Browser Hijacked or a Virus?

[The Mackem]

I'm going to look at a friend's laptop tomorrow but I don't know whether it's a Virus or the Browser has been hijacked. The laptop is a Samsung running Windows 7. I was going to transfer the network settings from his laptop to another one so he got his daughters flash drive. After plugging the flash drive in Windows installed the drivers and then after a short while came up with an error message saying that there had been a hardware fault and had to shut down. I tried a couple of reboots without success. I then tried a Windows repair using the basic recovery option on the laptop just to repair Windows files. This didn't work so I then rolled the laptop back using a restore point. It then booted up but when trying opening a browser the browser is missing 99% of the images and the text is corrupted and doesn't open any links. This is the same on Chrome and Windows Explorer. Also when trying to open a Window for the network settings the window opens but without any text. I have scanned the flash drive on another computer but it shows as clean. His security is the one provided by Virgin media, I've no idea how good or bad this one is as I've never used it. Another thing is that windows security came up with an alert saying that it couldn't find any Anti Virus or a Firewall on his system after this. He said he'd done a scan of his system yesterday and that came up as clean. The scan we tried using Virgin's security software this afternoon was also extremely slow. So if someone could shed any light or confirm what I suspect would be welcomed.

Many thanks.

Rob.

 

[surfbum]

probably best to format it back to factory settings now
make a back up of anything you want to keep first

 

[hatab]

if above is not an option

turn off system restore

boot into safe mode and run malwarebytes free version (depending on size of hdd and amount of data will take a while)

Malwarebytes : Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is a free download that removes viruses and malware from your computer

if clean run AV program all companies have a free or trial downloadable versions

avast! Free Antivirus - Download Software for Virus Protection

AVG Free | Antivirus Download | Free Virus Protection | UK

if / when all clear switch restore back on (if needed) and reboot normally.

 

[The Mackem]

Got it sorted in the end. System is now working ok. If only people knew the basics on how to protect the computer's.

Rob.