I was hit by a virus on Friday. I spent all weekend performing system scans and doing virus removal tasks with malware bites/adaware/spybot. I pretty much got the system cleaned out and back up/working, but with some issues. The windows firewall and windows defender are missing from the Service list and I am afraid that the Registry for these have been affected/deleted by the virus. F-Secure Security suite seems to be working ok, but stops checking for updates after a while and as soon as that happens a small red x appears on the F-secure icon which is located in the toolbar.




I am unable to revert back to a previous restore point - so I am planning on re-installing windows. I have backed up my important files and My Documents. Any other advise during this process?

with most viruses your best bet is to reinstall the OS

only way to be safe is to Nuke it from orbit

That is my motto when it comes to viruses

I agree - nuking it this afternoon.

I did a reinstall from the DVD that leaves most everything intact and it got rid of the virus so you might want to try that. If you are running SP1 and your DVD is pre SP1, you will have to slipstream SP1 into it though.

Try ComboFix:
http://www.combofix.org/

should remove any Rootkits Preventing Starting Services and Blocking Update Servers.

Keep a system image, restore to that - only way to fix such crap with little work and no risk.

....and blow away the partitions, flash the bios.