Just another COMPUTER gripe thread.

**Bigb23** · May-07-09, 12:13 PM

Thanks, Stosh, for the info.
This all seemed to start when I downloaded the ringtone from the Crank movie online. Or, it might have been embedded for awhile, who knows ? Well, everybody has to start with a clean slate now, computer or not. : [[

Stosh · May-07-09, 12:19 PM

Check your private message.BB

**Bigb23** · May-07-09, 12:49 PM

Stosh, I tried that superantispyware site, and it would not link. I don't like to screw around with the registry if I can help it. In this case, two heads are better than one. Since I've been on this forum today, I've been redirected to ten different sites so far. That mouse hook is insidious ! : [[

Stosh · May-07-09, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by Bigb23

Stosh, I tried that superantispyware site, and it would not link. I don't like to screw around with the registry if I can help it. In this case, two heads are better than one. Since I've been on this forum today, I've been redirected to ten different sites so far. That mouse hook is insidious ! : [[

You HAVE to screw with the registry in order to remove it completely. And it's not that hard to do if you know where to look. The post I linked to here lists all the files associated with it. Also all of the registry changes.

**Bigb23** · May-07-09, 01:11 PM

What I can't believe is that this seemed to disable my AVG free downloads a month ago, but my CCleaner still works. I deleted some suspicious stuff on that. I started on Navy computers back in 1974, and I'm still trying to catch up to the fifth graders on programming. Drag !!!!!

**jiminnm** · May-07-09, 01:28 PM

These are a couple of good forums for malware problems. Maybe you can match yours to one that was solved.

http://www.theeldergeek.com/forum/in...p?showforum=22

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/

This is excellent also, if you can get there.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

Stosh · May-07-09, 01:32 PM

BigB do you still have the Spybot on your computer? That takes out the trojan that you have now. Maybe somewhere in your donwload section you still have it there?

**jcole** · May-07-09, 02:10 PM

Depending on what he's got, it may not allow him to get to a lot of the malware sites out there. Some of these bugs also disallow you to run the installers on things like Spybot and if you can run it, you can't connect to get the latest definitions.
Also, remember that he's using dial up, so trying to download a lot of this stuff is next to impossible for him.

Stosh · May-07-09, 02:15 PM

He had that program [[spybot) on his computer once. If he downloaded and saved it it might be still there on his computer as an executable or a zip file. Better to attempt to clean with what he currently has, I suppose.

And what he has is above in the post I made with the examples from Mcafee. FakeAlert-CK leads right to that website he listed. Shame that they can do that to people.

Edit: Another thing that I just thought of. I'd try doing a scan with your regular AVG in safe mode. It might work.

**jcole** · May-07-09, 03:26 PM

It is a rotten shame that people do that to each other, I agree. I just wonder if he has more than just the one trojan. If he does, some of them will stop the installer for Spybot, Ad-aware and Malwarebytes from running, so even if he has the zip or exe for any of those, he may not be able to get it to install. All he can do is try, though.
I ran into a real stinker of a trojan not long ago on my son in laws machine and I tried everything I could think of, including Hiren's Boot CD and Acronis, and I could not clean it up. I spent 3 days on it, and ended up reformatting.

**Sstashmoo** · May-07-09, 03:54 PM

Quote: "It is a rotten shame that people do that to each other,"

I often wonder how many of these malwares are actually put out by the people that write the software to get rid of them. It seems like just one of them always has the perfect remedy for one pesky trojan for $29.95. Think about it, most of these are more of an annoyance than sinister in nature. In reality if it was written properly it could go through folders and look for all sorts of things and send them to the host. I don't know any one that has actually happened to. Just pop-ups and redirects. Why would someone go to all the trouble to write an app that gives false warnings and redirects you to a page that no one in their right mind would patronize? Fortunately, the governments are finally going after the folks writing that junk anyway.

New Scam alert : If you have a website and get an email from the "Chinese web registrar" that a US company is trying to register your domain name over there, it's BS. The email is personalized and looks very legit. The first thing that crossed my mind was: "someone in China is concerned about intellectual property?" They are stealing everything from us.

**Bigb23** · May-07-09, 05:09 PM

I just heard on the news that 51,000 people who claimed their unemployment weeks on Monday will get their direct deposit days late, because of a computer glitch. Wow, they wait until Thursday night to tell you. I can't access my online Credit Union statements to check, because of this fucking virus. ARGGGG - that means bounced checks on top of everything else. Thanks Michigan.

I had several malware programs running a few years ago, but they started conflicting with my AVG. And the remnants of Symentec screwed things up too, after trying to remove that crap.

