Winstall.exe - helpp!!

Hi
My computer was infected with a trojan virus today, from a link from someone on msn messenger. I ran AVG Free and the virus went to the vault, which i have deleted and all seems to be running fine now. however, i've had to vault it three times. when I restart, the virus seems to reappear. but my computer is running fine.

but...

there is an icon on my desktop titled winstall.exe which when scanned doesn't contain a virus, but I have just had a quick scan thru some stuff on the internet and get the idea that its a nasty little program that lets other nasty stuff infect my computer I can't delete it, and in fact, am not sure if this is accurate and am a little worried its an important windows file i shouldnt be deleting at all.

I've now installed Avira Antivir as well, as a double up safety precaution, but no spyware detection programs as yet (I'm not even sure if I'm wording that correctly..)

help??
Thank you

My daughter recently had this and she used system restore to go back beyond the infection date. My answer would be to back up all your files on a thumb drive and format the computer. In a quick look at Google it does seems to be something to be gotten rid of and a format would be the quickest and most thorough way to do that. A quick fix would be to prevent it starting up. Go to start/run and type msconfig and a box will pop up. Select the start tab and find winstall and disable it. This should prevent it from starting. The ultimate answer is don't use MSN or if you do don't click on any links as my daughter did.

You'll get all the answers if you type 'winstall.exe' into Google.

Probably no need to go to the extent of a reformat. Winstall.exe is actually not a virus, but adware that gathers info on your browsing history. But you should remove it. The icon on your desktop may be only a link - probably is. Do a search for the file itself on ALL your disks. Delete where found. That should do the trick.

When clobbering Malware, always do it in 'safe' mode - this gets around Windows annoying habit of reinstalling stuff you have just deleted. You can usually run your anti-virus software in safe mode too.

Also get copies of the free programs 'Spybot, search & destroy' and "AdAware SE" to remove spyware & more malware.

If you don't have it already, get 'Zone Alarm' which has a free version. It works much better than the built-in Microsoft firewall, as Zone Alarm will allow you to stop programs from sending or receiving, while the Microsoft program will not stop sending and won't stop programs from requesting uploads, only attempts to 'break-in'.

This post makes perfect sense. If I were a person in the USA experiencing a computer problem, and was already foolish enough to play with instant messaging, and was panicked that my computer was a bit dodgy, I would naturally seek help first of all from an Australian Woodworking Forum. :confused: :confused:

A nominee for Gumby's First Post Awards. :D

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Originally Posted by Bob Childress

This post makes perfect sense. ...
A nominee for Gumby's First Post Awards. :D

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I'll second that. :rolleyes:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bob Childress

This post makes perfect sense. If I were a person in the USA experiencing a computer problem, and was already foolish enough to play with instant messaging, and was panicked that my computer was a bit dodgy, I would naturally seek help first of all from an Australian Woodworking Forum. :confused: :confused:

A nominee for Gumby's First Post Awards. :D

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Ahh but Bob she/he /it can read it is in the nothing about woodwork section .....Another loser added to lifes collection:D
Pete

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bob Childress

This post makes perfect sense. If I were a person in the USA experiencing a computer problem, and was already foolish enough to play with instant messaging, and was panicked that my computer was a bit dodgy, I would naturally seek help first of all from an Australian Woodworking Forum. :confused: :confused:

A nominee for Gumby's First Post Awards. :D

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Not only that. You also have to make sure that you don't log back on again and get the answer, just in case somebody bothered to help. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Gumby

Not only that. You also have to make sure that you don't log back on again and get the answer, just in case somebody bothered to help. :rolleyes:

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She probably can't log on. The virus escaped from the vault and ate her hard drive and three small kittens. :) Or perhaps when she sobered up she decided we weren't her cup of tea. :D