[BonbonRose]

Hi all


I'm having troubles with my computer for quite a while now.. Here's what happened in short...

I couldn't log on to the internet so I was advised to uninstall the firewall (PCTools Firewall). I did got the connection back but there was still a problem with the antivirus, it doesn't work.
I reinstalled the antivirus (Avira AntiVir Personal); cleaned the registry using Registry First Aid; ran a full Malwarebytes scan and delete all detections and here's the report; and scaned using Avira Rescue CD followed by a normal antivirus scan and this the antivirus's report

How the problem shows...
Before deleting the Quarantined threats from the last scan mentioned, it used to be like this..

= In msconfig/ services:
- Avira Antivirus Schedule and Avira Guard were checked but "stopped"

= In msconfig/start up: the antivirus was not even listed. Also I couldn't find it in the customize-list of the task bar notification menu.

= In services.msc:
- When I tried to activate Avira Antivirus Schedule and Avira Guard this popped up: "Error 2:the system cannot find the file specified"

After deleting the Quarantineds

In services.msc, Avira AntiVir Guard is "stopped" and Avira AntiVir Scheduler is "started" startup type is manual. any try to change these settings a pop up window shows "access is denied".

Also I noticed I can't run windows in the safe mode

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Hi, I have bad news i'm afraid.

One or more of the identified infections is a severe Polymorphic File Infector variant.

This allows hackers to remotely control your computer, steal critical system information and Download and Execute files.

I would counsel you to disconnect this PC from the Internet immediately. If you do any banking or other financial transactions on the PC or if it should contain any other sensitive information, please get to a known clean computer and change all passwords where applicable, and it would be wise to contact those same financial institutions to apprise them of your situation.

Unfortunately no attempt could be made to clean this machine, it could never be considered to be truly clean, secure, or trustworthy. We could not say definitively that unknown and unseen malware will have been removed, nor will your system be restored to its pre-infection state. We cannot remedy unknown changes the malware may likely have made in order to allow itself access, nor can we repair the damage it may possibly have caused to vital system files. Additionally, it is quite possible that changes made to the system by the malware may impact negatively on your computer during the removal process. In short, your system may never regain its former stability or its full functionality without a reformat. Therefore, your best and only course of action is a reformat and reinstallation of the Windows Operating System, and that is the course we strongly recommend.

Please read these for more information:

Virut and other Other File Infectors

How Do I Handle Possible Identify Theft, Internet Fraud and CC Fraud?

When Should I Format, How Should I Reinstall

Next:

I suggest you to start backup all of your valuable data/documents/pictures/movies/songs/etc..
Do not backup any applications/installers and Do not backup any .exe/.scr/.htm/.html/.xml/.zip/.rar/ doc/ jpg/ pdf files...
This is because these files may be infected as well. If you back them up and replace them afterwards, it will infect your computer again.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

[Dakeyras]

Hi, I have bad news i'm afraid.

One or more of the identified infections is a severe Polymorphic File Infector variant.

This allows hackers to remotely control your computer, steal critical system information and Download and Execute files.

I would counsel you to disconnect this PC from the Internet immediately. If you do any banking or other financial transactions on the PC or if it should contain any other sensitive information, please get to a known clean computer and change all passwords where applicable, and it would be wise to contact those same financial institutions to apprise them of your situation.

Unfortunately no attempt could be made to clean this machine, it could never be considered to be truly clean, secure, or trustworthy. We could not say definitively that unknown and unseen malware will have been removed, nor will your system be restored to its pre-infection state. We cannot remedy unknown changes the malware may likely have made in order to allow itself access, nor can we repair the damage it may possibly have caused to vital system files. Additionally, it is quite possible that changes made to the system by the malware may impact negatively on your computer during the removal process. In short, your system may never regain its former stability or its full functionality without a reformat. Therefore, your best and only course of action is a reformat and reinstallation of the Windows Operating System, and that is the course we strongly recommend.

Please read these for more information:

Virut and other Other File Infectors

How Do I Handle Possible Identify Theft, Internet Fraud and CC Fraud?

When Should I Format, How Should I Reinstall

Next:

I suggest you to start backup all of your valuable data/documents/pictures/movies/songs/etc..
Do not backup any applications/installers and Do not backup any .exe/.scr/.htm/.html/.xml/.zip/.rar/ doc/ jpg/ pdf files...
This is because these files may be infected as well. If you back them up and replace them afterwards, it will infect your computer again.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

[BonbonRose]

Hi, First of all, I want to thank you for your straight honest answer and I appreciate it so.

I understand the importance of reinstalling Windows and I fully intend on doing so. But considering the infection status and the way I use the computer, which is mostly for fun with no kind of any critical use. Do I have the luxury to postpone it?And do you mean reformatting the whole drives or just the "c" drive?
I already started changing my passwords and almost finished

On backing up my data - just to mention few - how can I backup pictures or documents if I can't backup jpg, doc or pdf?


