Technology Getting rid of a virus

[FruitFly]

I have some virus on my computer that takes me to some fake antivirus site to buy it.. Is there a way to wipe my system clean of that? I don't care if I lose all my files, I'd like to start over...

Thanks in advance.

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[TMP-SMX]

I have some virus on my computer that takes me to some fake antivirus site to buy it.. Is there a way to wipe my system clean of that? I don't care if I lose all my files, I'd like to start over...

Thanks in advance.

It's kind of a pain to wipe your system and reinstall all of your programs especially if you don't have a backup of all of your documents. You can easily erase your drive if you have the original installation CDs. I also believe Windows has some system restore thing that keeps your documents and reinstalls the system. I'm not sure where your virus/spyware is being stored though. Either way, have you tried running a decent antivirus/antispyware?

 

[187502]

I have some virus on my computer that takes me to some fake antivirus site to buy it.. Is there a way to wipe my system clean of that? I don't care if I lose all my files, I'd like to start over...

Thanks in advance.

Do you have an XP CD?

If so, put that in your CD drive, make sure your boot sequence starts with your CD drive before your HD. Reboot your computer.

A black screen with text in the upper left hand corner should appear following your typical boot screen asking you to hit a key to boot from CD. When you see this hit "enter".

Wait until the setup program loads and hit the "R" key.

It should dump you to a text/black screen, don't hit anything until the timer runs down.

It will then ask you to select a Windows installation.

Type "1" and then hit enter (assuming you only have one copy of Windows installed).

This should dump you at a classic C prompt.

Type "diskpart" (no quotation marks) and hit enter. (It might then ask you about "Large Disk Support" depending on the version you are using, if it asks you this type "Y" and hit enter.)

You will want to delete the partition that is the largest one (unless you have made another partition to separate your OS from your file storage).

Follow the directions (they should all be on-screen).

Once the partition has been deleted you will want to create a new partition in that now empty space.

Once again, follow the on-screen direction.

Once it is created exit diskpart.

This should dump you back at the C prompt. Type "exit" and hit enter.

The system will reboot. Make sure you have your XP or Vista CD in the drive and you will be all ready to start a new Windows installation.

 

[broken tibula]

Antivirus protection?

Try AVG. It's free, and it's the best out there. Wiping out your system should really be your last resort.

 

[JuniperB]

The fake antivirus things can be a real pain.

I agree about AVG. Also install Ad-Aware (also free). CCleaner can be pretty useful for keeping to muck off a machine.

These should keep your "clean" machine safe.

Once you have been infected, best cleaning is to wipe and re-intall, the previous post is a good walk through. One note- your "registration key" will be the one attached to your machine.

Make sue to install the Virus/Adware software prior to reconnecting to the internet.

Plus you will probably have to reinstall some of your drivers.

in XP: Click Start - control panel - system - Hardware tab - device manager

If you have yellow question marks, note what devices you are missing drivers for.

on a clean/safe machine go to your computer manufacturer's website, download the missing drivers - you may have to guess, the names can be confusing. If not sure get them all (should be free).

A flash drive can be quite helpful for transfering.

Install the Network card driver 1st.

To intall a driver, double click on it, you shold be able to launch them off of the flashdrive, now inserted in your wiped machine - to be sure, copy them onto your desktop, then launch them.

Install them all until your yellow question marks go away, restart as needed.

****MAKE SURE TO USE VIRUS SOFTWARE****

If you have to save your files: There are some decent step-by-step instructions on forums for removing via the registry and safemode. Adaware scan should be able to detect which infection your machine has.

Good luck. If you need more help PM me.

Cheers,

JB

 

[broken tibula]

I agree about AVG. Also install Ad-Aware (also free). CCleaner can be pretty useful for keeping to muck off a machine.

Oh, yeah--lol. I forgot about Ad-Aware and CCleaner. I haven't used them in so long...

Good call, JuniperB.

 

[Slevin]

Get a mac... then no more viruses. Problem solved

 

[broken tibula]

Then why do they sell antivirus software for Macs?

Get Linux! It's free--and there are really no viruses.

 

[Slevin]

Then why do they sell antivirus software for Macs?

Get Linux! It's free--and there are really no viruses.

So that Mac's don't pass viruses on to windows via tainted emails. 7+ years with no firewall and no antiviral apps.

Show me a viral outbreak that occurred in the wild and isn't a proof of concept and I'll tip my hat to you

 

[broken tibula]

http://antivirus.about.com/od/macintoshresource/p/oompa.htm

Although the idea of it makes me giggle...

List

I should add, though, that it's nothing compared to the list of viruses for Windows. The money that people are forced to spend on antivirus, spyware, and anti-phishing products is obscene. By switching to Mac, you're shutting out 99% of those viruses.

But by switching to Linus, you're shutting out 100% of those viruses. Just sayin'.

 

[187502]

So that Mac's don't pass viruses on to windows via tainted emails. 7+ years with no firewall and no antiviral apps.

