well CRAPOLA

[trouttrooper]

Wife was on facebook last night with our HP laptop (running XP) and I hear the "beep" of the virus/spyware warning. She was playing one of those stupid facebook games when it happened. Ran Superantispyware and AVG and it picked up several things. Told them to remove and it seemed to. However, now all programs won't open except IE. Can't do a system restore even in safe mode. It doesn't even recognize the link to system restore as a valid program. I think I'm screwed unless you guys have a miracle cure.

I can still access the picture and document files, so I'm thinking of dumping them onto a thumb drive and just reinstalling XP. Don't have anything extremely valuable on it so not too concerned. Mainly use the laptop to surf the web. I really don't want to go through the hassle of re-installing the service pack's though.

 

[NVW]

Go to this site and download rkill, it ties up the virus while the spyware removes it. Burn it to a CD from a safe computer.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/anti-virus/rkill

 

[WarWagon]

If you can get your data off do so. It is simply quicker to reinstall XP than it is to fix the damage caused anymore. Kelly's Corner has some scripts to fix broken shortcuts. Sounds like a system file was infected and deleted. you can attempt to Repair XP by running a reinstall of the XP CDrom.

Otherwise nukeing it and reinstalling is the only way to be sure you fixed it.

If you are not now, you should run Firefox with flash and some other cr@p turned off. Internet Explorer and the social networking sites is like wearing a slutty outfit walking down the street at night in a bad neighborhood and hoping you don't get raped...

 

[trouttrooper]

thanks guys. I agree, I think some system files got deleted. I normally run firefox, but this bug screwed it up somehow. I'm leaning towards starting over. Poor computer is quite the champ and has had a hard life. Been dropped a few times, the shell is broken in spots because of it. The mouse "pad" on it is actually wearing off. The letter "B" broke. The cord (2nd one) I had to repair cracked wires and now has a splint with gobs of electrical tape. Pushing 6-7 years old

 

[Franko914]

If you're inclined to it, a WinXP boot CD with MBAM and updated signature files...

 

[saratoga]

Tools--->Internet Options--->Connections
Make sure the option to connect via a proxy server is not checked. It's been my experience that some viruses modify your IE settings to connect to their site by changing this, and then even after you remove the virus, the proxy server option remains checked and IE won't work.

 

[trouttrooper]

IE is the only thing that works....oddly enough. I can connect to the internet with that, just not with firefox. Only other thing that works is the "my documents" folder. Can't even open "Windows Explorer"

 

[Koots]

Save what you can and start a clean install.

It's what i would be doing if my computer wasn't storing a lot of information. Currently my computer only has 100GB free of 250GB, but i have nearly 1TB in an external hard drive to keep all my music, movies and games that i'm not playing right now. It's also the only way i can keep ALLDATA on my computer because all the iso images of the DVD's add up to well over 100GB of data LOL

 

[great white]

Run rkill, then go get malwarebytes (MBAM.exe)

If that doesn't fix you up, you've probably deleted registry entries on the last cleanup.

If it won't roll back and you don't want to go through all the steps nessesary to restore the OS, get you data off and do a clean relaod of XP.

 

[trouttrooper]

Well after a few other routes of trying to fix it I gave up. Was able to get the pictures and files onto a thumb drive and now beginning the journey of re-installing XP and all the updates. My first hiccup is can't get the wireless to turn on. Need to update the driver I think, which requires internet of course, which I can't access because the wireless won't turn on. Gawd what a vicious circle

Soooo, since I can't find any of my cables I'm going to have to disconnect the house router and sit in the corner for awhile with the laptop plugged in.

 

[Franko914]

How's it going? Still sitting in the corner (with a case of beer, I hope)?

 

[trouttrooper]

Naw, only had to sit in the corner long enough download the proper driver for the wireless card (which is kinda weird I even had to do that since the wireless is part of the computer but wasn't on the recovery disk). I'm typing this from my "new and improved" 100% functioning laptop. Took a couple days of updates, reboot, updates, reboot, etc. Still screwing around with all the little nuance preference settings that my obsessive compulsive side just can't let go .

 

[Franko914]

<snip>...Still screwing around with all the little nuance preference settings that my obsessive compulsive side just can't let go .

Hahaha! I know what you mean. I scratch/install my spare PC's operating system over and over to "practice" configuring differing preferences and Windows settings until I'm "pleased" before I scratch/install my primary PC or server. That's why I'm still running WinXP across the board but may, finally, install Win7 on the primary PC if and when I'm pleased with what it can/cannot do on the hardware I'm installing it on.

 

[88gmctruck]

Mike, glad to hear you have it up and running.

Working in IT, I can tell you there are tons of crap out there and not every program will work to remove the infection as effectively as others. Personally, I would run these programs in order.

Combofix
Bit Deffeneder boot disk (online scan if you can't get a boot disk)
Malwarebites
Avast

As far as a program to run as a regular antivirus, I'd suggest Microsoft security essentials or avast. IMO AVG doesn't catch enough.

 

[trouttrooper]

Ya, I know about the need for multiple programs sometimes. For some work related stuff I sometimes need to use 3 different programs to accomplish what I'm trying to do.

Combofix is a new one for me. I'll have to remember it.

I had switched my other 2 computers to MSE awhile back. I just hadn't gotten around to taking off AVG on the HP, it may have been my downfall. At any rate, all is well now. Thanks.