None of the graphics are showing up on my mom's comp...does it have a virus??

Symantec told me I had a trojan and that it was quarantined, then about a day later all the graphics on websites opened with both Internet Exploror and Firefox were not showing up. There have also been 2 occasions where I suspect the computer turned itself off (I went afk for a few hours, came back, the computer was off and my mother said she didn't turn it off). What's going on?? Are the two problems related? How do I fix either one, or better, both?

the turning off may just be a power managment function built into the computer, if it's not that it *may be* a trogen, but I would think that unlikely as when your computer is switched off it can't do whatever it was designed to do (spam people, steal your data etc)

the fact both Internet exploror and firefox are infected suggests it's unlikely to be something hijacking your web browser, however it may be something sitting on your internet connection between your browser and the net, blocking throses images.

I'd suggest running Symantec again then. downloading an anti-spywhere program (like Ad-Aware) from a "clean" computer, putting it on a flash drive and running it on your mom's computer from that drive (then wipe the flash drive just to be safe (problay overkill but...).

If that fails try uninstalling firefox and re-installing it (the trogen found by Symantec may have messed up settings).

If all else fails. back-up everything she needs, ensure you have the installation disks for everything (and lience codes) and wipe the harddrive, re-install the operating system etc. if you don't feel happy doing that take it to a computer shop who will do it for a small fee for you.

I would make sure that your copy of Norton is:

A) a complete suite (ie, Norton 360 that includes protection from all types of malware) and if it's not... upgrade it.

B) make sure it is properly cofigured and COMPLETELY up to date with the latest upgrades and definitions. go into the program and force a manual update a few times and reboot if it installs any and try again after the reboot until all are installed.. then run a complete scan.


If you were infected with a trojan or any type of malware then it is alway possible that it did some damage to your system before it was quarantined.

If you are unable to see pictures on a website it can be as simple as a changed setting too.

As for the computer turning off... you are not sure if it did so it is not worth speculating about.

If this is your moms computer then you should give her the option of finding a reliable and qualified technician to troubleshoot / assess the situation before you go mucking about on the computer and possibly causing data loss or damage when it may not be necessary. If you had a trojan then clearly you are engaging in unsafe browsing habits and need to ensure that that security suite is working properly before continuing on... also I would recommend you run windows updates to ensure that all security updates are up to date and that they're set to automatically download.

lastly, I would recommend you stop installing a bunch of stuff on that computer as this is probably the root cause... you dont need two different browsers....

Good Luck