Removing virus from computer?? Arggghhh!

[ben parrish]

I have gotten a virus on my laptop. Webcrawler appeared as well as Virus Heat, and another virus that has created a shield in my lower toolbar that flashes from and "x" to a question mark. A pop up comes from this shield trying to get me to download a program to "protect me".
I have used Spyware Terminator and it has helped but things are still amiss. Any suggestions?

It blows me away that jerks spend their time devising ways to drive the rest of us crazy and try to steal our identities and/or money!

[slodave]

Download Hijackthis, run a scan and post the log file. Virus Heat is a faux anti-spyware program. Also download Spytbot Search and Destroy and Ad-Aware by Lavasoft. Run those as well.

Dave

[Shadetree930]

+1 what slodave said. Post the log to get it really cleaned up. You will be amazed at the crap they will find in there.

[slodave]

Spybot can be found here:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html

Download, install, run application, download updates, but before scanning, select Mode ->Advanced Mode. Then, look for Tools on the left side, expand and select all tools except for bug report (not needed). Then scan your computer.

HiJackThis can be found here:
http://www.download.com/Trend-Micro-HijackThis/3000-8022_4-10227353.html

Ad-Aware:
http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-2008/3000-8022_4-10045910.html?part=dl-ad-aware&subj=dl&tag=top5&cdlPid=10844457

[Sonic dB]

that is a tough one Ben... try the programs mentioned above...another that is very good is called Avast Home... and its free download, you can use it for 60 days free of charge...updated daily and very good.

Usually I catch the virus with Avast or Lavasoft, I also use Hijack this to see if it has embedded itself in the startup. Typically the virus is saved in the Windows system32 folder but often is embedded elsewhere and in the registry.

On occaision I have had to reformat the drive after a very tough virus gets in.... so be sure that you back up all of your files!

[Mule]

Malwarebytes is the most powerful piece yet. Great software & free: http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php It WILL solve your problem in 2 or 3 minutes!

[ben parrish]

Thanks for the quick response. I am running Spybot now. I will do the others as soon as this is done.
What did youy mean by posting the results?
Ben

[Moses]

I'm so glad I don't have to deal with all that crap.

[slodave]

HiJackthis should provide you with a list of files in use, services, etc. Copy that and post here. I'll be back in about an hour.

Dave

[slodave]

Originally Posted by Moses

I'm so glad I don't have to deal with all that crap.

Let's leave the Mac insults out of this.

[dad911]

re-format and install. You will also notice a speed increase, just by getting rid of all of the windows bloat.

[slodave]

Originally Posted by dad911

re-format and install. You will also notice a speed increase, just by getting rid of all of the windows bloat.

That answer ranks right up there with the "ditch the PC and get a Mac" answer. While there are some pros to a complete format and reinstall, the cons usually outweigh that option. And, it won't totally get rid of the "Windows bloat".

[ben parrish]

http://hjt-data.trend-braintree.com/hjt/display_data.php?report=6542325

[slodave]

Ben, The results did not display. When I run HJT, the first option lets me do a scan and save the logfile. When the scan is done, notepad opens and I can copy/paste the log. If not, after the scan, you can save the log to a file (lower left corner).

Dave

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Moses

I'm so glad I don't have to deal with all that crap.

It's obvious that some people get off on it.

My uncles wife is an engineer. Worked for Lockhead designing nuke sub stuff for 30 years.

Go over to the house one day and he's got out one of those old accounting ledgers and is busily making notes. His wife tells me he's been at it for 8 hours straight for 2 days now. Logging every keystroke yada yada.

Asked, "waz up?".

"My computer is acting funny so I'm keeping a log of everything I do to figure out where the problem is"

"Install anything new lately?"

"Yes, 3 days ago and then the trouble started"

"So uninstall it"

"May be a coincidence and even if I do uninstall it may not fix the issue"

"So wipe it"

"But I won't be sure what the problem was"

"But it will work again"

"But I won't be sure what the problem was"

"Soooo, do you want to fix it or do you want to figure out why the new install broke it?"