Show me a viral outbreak that occurred in the wild and isn't a proof of concept and I'll tip my hat to you

Psst... You're arguing with a HS student, in case you didn't realize it.

 

[broken tibula]

Psst... You're arguing with a HS student, in case you didn't realize it.

Nothing wrong with debating a HS student. We're not all complete idiots.

 

[Slevin]

Nothing wrong with debating a HS student. We're not all complete idiots.

When you finally get to med school you'll realize you have to do more research than that.

The Leap worm is delivered over the iChat instant messaging program as a gzip-compressed tar file called latestpics.tgz. For the worm to take effect, the user must manually invoke it by opening the tar file and then running the disguised executable within.
The executable is disguised with the standard icon of an image file, and claims to show a preview of Apple's next OS. Once it is run, the virus will attempt to infect the system.
For non-"admin" users, it will prompt for the computer's administrator password in order to gain the privilege to edit the system configuration. It doesn't infect applications on disk, but rather when they are loaded, by using a system facility called "apphook". Admin users, on the other hand, will not see a password prompt. By default, the first user account on a new Macintosh is an admin account (with the ability to install software), while additional accounts are not.
Leap only infects Cocoa applications, and it does not infect applications owned by the system (including the apps that come pre-installed on a new machine), but only apps owned by the user who is currently logged in. Typically, that means apps that the current user has installed by drag-and-drop, rather than by Apple's installer system. When an infected app is launched, Leap tries to infect the four most recently used applications. If those four don't meet the above criteria, then no further infection takes place at that time....It does not spread using the main iChat buddy list, nor over Jabber. (By default, iChat does not use Bonjour and thus cannot transmit this virus.)

Taken fromWikipedia

Gotta do more research, not really a virus more of a stupidity action on the part of the user. People should know not to click on links or open files that are of dubious origin and be sure that any application asking for your admin password is trustworthy.

And BTW this "virus" is a proof of concept, show me where an outbreak occurred? And the second list is for Mac OS's that are 10 years in the grave maybe 50K computers using them and probably not even connected to the internet.


HS students are fun because they think they know everything but only can see the iceberg.... not even touching it yet.

 

[broken tibula]

When you finally get to med school you'll realize you have to do more research than that.

Taken fromWikipedia

Gotta do more research, not really a virus more of a stupidity action on the part of the user. People should know not to click on links or open files that are of dubious origin and be sure that any application asking for your admin password is trustworthy.

And BTW this "virus" is a proof of concept, show me where an outbreak occurred? And the second list is for Mac OS's that are 10 years in the grave maybe 50K computers using them and probably not even connected to the internet.


HS students are fun because they think they know everything but only can see the iceberg.... not even touching it yet.

Tell you what... I'm not going to win this one, because I know next to nothing about Macs. I'm much better with the Linux-Windows battle. So I'm going to bow out gracefully, and just say that yes, Macs are extremely sturdy and unless they become they the dominant OS on the market, viruses are pretty unlikely.

*bows out gracefully*

 

[JuniperB]

I'm late to the discussion.

Microsoft has a larger market share and obtains more threat.

If Mac had more market share there would be more threat.

Linux avoids it due to being open sorce and having small market share.

I am sure there are hackers entertaining themselves with cracking mac code and wrecking havoc.

Cheers,

JB

 

[EyEnStein 07]

I recently helped someone with this problem i have never had this on my pc, though im a primary mac user. Also though it may be true that mac and linux are less susceptible to virus' keep in mind, they CAN acquire virus'. The reason they are less susceptible is not because there immune, its because i dont think anyone would waste there time making a virus for users that amount to less than 10% of the population.

If its not too late and someone hasnt already posted this:

Try this website, it attacks your problem.

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6132_102-0.html?forumID=32&threadID=315114&messageID=2900331

The first "answer" to the question posts a link, follow through with it.

Good Luck

 

[broken tibula]

Thanks for the link, but Linux has anti-virus software available. I dunno if Macs have any free anti-virus software, though.

 

[JuniperB]

Once you have this spyware on your system it is extremely hard to get rid of even using a virus/spyware scanner.

The Hi-jacking style of spyware infests on many levels and reproduces itself.

I have managed to get it off, but it required going in and out of safemode, as well as deep cleaning in the registry (be really careful here!!!)

The person who's computer it was on couldnt reinstall and they actually paid for one of the "virus protection softwares" the hijacker redirected the browser to. The "virus protection software" was installed and tied up the system so tightly I could just barely turn on the computer and every restart took 20 minutes to boot. The virus disabled the task manager and run... I had to run a bunch of scripts via notepad to access 1st the task manager then the run function, then deleted .exe files in the CMD line. It took a long time but was very satisfying once it was clean.

Good luck with the debug!

Cheers,
JB

 

[TMP-SMX]

Thanks for the link, but Linux has anti-virus software available. I dunno if Macs have any free anti-virus software, though.

ClamXav is a free antivirus for Mac OS X.