dealing with the after effects fo a VIRUS

Not sure if questions I have here have been answered as I looked around the
searches....but I have a few questions that I would appreiciate anyone who
can contibute their knowledge in helping me.

My situation. I caught the spyware 2002 virus from somewhere, not sure
if it was a fake aol offer or what it was. But mostly Ive been dealing with
it.
I ran my default Norton Anti Virus through several times. Through these
forums Ive learned that Notons Sytemantic product doesnt have the best
reputation. Aol also had a default spyware protector which I used which only
found 1 item.
Ad-ware was then downloaded suggested by aol, the running program kept
finding tons of these "litte red bugs" through various scans after internet
visits. But now Im wondering if some of these files I downloaded to kill the
spyware were actually where more of the virus came from.
Well obviuosly Im not too experienced with dealing with Viruses. I gathered
all my projects I care about on seperate CD's and just put the "system
restoration media " CD my laPTOP came with to erase everything and make it "
start over " to its original factory settings.

MY QUESTIONS A
1- Are the symbols next to program folders and files described as blue
outline boxes with color squares inside the internal white area symbols of
spyware still present?...or blue boxes with empty white space. Seems those
symbols Ive been told as spyware are still in alot of the major files in my
system.

2-I didnt see the presence detected in the files I transfered to CD, is it
possible they have attached themselves to those files anyway?...files such as
word document text, graphics such as gifs , jpegs, and drawing software saved
versions...and be present and active in the CDs.

3- Would the specific virus still be "floating around " my AOL internet
account ready to strike back when I log on, and able to access my email
accounts (yahoo.ect) independent of me?

4- Before I know I had the virus problem I accessed a website account and
edited HTML. Would the presence of spyware in my computer while doing so
effect the website I opened the HTML notepads to.

5-from a presaved rewritable CD , I sent a file by email to a freind while
the virus was present (who reported to me the email contained the virus,
thats when I knew I had the problem ) . Would both our email addresses still
be infected , as well as the CD that I tried to use.
(note: the Cd is a rewritable that was written long before the virus, and
just contains fonts, jpegs , and gifs for web design ...I know thats not the
source of the virus)

I know these are a few questions by someone who has alot to learn....so I
appreciate any info I get.
Thanks,

Well I'll do my best since it appears noone ever responded...

Look for my answers in line....

"sirius" wrote:

Not sure if questions I have here have been answered as I looked around the
searches....but I have a few questions that I would appreiciate anyone who
can contibute their knowledge in helping me.

My situation. I caught the spyware 2002 virus from somewhere, not sure
if it was a fake aol offer or what it was. But mostly Ive been dealing with
it.
I ran my default Norton Anti Virus through several times. Through these
forums Ive learned that Notons Sytemantic product doesnt have the best
reputation. Aol also had a default spyware protector which I used which only
found 1 item.
Ad-ware was then downloaded suggested by aol, the running program kept
finding tons of these "litte red bugs" through various scans after internet
visits. But now Im wondering if some of these files I downloaded to kill the
spyware were actually where more of the virus came from.
Well obviuosly Im not too experienced with dealing with Viruses. I gathered
all my projects I care about on seperate CD's and just put the "system
restoration media " CD my laPTOP came with to erase everything and make it "
start over " to its original factory settings.

MY QUESTIONS A
1- Are the symbols next to program folders and files described as blue
outline boxes with color squares inside the internal white area symbols of
spyware still present?...or blue boxes with empty white space. Seems those
symbols Ive been told as spyware are still in alot of the major files in my
system.
Bobdude1 replies: These may be files that were created using a font your
system does not support or files that were created using ASCII instead of
UNICODE. In any event, it is possible that these are related to a virus,
spyware or the like. I would not expect spyware to attach itself to any
files, but perhaps rename or delete the files in question replacing them with
the file names you see.

2-I didnt see the presence detected in the files I transfered to CD, is it
possible they have attached themselves to those files anyway?...files such as
word document text, graphics such as gifs , jpegs, and drawing software saved
versions...and be present and active in the CDs.
Bobdude1 says: Again, I would not expect the spyware to attach to files.
That is more of a virus like activity. It is possible that those files have a
virus, but if you have an up to date AV utility (Symantec included), the
current signatures should be abl to catch any known virii.

3- Would the specific virus still be "floating around " my AOL internet
account ready to strike back when I log on, and able to access my email
accounts (yahoo.ect) independent of me?
Bobdude1 says: This is unlikely regarding files, but may be possible for
emails. If AOL does or did not scan the emails, you may still have malicious
files floating in messages in your inbox.

4- Before I know I had the virus problem I accessed a website account and
edited HTML. Would the presence of spyware in my computer while doing so
effect the website I opened the HTML notepads to.
Bobdude1: Unless you are infected with a virus, etc. that targets HTML, I
would not anticipate that you 'infected' the website, however some virii and
backdoors apps will target vulnerabilities in web servers.

5-from a presaved rewritable CD , I sent a file by email to a freind while
the virus was present (who reported to me the email contained the virus,
thats when I knew I had the problem ) . Would both our email addresses still
be infected , as well as the CD that I tried to use.
(note: the Cd is a rewritable that was written long before the virus, and
just contains fonts, jpegs , and gifs for web design ...I know thats not the
source of the virus)
Bobdude1 says: In this case, you copied the file from the CD and sent it
through email. The infection occurred during the copy or prior to the send.
The files on the CD should not be affected unless the were infected when you
saved them in which case, you should throw the CD away or copy all of the
files into a folder and scan them. I would expect that they would be deleted
by the virus scanner anyway.

I know these are a few questions by someone who has alot to learn....so I
appreciate any info I get.
Thanks,

Bobdude1 says: I would do the following: 1. Be absolutely sure that your
anti-virus is always up to date.
2. Download Spybot Search and Destroy from he
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html just go to the Download section
3. Download Lavasoft's AdAware SE from he
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
4. Locate a program called CWSHREDDER and dowload that.
5. Use Spybot S&D, Adaware and CWShredder to clean any spyware on your system
6. Fully scan your system using the updated AV software (I would schedule
this for everyday -- early in the AM or when it is likely to not be
interuppted)

The above steps should clear any spyware off of your system or confirm that
you do not have any spyware.

Thanks!
Bobdude1 is a double MCSE and A+ certified technician that has been in the
IT industry for 23 years.