As a network/computer/peripheral technician on the side, I have recently noticed an increased number of viruses and malware infections that are able to slip past widely-used antivirus software.  A few of the victims I’ve operated on were using Norton, others had AVG, and one or two others had McAfee. Most, but not all, even had their definitions up to date.

Not only did the malware/viruses get through, they managed to cripple the antivirus or remove it completely. The system restore, on two of the most recent problem systems, was disabled. One of the symptomsthat all machines had in common, was the fact that over half of the services were set to manual startup.

Some of the services could be started, but when startup was changed to automatic, it reverted to manual after a reboot. This was after the infected files were all removed. In the end, they have all required a complete system wipe, and fresh OS installation to get the computer working again.

From what I can gather from the users of the systems, the only common trait is the occasional or frequent use of Facebook/MySpace type sites. My recommendation to them has been the use of Firefox with the NoScript addon or complete avoidance of those type of websites.

Has anyone found a system with similar symptoms? If so, were you able to find a solution without a complete re-install?