PandaActivescan cannot disinfect

Well, since I think that ccleaner makes a back-up of the changes it makes, would I be correct in thinking that I can get it to Fix away to it's hearts content, and if any problems surface at a later stage that there's folks that know how to restore the changes?

It should, yes.

I would like to add, that I never use or recommend the use of these programs unless there is a problem to be solved.
Sometimes it is better not to tinker.

Regards,

Well, I'm going to do it, and if I report back, then all's well that ends well.

If everything goes pear shaped, then this dusty old machine will just get itself a good old format. It's long over due anyway.

Ok, the ccleaner worked, deleting nearly 90MB, and as yet no problems whatsoever.

However, re:panda activescan, I tried it after ccleaner, and unbelieveably the results are still indicating the registry has traces of the WhenU adware infection! This is just bizarre, check the results:

Incident                      Status                        Location                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Adware:Adware/SaveNow        No disinfected                Windows Registry 

And even when I search for the installed files (with hidden files shown) and check the registry for the changes indicated on Pandasoftwares very own site there's none of the changes there should be!?!?!

The only conclusion I can figure is, either ccleaner isn't doing as thorough a job as hoped, or else Pandasoftware co. have a scam on the go, to try and scare folks into buying their pro version.

Here is a program you should get anyway:

http://www.resplendence.com/reglite

I wish Panda was a bit more precise about what exactly they found where.
But reglite is a nice program to search and rummage through your registry.

Regards,

What with all this reliance on app's to do the fixing in the registry for me, I don't know why I didn't think of using regedit to find the entry for me. Well, I gave it a try with a search for terms like "whenU" and "savenow", and it turned up the following reg key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Management\ARPCache\SaveNow

which contains:

name  type  data
(Default)  REG_SZ  (value not set)
Changed  REG_DWORD 0x00000000 (0)
SlowInfoCache REG_BINARY 28 02 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 80 21 00 00 00 00 00 00 18 07 f3 9d 5e c2 01... etc

I've done a bit of research to try and find what it may have been that installed this, and it seems it came bundled with Kazaa according to one source I found. I used Kazaabegone, on a recommendation, to remove all traces of that program years ago though (or so I thought).

So, it seems Pandasoftwares activescan deserves an apology Well, now I've found the reg key, is it safe for me to delete it?

You can delete the entire subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Management\ARPCache\SaveNow

Regards,

*sigh*

The key has been deleted, but the results are not rectified in the activescan results!!!?!??!

It'll just have to be a reinstall or maybe a reformat if I want a clean registry, once I get all the important work and my mp3 folder backed up onto cds that is. Any advice on how to go about this? I've been quite lazy about reinstalling, having not a clue what steps are important/needed in case of mistakes, or the sequence of steps needed to go about it.

Quite frankly. I wouldn't reinstall over this.

Who knows what the scan is referring to?
It might even be a false alarm.

Regards,

To be honest, I don't think the folks at Pandasoftware do either. I mailed them before now with a description of this seemingly false positive, but they were decidedly unhelpful. I can only guess because I had not purchased one of their full programs. Aw well!

So, I guess you're telling me the only solution here is a reformat? If so, any advice here please? Such as how to reconnect dvd-rom/cdr drives, and gaining access to the internet again. Not only how to reformat itself, but regarding starting up with a "clean" system; what's the best way to create a "restore point" that can be reset in case of future infection, while running a win2k which doesn't have the winxp system restore feature? The only other programs I can think of which have related features are Spybots "system snapshot" feature. Is there any more I'm missing? Also, what programs is it essential to have backed up on disc, which should be installed before anything else is done, for security sake?

Wrong forum for those questions, my man.

Regards,