"Fix it"

"OK then"

[Mule]

Originally Posted by ben parrish

http://hjt-data.trend-braintree.com/hjt/display_data.php?report=6542325

Dude, quit fuchin' around & run malwarebytes. You better be pretty savvy to do some good with hijack this.

[dad911]

Originally Posted by slodave

That answer ranks right up there with the "ditch the PC and get a Mac" answer. While there are some pros to a complete format and reinstall, the cons usually outweigh that option. And, it won't totally get rid of the "Windows bloat".

I didn't mean to be flip, sorry. Last year I spent weeks trying to get rid of vicious spyware from my office PC. Did all of the common things, and the Hijack route. Finally gave up and re-installed, only took a few hours.

Back up the data to an $89 USB drive, reformat and re-install. You'll have less grey hairs in the end. Slo, what are the cons? It will likely take less time, you can be sure that the virus will be gone, and the system will be good as new and probably faster.

And I didn't mean the built-in bloat of windows, I meant it will clean up all the residue that accumulates over the years.

Now to be flip, although I didn't say 'dump the PC and buy a mac', (this thread should be about helping a fellow pelican, not a pc vs. mac debate) I must have hit a sore spot. By the way, how did you know I was typing this from a virus & spyware free MacBook?

[svandamme]

"uninstalling" virusses and trojan's can be done without a reinstall
but frankly , it's very difficult and time consuming

you need to scan offline, eg, without booting from the disk
and since hardly any good uptodate virus scanners exist in dos (to scan with ntfs4dos)

your best bet is to put the disk in another machine that has a bullet proof scanner installed and running real time...
and if you don't know what you are doing, you could infect that box too

so unless you know what to do without guidance, i'd say a format/reinstall is your best bet

[slodave]

Originally Posted by dad911

I didn't mean to be flip, sorry. Last year I spent weeks trying to get rid of vicious spyware from my office PC. Did all of the common things, and the Hijack route. Finally gave up and re-installed, only took a few hours.

Back up the data to an $89 USB drive, reformat and re-install. You'll have less grey hairs in the end. Slo, what are the cons? It will likely take less time, you can be sure that the virus will be gone, and the system will be good as new and probably faster.

And I didn't mean the built-in bloat of windows, I meant it will clean up all the residue that accumulates over the years.

Now to be flip, although I didn't say 'dump the PC and buy a mac', (this thread should be about helping a fellow pelican, not a pc vs. mac debate) I must have hit a sore spot. By the way, how did you know I was typing this from a virus & spyware free MacBook?

The cons are like you stated about your office computer. About 2 hours by the time you are done formatting, reinstalling and applying Windows updates (longer if it is an earlier version of XP (no SP or SP1), reinstall all your third party apps and configuring. Email setup is always fun. Since most people are terrible with backups something important almost always is lost for ever. If you are good with backups, did you remember to back up your bookmarks/favorites? How about that password program that stores all of your passwords?

Then the fun begins with those reinstallation CDs that install every unwanted 90 versions of third party apps.

Anyway, it's easy to say "hey, just format and reinstall", but for the average person, it can cause problems. I have been heard of too many people that had no idea that there existing data would be gone (and have no BU's) when they are advised to reinstall.

I make my living off of Windows, I like the challenge some spyware and viruses present. I don't have any problems with Macs (although I can't use one to save my life) and I know they have a valid place in the world. Most companies need to run a Windows environment - heck, even the ATM's at WAMU are run on Windows.

Dave

[Sonic dB]

also...go to Start/allprograms/accessories/systemrestore and run Windows System restore to set your OS back BEFORE the virus installed itself on your system... THEN run your virus scanning programs...

This way, the Virus will still be there but since you restored your OS before it was installed, it will be just sitting there for your virus scanner to detect and delete... if you didnt do this, the Virus would be there but would be running and you cant delete it if it is running...

this is not a 100% solution but is something that works quite often so give it a shot.... remember that if you Restore then you need to install any programs/software that you installed after that Restore point...but in no way do you lose any of your files by restoring. hope this makes sense