A virus killed my laptop

[winchester21]

I looked at some e-mail messages on some e-bay purchases/bids Sat morning. I also looked at a news item on yahoo. My computer went into a loop- I had to shut it down and reboot. When I tried to bring it back up some fake Norton anti virus site was running a scan on my computer. I could not stop it. My keys would not respond. I kept getting prompts to sign up for this anti virus software. It blocked Norton out and I cannot enter commands or get into my internet exployer. My keyboard is blocked. The virus is attached to my log in, I went out today and bought a Toshiba L455 to replace the Dell. Can I get somebody to wipe out the contents and download a windows 7 package into it and give it to the wife?

ANybody who sends a computer virus should be executed on pay per view TV.

[winchester21]

I could not find them. not a computer whiz.I never mad a backup as prompted to do so.

[Mighty Favog]

From another computer see if you can download a program called "malware bytes" then see if you can get it loaded onto your laptop. Then reboot and quickly tell the computer to run the program BEFORE the "antivir pro" bug has a chance to load and run.

If that is indeed the program that your laptop is infected with "malware bytes" should be able to fix it.

My desktop got a hold of this bug last week and one time before a number of months ago. It didn't delete anything or screw it up permenantly but it was a hastle to get things up and working the way they did before.

Hint--- The laptop probably won't let you on line anymore but that's because a setting has been changed telling your computer to connect using a proxy server. Just uncheck that box in your LAN settings and you'll be fine.

BTW - The reason Windows are so vulnerable for viruses is bacuse that is the OS that hackers write viruses for to do the most damage. Much like terrorits would much rather use a bomb than a gun; to get a much higher body count.

[LarryC]

I turn to a computer data recovery tech who seems to know his stuff. He fixed a scary virus like you describe in a service call, and later on I had him install an external hard drive that backs up weekly. I'm glad I didn't have to (re)install an operating system.

[WMcD]

Similar to what Mighty said.

You can download a free rescue disk (at least the software) here.

http://www.avg.com/us-en/avg-rescue-cd

My thought is that you can use the new laptop to download that and then burn the rescue CD.

Then you put it in the CD drive of the pagued computer. At start up you may have to watch for the option to change the BIOS to boot first from the CD drive. I have not used this in a while. It might be able to wipe out the virus and your operating system might then work.

Of course you might have to put the arm on some guru to help you with the process. It is worth trying this before spending money on Windows.

Wm McD

[willland]

If that is indeed the program that your laptop is infected with "malware bytes" should be able to fix it.

I agree. I downloaded Malware Bytes and the problem was fixed after scan and remedy.

Bill

[WMcD]

If you have to buy a replacement operating system disk, you should check with the website of the manufacturer of the plagued laptop.

The cost of the OEM replacement might be less than a new OS on the open market.

WMcD

[Jay481985]

Boot in safe mode

http://www.pchell.com/support/safemode.shtml

do it with networking

Then goto start>run> "msconfg" and look at startup look at the list and try and determine which is the culprit if you can. This might take a while by goggling all the startup item names and seeing if it is a virus.

DO NOT PRESS DISABLE ALL, ENABLE ALL

You should be still in safemode with networking. Download a few free adblockers and such. I use lavasoft adaware, spywareblaster, and spybot. They are all free downloads. Install and run them.

Good Hunting

[mark1101]

You might be able to restore that Dell by itself. Many Dells have a partition on the hard drive that is used to restore the system to original condition. You could check for that by booting into safe mode and looking for that choice. Of course a resore wipes the machine out and starts with a clean slate. So you lose everything and start anew.

[seti]

Take it to someone who specializes in removing infections. Knowing what you have is half the battle. It is a common major PITA. They can either boot to a utility CD with tools and scan your harddrive then remove the offending applications. Or they could remove the drive load it as a slave and scan it that way. Your OS and files are not lost you just can not get to them.

[thebes]

I've had this virus a couple of times. For some reason it get's by both antivirus programs I run.

Here's what you do. At boot go hit probably the key F8 to get into "Safe Mode". When in Safe Mode, Hit "Start" , "All Programs" Accessories", "System Tools","System Restore". Then follow the instructions to perform a system restore and select a day several days before you picked up the virus.

Should solve everything. Then run Norton and it will probably belatedly find the the virus and quarantine it.

[djk]

I had to start mine in safe mode a while back too.

"ANybody who sends a computer virus should be executed on pay per view TV."

+1

Also, victims should draw straws to participate in tenderizing the perp prior to BBQ'ing on the electric chair.

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[winchester21]

downloaded malware- tried to kill the virus- no luck yet- blocs all keyboard entries.

This thing hit 4 laptops at work over the weekend.

in one case the people were not even in the room

I do not know how to start in safe mode

Someone at work has a little zip drive with te malware software

so far it has fixed 2 otu of 4

just a matter of trial and error- I think that this will fix it.

[winchester21]

Sorry I forgot THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

will post progress

[Frank1938]

Be sure to run Malwarebytes several times. The virus has an exe that can hang around and come back later so do a complete scan.

Frank

[seti]

Be sure to run Malwarebytes several times. The virus has an exe that can hang around and come back later so do a complete scan.

Frank

So true.

[winchester21]

The malware cleaned out the virus like a can of raid. I will run it several times. I have been unable to log on to the internet since running it- need to check the wireless cards and several other things when I get home.

Should malware be run several times one right after another or wait a while?

[Mighty Favog]

I have been unable to log on to the internet since running it- need to check the wireless cards and several other things when I get home.

Should malware be run several times one right after another or wait a while?

No need to look at the NIC cards. With a browser open go to TOOLS / INTERNET OPTIONS / CONNECTIONS / LAN SETTINGS and uncheck the box that says USE A PROXY SERVER.....

Do that and you'll be good to go.

[seti]

Sorry I forgot some of these infestations can sabotage your internet connection or user profile upon removal.

You want to create a new user account and start using it instead of your current one. Scan again from this user account. If it is clean you can start moving your files to the new profile.

http://www.softsailor.com/how-to/13827-how-to-uninstall-remove-internet-security-2010-virus-removal-guide.html

A new user account may fix this if your profile is wrecked which I would expect to be the case. You also want to do a search for a file called hosts and open it in notepad. The file will have lines that start with #. The # is a comment line and gets ignored by the OS. The only thing that should really be in there without a comment is

127.0.0.1 localhost.

If you see anything else uncommented remove it. This file overrides dns and can redirect your attempts at google or yahoo to one of their servers. Sneaky boogers. If you see any ip like 6.45.3.4 google.com you would never get to google.

Hope this helps a little

[LarryC]

Cautionary note:

I downloaded and installed Malwarebytes, which detected 3 unusual-looking files that got contained.

However, when I began running new Euroarts DVDs that worked fine yesterday, my DVD drive began to hang up and stall. I began to fear defective DVDs to return or a bad DVD drive to replace. On a hunch, since this started only after installing Malwarebytes, I uninstalled it instead -- BINGO, problem solved and the DVDs once again played perfectly.

While I suppose I could have done some other action mentioned above to overcome it, I don't have the intuitive smarts to deal with stray compounding computer problems, so Malwarebytes stays uninstalled. I had no real need for it.

BTW, the DVDs were of the Beethoven 9 by the Berlin Phil conducted by Abbado for only $31.49 plus shipping!!! I'm very happy and impressed with these master performances. http://www.amazon.com/Claudio-Abbado-Beethoven-Symphonies-1-9/dp/B001IMFHTS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1280865278&sr=8-1