Hi indy670,
Sorry to hear about the bad infections on your computer
Here's what jeff said in your malware topic:
You can feel safe in saving your documents, music, photos and such but nothing with a .exe extension at all.
Once you have formatted and reinstalled Windows get your anti virus installed and firewall operating…only then should you connect to the Internet…..Do not connect or allow your machine to connect before you have your protections in force….only use the Internet for updating your protections and running Windows update…absolutely nothing else, no emails or surfing|! make sure your Windows XP installation is fully updated with Service pack 3 and about 100 other important and critical updates…Keep running Windows Update and rebooting until you are told that no more critical or important updates are available. Don't make the mistake of using the computer on the Internet for general use until you have finished all the above steps.
Only when you have done all the above should you even consider installing your applications and programs and configuring your email etc.
With regard to your back ups on external hard drive…..please be very….. very…… careful (you do not want to risk anything nasty jumping across) so here's some thoughts for you.
When you plug it in hold down the shift key…(you do not want it autorunning, but if it should auto run then stop it immediately) right click on its drive letter in "My Computer" and scan it with whatever anti virus products (updated) you have available to you. Do not click on any files or try to open them in any way (that could be a real Pandoras box….)
If you have a "disposable" computer then use this to virus scan the whole of your back up, with it's in house, updated anti virus scanner. If this machine also has an excellent anti malware product like Malwarebytes installed on it then after updating it to the latest version and with the latest definitions perform a complete scan of the external hard drive and remove anything nasty that is found. Follow this up with at least 2 online scans from reputable firms….if you find anything nasty then its back to jeff in your previous topic for him to give his expert view on the specific steps you will need to take.
I would then delete any .exe files by right clicking and selecting delete (then empty the Recycle bin)
If you don't have a "disposable computer" handy then before using your own machine with its Windows operating system I would be inclined to to use a live distribution of Linux (Ubuntu or Puppy for example) and delete files with that ( Boot into Linux from a CD you have created .)
Before using your own machine with your new Windows installation to mount your external USB drive be aware that any files on your back up should be regarded as potentially compromised…. you need to decide if they are vital to you….and simply must be copied across because you just cannot do without them…..if they are not vital then think hard about deleting them and emptying the recycle bin……
Any files backed up after you suspect that you may have become infected should be done away with as a matter of course….
If you need to then you can follow the instructions above about the deletions and scanning.
Good luck and there is a good tutorial here on formatting and reinstalling procedures:
http://forums.whatthetech.com/index.php?showtopic=91962
Regards
paws
