Help with files that will not open

[butterfly]

Hello,
I did a system restore, because I had what might have been a spy-bot, that hijack my deck-top, and it wanted me to buy its anti-virus program, which it gave me no choice but to buy it, because it hy-jacked my deck-top. I did not buy it, but I did a system restore and then after that, the hy-jacking thing was gone, but I now cannot access my pictures, it says access denied, and some of my My Pictures folders just freeze up, when I try to open, however, they are saying "file is empty", don't know if the files are corrupted or what. They are artwork picture files of eight years of work. Ouch!

Any thoughts, anyone? Please and thank you.

 

[greenfield]

Are you referring to Spybot - Search & Destroy it's a freeware program not shareware !!!!


http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html


As with respect to the Pictures folders freezing up some hint here:



My pictures folder freezes

http://www.techsupportforum.com/microsoft-support/windows-xp-support/161751-resolved-my-pictures-folder-freezes.html


My Pictures' folder always freezes?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071230162940AAJ377k

Good luck...

 

[butterfly]

Thanks for responding, This thing was not free, it costs 69.99, and it had a symbol like a green shield , was called personal security, or something like that.

 

[butterfly]

Thanks I'll try it.

 

[btk1w1]

You have a rogue anti-spyware application.

The "Personal Security" tries to prevent its removal, so attempts at different methods are needed.

We'll try to remove it while in Safe Mode.

Reboot your pc and as it is starting up tap the F8 key in about 1 second intervals.

You should be presented with white options against a black screen, Safe mode, Safe mode with networking, Last known good configuration, etc. If you don't get this screen reboot your pc and try again.

Please DO NOT use msconfig to boot into safe mode.

Select "Safe Mode with networking" by using the arrow keys and hit enter. You will see white text roll up against a black screen, this is normal. Once Safe Mode with networking has loaded the screen will look cartoonish and have safe mode in the 4 corners, this is also normal.

Visit the site linked below and download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware / MBAM to your desktop:

http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/malwarebytes/mbam-setup.exe

Once downloaded double click mbam-setup.exe to install. Once the install is complete allow it to update and then run the full scan.

Remove everything MBAM finds.

Reboot your PC and let us know how it is running.

 

[butterfly]

Thanks,

I wish I would have done what you suggest here, before I did that system restore, that I did last week. The "Personal Security" thing seemed to be gone after the system restore, but obviously it must still be doing its evil since my My Pictures files won't open, and now with the "access denied" error code on the files, I have tried several methods to correct that, that I found online and none of them worked.

I will try your list of instructions here and see what happens.

Thanks

 

[butterfly]

You have a rogue anti-spyware application.

The "Personal Security" tries to prevent its removal, so attempts at different methods are needed.

We'll try to remove it while in Safe Mode.

Reboot your pc and as it is starting up tap the F8 key in about 1 second intervals.

You should be presented with white options against a black screen, Safe mode, Safe mode with networking, Last known good configuration, etc. If you don't get this screen reboot your pc and try again.

Please DO NOT use msconfig to boot into safe mode.

Select "Safe Mode with networking" by using the arrow keys and hit enter. You will see white text roll up against a black screen, this is normal. Once Safe Mode with networking has loaded the screen will look cartoonish and have safe mode in the 4 corners, this is also normal.

Visit the site linked below and download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware / MBAM to your desktop:

http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/malwarebytes/mbam-setup.exe

Once downloaded double click mbam-setup.exe to install. Once the install is complete allow it to update and then run the full scan.

Remove everything MBAM finds.

Reboot your PC and let us know how it is running.

Thanks FOR THE Malwarebytes, and it was free! It found a lot of stuff. Anyway, I am still having problems. I have two user accounts in my computer, when logged onto the 'owner account' I see my My Pictures files, but they will not open , "access denied", probably because not in "administrator", but when I log on as "administrator", the file folders are completely gone. !! Sounds like a partition thing? Sorry I am a doedoe with this stuff. Really frustrating. Any ideas?
Please and thank you.
Butterfly

 

[btk1w1]

The problem with removing rogue type malware is it tries to do some damage on its way out or at the very least inconvenience the PC owner.

Update and run MBAM again in normal mode. This is to verify the malware has been completely removed, so it is most ideal to have the scanner turn up zero infections.

The good news is MBAM is able to penetrate the system restore points to remove any infected objects so you may be able to use system restore to regain original user priveleges and permissions settings.

