Nasty Virus help needed!

[savoxp]

Thanks for whoever is looking at this- hopefully you can help me at this desperate time- Heres the story get all my buddies over have a land party all of us playing red dead online someones on the pc though. Go on my pc today browser today seemed fine online tried to open cc cleaner later to clean up my temp which i do every now in then wont open said some like file not there couldnt find- try to uninstall and delete manually wont happen- then a something.....dll shows up a couple times should have written it down but didnt i closed it it pops up again i close it- try to download a new cc cleaner says the same thing file not there or somehting to that effect. now im suspicious i try and open another program says its not there now i know im screwed- go to task manager it says under where my user name would be a bunch of asian characters- turn off pc to open safe mode- it says boot from disk i put a disk in there try going to safe mode its blank try going to last known config its blank for a while then shows up with the windows broswer- try to repair doesnt fix it- try to do system revovery nothings there and looked in system32 restore its empty- I have no idea what to try next- They looked at something nasty Im locking my pc from now on and never going to any suspicious websites can risk this happening again- please help me out of this bind!!! thanks also when i go to system recovery options and click load driver my c drive shows up as boot x and says 31.1mb free of 33.5 and i know for a fact i had at least 10 gb free on a 80 gb drive so i dont know if it changes anything

THANKS SO MUCH

 

[Scotteq]

The first thing you should do is boot into Safe Mode: On most systems you repeatedly tap F8 while booting, and then select "Safe Mode With Networking" when you have the opportunity to do so.


From there, you'll need to download a program that can scan and remove malware from your system. Do this even if you already have the same/similar program installed: Many kinds of malware will detect and disable protections, so you'll have to start from scratch.

Malwarebytes and Spybot are popular tools for this: http://lifehacker.com/5227896/five-best-malware-removal-tools

I have, and use, Malwarebytes. The Paid version can/will also (help to) protect you from malicious websites.

DO A FULL SCAN.


The site here also recommends using and running Combofix: http://www.combofix.org/ as your second step.


From there, you should presume that whatever you had may have made registry entries to allow it to come back: Ccleaner is a good tool for this, and also free: http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner


At this point, I most strongly recommend checking system files. Here is a good tutorial on how to run the sfc command: http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/66978-system-files-sfc-command.html


Lastly, you should also presume that whatever malware you had will have disabled/destroyed whatever anti virus protection you had on your computer. Re-download and reinstall a fresh version. Avira is free and popular, as is NOD (from ESET), and believe it or not, Microsoft Security Essentials is also free and is excellent protection.

 

[savoxp]

yeah that all sounds great but everyone of my safe modes are blank just a black sceen with safe mode written in the corners- any suggestions it seems like it erased or isnt identifiying my windows

 

[Scotteq]

Hrmm..

Looks like your install is well and truly hosed. You can try to boot to your Windows DVD, select 'Custom Install', and "Repair" on the second screen in the lower Left.

But like I said - At this juncture, it seems your install may be done for.

 

[aford10]

When you get to that black screen with safe mode in each corner, try pressing ctrl+alt+delete-->file-->new task-->explorer.exe

If explorer is hosed, you may be able to force it to start up. Then we can go from there. Here's a guide for removing and repairing malware for free.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/242796-44-simple-free-guide-removing-malware

 

[savoxp]

yeah im on my mac right now reformating the drive and gonna reinstall vista- such bull- I tried repair couple times and the control alt delete doesnt work either- spent several hours yesterday and today thanks for your help- its probably the worst one ive gotten other than one where i couldnt even get out of verifiying dmi in the very beginning of the start and wouldnt go past there- that was 2 years ago- how does something like this get on your computer I doubt they installed anything- and i dont think it was cc cleaner cause it was already messed up before i clicked on it- it had to be somewhere they went on the internet- maybe a video encoded with some file i dont know- what do you guys use to prevent this from happening? I had malwarbytes, lavasoft adware, spybot, and had avg but those wouldnt have stopped this- what you guys think i should do in the futore to prevent this major problem- How could this thing screw me so fast!!

either way thanks for the input

 

[aford10]

Stay up on the windows patches. There are often important security updates.

There are 3 AVs recommended and linked in that guide. They all work very well. You may want to try each, and see how you like them. Keep them updated, and they will help keep your system clean. Nothing will block everything though. It takes an educated user to help the AV.

 

[savoxp]

yeah but an anti virus wouldnt have stopped it because this wouldn't allow me to open any program, i tried opening malwarebytes before i closed my pc didn't work- i was basically just asking is there anyother preventive measures to take besides antiviruses considering they only help once its on the pc-maybe zone alarm or something monitering what you are actually downloading when you click on a video or picture or website because they can have hidden files you are actually getting on top of it? thanks sorry for the long response

 

[aford10]

The anti-virus software's main purpose, is to keep infections from getting on to your PC. When you click on a page that's infected, you will get a pop up from the AV, and it will stop you from proceeding, unless you choose to ignore the notice.

An anti-malware scanner, such as Malwarebytes, doesn't provide the real-time protection. It is simply a scanner. But the 3 AVs listed in that link, all provide real-time protection, live updates, in addition to an anti-malware scanner.

 

[savoxp]

Best answer selected by savoxp.

 

[savoxp]

thanks good to know sucks that they slow the computer so much in realtime i need all the cpu i can get for converting 1080p files editing and post production after effects cs5

 

[aford10]

The good AVs won't cause your system to slow down much.

Thanks for the vote

 

[ehgd]

The good AVs won't cause your system to slow down much.

Thanks for the vote

I have this aswell pc not booting cant get to safe mode vista not installing

 

[nikorr]

Open a new thread on your problem in the Applications Forum, that is the best way to get helped ehgd : )

Applications Forum
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum-49.html