maybe some of it will rub off on me.




At least I got this done tonight, I'm probably finished for the night though.
thanks

Regarding the creating of an image of my hard drive, should I have my yahoo email the way I want it, either delete it altogether & create a new account, or keep it & clean it up some, before I create the image of my hard drive?

I'm still not sure what to do yet.......thanks

1. Got 2 posts above, not sure u saw, but, I just found a question while looking in control panel, about create system image. Under "BackUp" it says "Windows Backup has not been set up. Then over to the right it says,"Set Up Back Up".

2.Then, below that is "Restore". It says "Windows could not find a backup for this computer. To the right, next to a "Shield", It says: Select another BackUp to restore files from
Recover System or your computer".

3. I wasn't aware of this stuff. Can you please advise on how to proceed here??

thanks

wcturner wrote:

1. Got 2 posts above, not sure u saw, but, I just found a question while looking in control panel, about create system image. Under "BackUp" it says "Windows Backup has not been set up. Then over to the right it says,"Set Up Back Up".

2.Then, below that is "Restore". It says "Windows could not find a backup for this computer. To the right, next to a "Shield", It says: Select another BackUp to restore files from
Recover System or your computer".

3. I wasn't aware of this stuff. Can you please advise on how to proceed here??

thanks

1. This tells you how to create an image of your hard drive in Windows 7:

http://www.ehow.com/how_5783794_create-windows-backup-image.html

Scroll down to where the instructions are for Windows 7. This is for when you are unable to boot into windows and you need to restore your hard drive to the point where the image was made, which is later than what you would get with the Recovery disks you created which takes you all the way back to when you first bought your computer. The image file will contain everything you have done up to now to set up your computer, clean it up and get rid of the hp bloatware, settings, favorites data files and all windows updates you’ve done to that point. In other words, it saves you a lot of work and time over using the Recovery disks – they are a last resort.

2. You will also need to create a Boot Repair disk in order to use the image file and you can learn about how to do that here:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Create-a-system-repair-disc

3. This tells you how to restore your system from your Windows 7 backup image:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/7702/restoring-windows-7-from-an-image-backup/

4. This tells you how to use Windows Backup and Recovery to backup important data files and folders such as Favorites, Pictures, and important Documents:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/1838/using-backup-and-restore-in-windows-7/

5. You can also find all of the above information on your computer by left - clicking Computer on your desktop > Help > View Help, and then typing “system backup and recovery” in the text box at the top of the window that appears and press Enter. Select the topic you want to know about from the list that appears.

Repa, Won't I need to do your above instructions, before I try to create my system image?

Which instructions are you talking about WC? I thought you were ready to start doing your backups.