Having computer problems, need advice..

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GAMMA RAY

GAMMA RAY

Minister of Fire
Jan 16, 2011
1,970
PA.
Anyone out there familiar with the "xp antispyware 2012" funk? It has infected my laptop and I can not even get into my internet browser. I did not download it but it keeps popping up and I can't get rid of it. I googled the spyware on my phone and found instructions on answers.microsoft.com how to remove under safe mode. I have removed something successfully like this before on a computer at work.
I know that many of you are very knowledgeable about computers. I would appreciate any imput.

And no I was not on any dirty bird sites.... >:-(
 
Good luck, they can be very frustrating to get rid of. Had one similar last year that infected my registry. Took awhile but got rid of it by using the above process.
 
Suggest you download MalwareBytes and run it on your infected machine. It's free, and effective. It found over 80 "malwares" on my XP desktop, and got me running again.
 
Sorry to hear this Gamma. I just went through this pita with my son's computer and was thoroughly impressed and disturbed at how sophisticated the most recent trojans have become. It's quite disconcerting. If the computer has a root kit virus, none of the regular clean up tools will work. I would back up all important docs, images, etc. asap (if possible) to another drive or USB stick. Then do a low-level format of the drive, writing 1's to every bit of the drive. Then reinstall the OS and do not click on any ads in the future. This is turning into a very insidious form of electronic warfare IMO.
 
Try This link. Cut and paste into your browser

http://windowssecrets.com/forums/showthread.php/143127-Malware-Removal-(Doh!)?highlight=antispyware+2012

Might need to do this to be able to get to the link.

Reboot your computer; as soon as it starts, press F8 repeatedly, untill you are given the choice of how to boot - pick safe mode with networking,
 
Try avg boot antivirus you download from there site and boot from the disk instead of the os on startup and it scans your hard drive for infections. It will remove them from bios or dos mode without harming the os.
http://www.avg.com/us-en/avg-rescue-cd
Good luck
Pete
 
That will work for some of the less aggressive and older attacks, but not the latest and strongest. FWIW, ironically my son had Malwarebytes running when this happened. It alerted him and he thought it had quarantined the bug successfully. So he kept on and ignored it. Then it came back so he did a system restore to an earlier date. That seemed to work, but not really.

It's very hard to remove this latest generation of trojan when they are at the root of the disk because they reload into memory on boot up, regardless of previous cleanup. The last trojan my son's system had actually blocked a Linux disk from booting once it had identified that as my strategy. I spent several hours trying so that we could save pictures on the drive, but finally decided that even if I thought it was clean, I couldn't be sure. And I really didn't want to do this again, so we upgraded him to Win7 and started fresh.
 
Ex wife brought over her laptop this afternoon, with the @$%& malware on it.

Can you fix this for me?? :roll:

Tried a couple bootable discs, would not read them.
Tried the bleeping computer fix, wouldn't work.
Ended up running system restore, that fixed it.
 
Mr Gamma did the system restore and now I can get into the browser and it looks like it is gone but I am not using it. He said it may still be there and he was going to do something else last night. These buggers are a pain in the ass.

Mr Gamma told me to stop going to all those pornography websites.. :lol: He was j/k...he knows I don't look at smut.
I was on Hearth.com when the spyware first poped up...so it doesn't matter what sites you frequent.

I will let you guys know if it was still there...if he worked on it like he was supposed to... >:-(

Thanks again all...
 
Good news. It probably didn't come from here. Some of these devils are time-bombed. They don't go off immediately. Others are embedded in spam attachments.

Back up all that is near and dear on that drive asap. System restore may not remove the bugger, except from the registry. Run Malwarebytes again or try superantispyware. http://superantispyware.com/ Silly name, but it is pretty thorough. And be sure to keep up with updates for the OS and virus detector. And stay away from site or ads offering free stuff or hacks or free bling :) .
 
Backup your data and wipe the computer clean. Its the only way you'll actually ever get it out of there and know its gone for sure. I've been through this 100 times and the affected computer always develops a reinfection after a week or so of use. In my experience, the only effective protection is a good defense, once it gets in there it gets its hooks in pretty deep. Lots less time to just wipe the computer out and rebuild it than to clean it over and over and over again and THEN wipe it clean.
 
It is a multi-step process. Boot to safe mode, follow the instructions for removal, and then use anti-virus and anti-spyware software to find the culprits. I use spybot search and destroy and avast antivirus. Run them each several times.

I've never gotten one of these infections on my own PC, but my wife and people at work have. Only once have I had one so sever that it needed re-installing. My solution for that was to buy a new hard drive and install it, put all the software on, and then copy the data off the old drive.
 
My computer got infected from facebook - I think.

I used malwarebytes under SAFE mode to remove a System tool virus. I also use Norton Internet. I agree that it's best to wipe it and reload. All of the scans and registry stuff - has my computer getting rundel.exe loops that tie it up and I have to go on Task manager to kill them. Nothing has been able to fix this, but wiping it and reloading should fix it.

Always make sure you are logged on as a plain user and not admin. Only log on as admin when you need to do administrative tasks. If a hacker gets in under admin - they can really mess you up and get stuff you don't want them to get "on line banking".

Good luck. I think guys who create and launch harmful virus - should be publicly stoned.
 
You will know when you get this next generation trojan. They are a league more advanced than any I have dealt with in the past 25 yrs.. I am super concerned about the generation that follows this newest attack. Add keystroke logging, etc. and this could be hugely disruptive.

Basswidow, I was thinking of something a bit more slow and painful. These guys are a potential threat to commerce, security, and national defense.
 
Mr Gamma said he was gonna "clean up" my computer days ago.....it is usable but I don't wanna use it until it is totally clean. Now....wonder how friggin long it will take him to finish the job? I will guess at least another week.
Welcome to my world... >:-(
 
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