I have a fully licensed version of Windows-XP Professional. I have what I
thought was a reasonably good security suite and update my Windows version
regularly. I also have a “network breaker” installed. This piece of
hardware senses the power consumption of the monitor and shuts off internet
access by physically severing the network connection cable whenever the
monitor shifts into sleep mode.

Recently, I was the unfortunate victim of a malicious software attack posing
as a “security software” obviously designed to look very much like a Windows
update. This was a pesky little bug that seemed to exploit a latent Java
Script gap somewhere. I am not an expert at such things… web design is my
thing.

I do seem to have been successful at eradicating the offending program,
however now I have other issues. During this process it seems that the
software re-wrote some of my OS passwords and permissions. Most notable of
these is my in-ability to change certain settings back to their original
options. For example: When the computer stands for a moment of two the
monitor no longer shifts into sleep mode. Instead I get a message telling me
that the desktop is locked and I need to enter a password. No problem… all
I have to do is hit the enter key and the desktop re-activates. This however
defeats the “network breaker” I installed by unduly keeping the monitor
active. I have tried re-setting the screen saver and sleep mode settings
through the desktop properties dialog in the “my computer” console and well
as every device management dialog I can thing of… I have been unable to fix
this problem.

I have also noticed that a lot of my “Higher” or “Advanced” setting tabs are
no longer offered when I try to change the setting of my OS. For Example…
being able to select Active Desktop as my wallpaper is just no longer an
option offered in ANY of the XP dialogs.

This is bugging the living daylights out of me and has seriously effected my
work flow.

How do I fix this?

tmcculley@grandecom.net

Read the rest here:
Malware Recovery for Newbies??

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