backing up stuff on hardrive

jamespir

im think of restarting windows as i ve got a virus/trojan i cnat seem to get rid off if i wanted to save a program thats installed can i save the folder (from my programs) to the recover (partition on the hardrive) and be able to use it when i have reinstalled windows

Andy_L

Probably not. If it's a simple program that only consits of a single file (with a "exe" file extension) then you could copy it to a memory stick/CD (assuming that that file is not the souce of the virus) Otherwise you need to reinstall the program after reinstalling windows.

tsimehC

Nope. The only way is to have the original installer, if you just copied and pasted the folder the program won't work properly as it drops entries in the registry. If you have a virus, I'd be careful what I put in the recovery partition as those files you transfer maybe infected as well.

edit: You could make an image of your hard drive using Norton's Ghost software if you have it but I haven't done this myself especially on an infected system.

Sput2001

Have you tried the "Malware/Spyware Removal Guide" thread first?

jamespir

oh right no problems

Browntoa

start with this, I'm sure we can clean it all up

Please download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and save it to your desktop.

• Make sure you are connected to the Internet.
• Double-click on mbam-setup.exe to install the application.
• When the installation begins, follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
• When installation has finished, make sure you leave both of these checked:
  • Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
  • Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
• Then click Finish.
• MBAM will automatically start and you will be asked to update the program before performing a scan. If an update is found, the program will automatically update itself. Press the OK button to close that box and continue. If you encounter any problems while downloading the updates, manually download them from here and just double-click on mbam-rules.exe to install.
• On the Scanner tab:
  • Make sure the "Perform Quick Scan" option is selected.
  • Then click on the Scan button.
• If asked to select the drives to scan, leave all the drives selected and click on the Start Scan button.
• The scan will begin and "Scan in progress" will show at the top. It may take some time to complete so please be patient.
• When the scan is finished, a message box will say "The scan completed successfully. Click 'Show Results' to display all objects found".
• Click OK to close the message box and continue with the removal process.
• Back at the main Scanner screen, click on the Show Results button to see a list of any malware that was found.
• Make sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
• When removal is completed, a log report will open in Notepad.
• The log is automatically saved and can be viewed by clicking the Logs tab in MBAM.
• Copy and paste the contents of that report in your next reply and exit MBAM.

Note: If MBAM encounters a file that is difficult to remove, you may be asked to reboot your computer so it can proceed with the disinfection process. Regardless if prompted to restart the computer or not, please do so immediately. Failure to reboot normally (not into safe mode) will prevent MBAM from removing all the malware. MBAM may make changes to your registry as part of its disinfection routine. If you're using other security programs that detect registry changes, they may alert you after scanning with MBAM. Please permit the program to allow the changes.