This all stinks to high heaven when it comes to paid corporate anti-virus software. I can't use my DVD R/RW at all for any backup because of Microsoft error messeges. Some of it could be due to the neighbor who lives across the street from me and screwed this computer up somewhat, with his fixit bravado. I hope a reformat will give me an out of the box OS again, and I'll print what I can, from my Outlook address book. Will a reformat do the D: partition too ?

I'll see what I can do over a few days to correct the virus, but it sure does'nt look good now.

**jcole** · May-07-09, 05:23 PM

No, you have to reformat the D: partition separately. Your best bet may be to do that before the reinstall so that if there is any malware on D, it doesn't spread to a freshly reinstalled C:

**Bigb23** · May-07-09, 05:33 PM

Jcole - I hope all that info is in my 2nd edition XP bible. I've never reformatted before ! I'm printing and taking notes as I read this. Thanks.

What other safe OS's can I use after a reformat ?

**jcole** · May-07-09, 05:46 PM

Do you have a copy of Windows or Linux on disk? don't reformat or do anything unless you have some kind of OS on hand. If you format and don't have an OS, all you'll have is a blank hard drive.

**Bigb23** · May-07-09, 06:06 PM

Jcole - I have the e-machine system recovery CD/DVD that came with the computer when I bought it from Best Buy. But with the error messeges I get when trying to save stuff on my DVD/RW - well this is getting pretty scary ! Do I need any product keys to look for before I try any of this ? I found the Microsoft Office trial key and I'm wondering.

I also tried several system restores with no luck.

Well, I'll check up on here around 10 Pm. It's NBC Thursday !

**jcole** · May-07-09, 06:25 PM

You should be able to use your restore disk. I'm not sure how emachines works, but you should either have a sticker on the outside of your PC with a key on it, or there should be one on the disk itself. The Office trial key is not going to do you any good when it comes to installing Windows. The errors that you are getting with your CD drive shouldn't figure into things when it comes to a new install since you will be 'outside' of Windows, using a driver that's on the disk. That is, providing your CD drive is mechanically sound.
With a virus/malware a system restore is more than likely futile, because it's probably infected with the same malware the rest of your system has

Stosh · May-07-09, 06:30 PM

I'm gonna try and send that to you, but I don't know if it will work. Look for the e-mail.

**jcole** · May-07-09, 06:57 PM

Originally Posted by Stosh

I'm gonna try and send that to you, but I don't know if it will work. Look for the e-mail.

Do you mean the key that he needs?

Stosh · May-07-09, 07:29 PM

Originally Posted by jcole

Do you mean the key that he needs?

No, a malware program that may or may not work in his case. He could just as easily blow off the system, but if he don't have install keys for his programs then all is probably lost, time to rebuild. Like Gannon does, I currently use Open Office for all my needs in an Office Suite.

ccbatson · May-07-09, 07:32 PM

OMG...is this what people using PCs deal with on a regular basis? In this context, Macs are way underpriced.

**jcole** · May-07-09, 08:09 PM

Originally Posted by Stosh

No, a malware program that may or may not work in his case. He could just as easily blow off the system, but if he don't have install keys for his programs then all is probably lost, time to rebuild. Like Gannon does, I currently use Open Office for all my needs in an Office Suite.

Yes, Open Office is pretty impressive. I told him not to do the reformat without a Op Sys and a key. I just didn't know what your were emailing.

**jcole** · May-07-09, 08:13 PM

You know, CC, we're trying to help the guy fix a problem. If you have some valuble input, we'll be glad to consider it, but if all you're going to do is kvetch, could you save it til later, please?

Stosh · May-07-09, 08:34 PM

Originally Posted by jcole

Yes, Open Office is pretty impressive. I told him not to do the reformat without a Op Sys and a key. I just didn't know what your were emailing.

I've actually worked on an e-machine that was riddled with viruses, and managed to cleanse it using various tools. Not using dial up unfortunately to download, though. Would have to be an imported CD. I think that if he shut down the system restore function and then attempted a cleanup through the safe mode using even his AVG software, it might pick it up. I think that there is also a repair functionality with the disk as well, so he can restore the OS to what it once was.

I happened to read somewhere today that the AVG had a flaw somewhere in the code that shut down the update feature. Wonder if that is the case with his.

**jcole** · May-07-09, 08:44 PM

It's worth a try if he can get into safe mode. The trojan that my SIL had eventually infected safe mode also. The saving grace, oddly enough, with him using dial-up is that it should be harder for the trojan to reach out and download its payload from any related websites. That was one of the things that my SIL experienced with his malware. Before he knew what was going on, the trojan had sent up code to the internet and brought in reinforcements.