Malware/Spyware Removal Guide

joho

Haven't been able to read through this entire thread, so don't know if I am repeating something already said or missing something - apologies if I am. I tried to download Panda today and AVast wouldn't let me, telling me there was a virus and to abort the connection. anyone else experienced this?

Also when you click the link for Panda in the sticky at the beginning of this the instructions are to 'make sure you click the Free Online Virus Scan in the upper right hand corner of the page under Free use Activescan header', but I am thinking things may have changed because you get a page with one big download button in the middle and no choices for Free online scans or anything else. Is this correct?

i_like_shoes

I've read through several of these pages but can i use this for Vista???? I'm having so many probs i'm ready to blow the bloody thing up :-/

AUSSY_2

Browntoa wrote: »

we are talking about already infected Pc's here, not day to day cleaning.

System restore points need to be removed, for example I was removing a SpyAxe infection from a PC I had cleaned before about 8 weeks ago and had set clean restore points when I finished. Going back to the clean restore point did not remove the infection, I needed to delete them and go through the cleaning process to fix the problem.

Update to Windows Service pack 1a is vital as an initial step as it closes a lot of exploits, the last step to Service pack 2 is to ensure that all current exploits are closed and to help prevent future problems

ewido is far more effective at removing spyware + viruses in one hit but to pick up anything that is missed then you run the others , it may be overkill slightly in your view but for the sake of being thorough you can avoid having to repeat the whole thing again later.

Ccleaner deletes all the temp internet files where these things tend to install/lurk so it is prudent to remove all these first.

the 2 online scanners are there to make sure that the infection has gone if you are still having problems and are not part of the cleaning process

My laptop at work had become infected its been a pain ,really slowed down as a bt engineer I use it daily ,thanks for your points of view which I have read and followed ,I have it running up to speed again.

cadmus

my mouse and buttons are just not responding , they are soooooo slow . it takes mer 4 or 5 clicks to open - close a page , open - delete email , typing etc
i have done the steps (1-4)as the opening thread advises and if anything its worse .. even slower.
can someone please help and advise me what i can do as i dont know what the hells wrong .. ie virus , spyware or whatever.
im on windows xp and ie 7 .
any tips or advise would be so appreciated .

wary

I've just installed the free version of a-squared and got rid of the more resource-hungry Windows Defender.

I also have SPYBOT S&D installed. My question is will this give me anything that the a-squared will not? Or should I get rid of it?

espresso

wary wrote: »

I've just installed the free version of a-squared and got rid of the more resource-hungry Windows Defender.

I also have SPYBOT S&D installed. My question is will this give me anything that the a-squared will not? Or should I get rid of it?

A-Squared is a scanner, whereas Spybot S & D actively protects your PC, providing that you regularly get the updates and click on the Immunize button. Keep Spybot but remember to update and Immunise weekly.

malc_b

This site http://www.ubcd4win.com/ is excellent!

The process is tricky since it is not possible to download an iso with windows in it. You need to build your own cd from the windows cd. And if you are on sp3 and only have a sp2 disk it may be a good idea to see this site http://www.nliteos.com/ to create a bootable windows cd with sp3 in it. That will allow you to do a windows repair install to the latest SP.

After you have followed the process on ubcd4win you will have a cd that you can boot from into a clean windows running in a ram disk. So any virus cannot load. This clean windows has tools to then clean the hard disk of malware, viruses, etc..

This recently saved the day for my lad who had a rootkit virus that was redirecting the browser and blocking avg updates, windows updates etc. Any anti-virus method we took was blocked since booting windows put the virus in control before we could do anything. A bootdisk able to see NTFS was a must to avoid a complete re-install overwrite.

superscaper

malc_b wrote: »

This recently saved the day for my lad who had a rootkit virus that was redirecting the browser and blocking avg updates, windows updates etc. Any anti-virus method we took was blocked since booting windows put the virus in control before we could do anything. A bootdisk able to see NTFS was a must to avoid a complete re-install overwrite.

That's what safe mode is for or failing that setting spybot et al to scan at boot. I don't think there's a need to boot an entire OS from disc to run any scanners, at least not in my experience. If there's something so bad it requires that then you're better off reinstalling windows anyway just to be sure of fixing everything.

malc_b

Tried safe mode of course. Tried a spyware scan. THE ONLY THING that fixed the problem was UBCD4WIN because it gave the malware scanners a chance. If the malware was running as in normal/safemode windows it blocked attempts by neutering the programs.

Back in the days of DOS and win95 the standard procedure was to boot from a floppy created by the anti-virus program that would then scan the drives for boot sector viruses etc. That was then the only way to be sure YOU are in control not the virus and it still is the case. This now possible again with ubcd4win.

And BTW we had just done a repair install of windows becuase the hardware had just been updated and we wanted to rebuild the hardware abstraction layer. So the malware survived that even.

And I just love it when people say re-install windows as though it is a 5 minute job. It takes days to get all the programs loaded again. I find leaving an anti-virus a couple of hours to sort it a far better option. When my roof leaks I fix the roof, not knock the house down and build it again.

superscaper

malc_b wrote: »

Tried safe mode of course. Tried a spyware scan. THE ONLY THING that fixed the problem was UBCD4WIN because it gave the malware scanners a chance. If the malware was running as in normal/safemode windows it blocked attempts by neutering the programs.

Back in the days of DOS and win95 the standard procedure was to boot from a floppy created by the anti-virus program that would then scan the drives for boot sector viruses etc. That was then the only way to be sure YOU are in control not the virus and it still is the case. This now possible again with ubcd4win.

And BTW we had just done a repair install of windows becuase the hardware had just been updated and we wanted to rebuild the hardware abstraction layer. So the malware survived that even.

And I just love it when people say re-install windows as though it is a 5 minute job. It takes days to get all the programs loaded again. I find leaving an anti-virus a couple of hours to sort it a far better option. When my roof leaks I fix the roof, not knock the house down and build it again.

You seemed to have missed "or failing that setting spybot et al to scan at boot". And I don't remember posting "reinstalling Windows" as a first option, ever! :rolleyes: