Old IBM having problems

[ayabrea38]

Hi all!
Our second pc,a poor old IBM running windows xp is having a few problems.I think one of the brats downloaded something the computer does not like because all of a sudden some internet pages wont show,the screen says done at the bottom but is blank.I cannot,for example check the usage on my dongle cos the page wont show,but on our main pc it works fine.How can I try and clean up the poor old thing.I tried looking for a restore point,but the page wont show!OH thinks it may be a virus,any help(apart from formatting the thing)would help.I dont have any disks for it either(bought it 2nd hand).
Thanks for any help
Aya

[VHG]

It does seem every time a computer has problems people think it is a virus.

Far more likely it is malware (malicious software).

Download malwarebytes, install it, run update to download the latest files, then run it with a full scan

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

[ayabrea38]

Thanks for that quick answer-going to try that right now and will update you when the poor slow thing has done(if it can!)
Thanks
Aya

[ayabrea38]

Done a full scan,and removed one infected item.Still no joy.I cannot post here on it,even though I can see posts,cannot watch video or view pictures.Please someone help!!!!The poor thing is looking like its had it if no answer is found,the brats cannot use it for what they do!!!

[TTG]

Ensure you apply updates to malwarebytes before running. Do a full scan. This will take a while.

Start, Run, msconfig. Go to startup tab. Search on the net for each process and see if you can safely untick it. You will need to restart.

Start, Programs,. Look in Startup to see if you can remove anything.

On the bootup screen, do you have a Recovery Console option? Search on the net for details on how to use rc if you have it as a bootup option.

Not sure why you cannot see any restore points. Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore.

[romko]

download and install the free version of lavasoft 'Ad -aware'. scan with that.
are you using firefox as your browser?its better than internet explorer and keeps lots of malware out.

if all else fails just reinstall windows.