If the scanner turns up zero infected objects found go to system restore and select a date different to the one you used last time. Try to use a date prior to the restore point you originally used to combat the malware.

Hopefully system restore will give you back permission to the folder, if not we will try a different method.

There's nothing wrong with the partition. I believe the malware has removed your user accounts rights to the folder (knowing this will be a huge inconvenience).

The reason you can't see the contents of the folder from an administrator account is the you are trying to view the administrators folder and not the users folder. Logged in as administrator you would need to navigate to the users profile to view the users files. So basically one account has locked the folder, the other account has buried the folder but it's there.


EDIT: Removed passion rants

 

[butterfly]

Thanks again, here's the lastest
I did another scan with MBAM , and there were 25 errors, i removed, and they were adware. Then I tried to do a system restore to the date of a week ago and it would not do it, "Restoration Incomplete, Unsigned driver install" was the message. I do have "HPZius12" wiped out of the computer which is stopping me from getting my printer and speakers to work. Then I Googled "HPZius12" and found out I need to buy "Driver Whiz" to get that back. "Unsigned driver install" relates to the missing "HPZius12" driver I think?

 

[btk1w1]

Don't buy anything, you should be able to restore your PC without forking out cash.

I have never paid for drivers as hardware developers offer them for free.

What kind of printer do you have (I'm assuming it's a hp)?

If you have the CD that came with your printers you can install the drivers again from it.

At the top of the page linked below you can enter your printer model, hit enter, select your operating system and download the drivers again. The driver package should be an .exe file so you will be able to double click to install.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=228&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=ca&lang=en&product=390331

Do you still not have access to your documents folder?

Is malware still being detected with every scan?

Don't worry about system restore now as it appears it may be corrupted.

 

[lotri]

If you can somehow back-up the files you do have access to, and if you won't miss what you can't recover, it might be easier to just reformat your computer.

Be sure to install a good anti-virus and firewall to prevent these things from happening in the future.

 

[RYDER1974]

Thanks for responding, This thing was not free, it costs 69.99, and it had a symbol like a green shield , was called personal security, or something like that.

I ACTUALLY USE THEM, AT THE TIME THAT IS WHO WINDOWS RECOMMENDED ME TO GET, SO I DID, THAE BIGGEST THING ABOUT HAVING DIFFERENT COMPONETS IS THAT THEY DO NOT WORK TOGETHER ALOT OF THE TIMES. THAT ANTI VIRUS PROGAM WILL WORK FINE WITH FIREWALL THAT CAME WITH YOUR COMPUTERSOMETIMES THEIR IS A MINOR ISSUE HERE AND THEIR BUT ITS FAIRLY SIMPLE TO GET AROUND

 

[lotri]

@OP: My friend's computer had that virus before. It locked out access to the Task Manager and kept asking you to install/download/buy their software. I was lazy and just reformatted the whole thing.

If you're looking to get a free anti-virus, use AntiVir or Avast. AVG used to be good, but after 8.0, they kinda went downhill, imo. For free firewalls, zone alarm and comodo have pretty decent ones.

 

[butterfly]

Don't buy anything, you should be able to restore your PC without forking out cash.

I have never paid for drivers as hardware developers offer them for free.

What kind of printer do you have (I'm assuming it's a hp)?

If you have the CD that came with your printers you can install the drivers again from it.

At the top of the page linked below you can enter your printer model, hit enter, select your operating system and download the drivers again. The driver package should be an .exe file so you will be able to double click to install.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=228&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=ca&lang=en&product=390331

Do you still not have access to your documents folder?

Is malware still being detected with every scan?

Don't worry about system restore now as it appears it may be corrupted.

Hey it's me again. The got my HP printer to work, from the download you suggested, then, I downloaded my M-Audio Revolution, speaker driver, from the internet and it said successful download, then minutes after that, after trying to play some music, the computer just shuts down and restarts on its own, it did this 3 times, then I had to email you in safe mode just to stay on. My my, something funky is still in there!

 

[lotri]

Just a last-case scenario, do you have your OS CDs?

 

[butterfly]

Operating System CDs? Yes. I do.

 

[lotri]

Well, like I said earlier, when my friend caught a similar virus, he just opted to reformat the system instead of having to deal with any remnants or aftereffects of the virus. If you find that you can't fix all these new problems, that's always an option.