Finally, thanks for the links.. They are very useful

Edited by BonbonRose, 03 April 2011 - 01:06 PM.

[Dakeyras]

Hi.

First of all, I want to thank you for your straight honest answer and I appreciate it so.

You're welcome!

I understand the importance of reinstalling Windows and I fully intend on doing so. But considering the infection status and the way I use the computer, which is mostly for fun with no kind of any critical use. Do I have the luxury to postpone it?And do you mean reformatting the whole drives or just the "c" drive?
I already started changing my passwords and almost finished

It would be prudent to follow my advise soon as actually as otherwise this type of infection your machine has will spread exponentially and eventually your machine may cease to either boot-up correctly and or function at all. Plus the very distinct possibility it may become what as know as a zombie machine and used by nefarious types every time you go online to in turn infect others. The risk postponing of my advise is jut not worth it in the long run...Also if you have any extra internal drives and or external ones it would be prudent to format them also.

On backing up my data - just to mention few - how can I backup pictures or documents if I can't backup jpg, doc or pdf?

Unfortunately you can only backup anything that does not use the file extensions I mentioned I'm afraid...This is what makes this type of infection so malicious in nature.

[BonbonRose]

Also if you have any extra internal drives and or external ones it would be prudent to format them also.

Sorry, but my English is standing in the way. Do you mean wipe the whole drives clean; not just the drive where Windows is installed - "c"? Or is it partition? now I'm confused
I already reformatted my usb which was the no.1 cause of all of that.

[Dakeyras]

Hi.

What you need to do is is perform a reformat and reinstallation of the Windows Operating System...So that will be on the C Drive of your machine...

If you machine has any extra installed (internal) Hard-Drives apart form the one the Operating System is installed on, then that(they) will require to be formated also...The same would apply if any external Hard-Drives have been recently connected to your machine also.

[Dakeyras]

Since this issue appears to be resolved ... this Topic has been closed. Glad we could help.

If you're the topic starter, and need this topic reopened, please contact a staff member with the address of the thread.

Everyone else please begin a New Topic.

[BonbonRose]

Hi again It's been quite a while since last time.
I still have some issues delaying the reformat. They might seem lame but this is my first time doing this.

Since I'm not to backup .htm and.html, is using 'saving and synchronizing services' for bookmarks online still considered a backdoor for infection? If not *crossing fingers* is Xmarks Sync good for that - it's what I've recently installed. Initially, I don't know if I would find my bookmarks after reformatting or it's just synchronizing service. I tried to ask on their forum but no one answered. Also, I have bookmarks on both Firefix and Internet Explorer. Is there a site or something that saves my bookmarks from both browsers. (I found this site "SiteJot" where I save my favorite pages directly at it but it's an exhausting process to go through my entire bookmarks and re-favorite them.)

Concerning the rest of the extensions; First, well, most of them I don't know.. So, I don't know what would be the consequences of using a backup-ed program..etc without these files.
Second, is that all? because I use .psd and .veg and not all computer users use them, so I just wanted to make sure.

On this thread it's said to backup the e-mail. What do I need to backup it for, isn't it on the internet, not on my computer?

[BonbonRose]

Hi again It's been quite a while since last time.
I still have some issues delaying the reformat. They might seem lame but this is my first time doing this.

Since I'm not to backup .htm and.html, is using 'saving and synchronizing services' for bookmarks online still considered a backdoor for infection? If not *crossing fingers* is Xmarks Sync good for that - it's what I've recently installed. Initially, I don't know if I would find my bookmarks after reformatting or it's just synchronizing service. I tried to ask on their forum but no one answered. Also, I have bookmarks on both Firefix and Internet Explorer. Is there a site or something that saves my bookmarks from both browsers. (I found this site "SiteJot" where I save my favorite pages directly at it but it's an exhausting process to go through my entire bookmarks and re-favorite them.)

Concerning the rest of the extensions; First, well, most of them I don't know.. So, I don't know what would be the consequences of using a backup-ed program..etc without these files.
Second, is that all? because I use .psd and .veg and not all computer users use them, so I just wanted to make sure.

On this thread it's said to backup the e-mail. What do I need to backup it for, isn't it on the internet, not on my computer?

I don't know how my post turned out to be two..

Edited by BonbonRose, 28 April 2011 - 06:07 PM.

[azarl]

Hi

Dakeyras sends his apologies, he's away for a while so I'm helping him out.

Since I'm not to backup .htm and.html, is using 'saving and synchronizing services' for bookmarks online still considered a backdoor for infection? If not *crossing fingers* is Xmarks Sync good for that - it's what I've recently installed. Initially, I don't know if I would find my bookmarks after reformatting or it's just synchronizing service. I tried to ask on their forum but no one answered. Also, I have bookmarks on both Firefix and Internet Explorer. Is there a site or something that saves my bookmarks from both browsers. (I found this site "SiteJot" where I save my favorite pages directly at it but it's an exhausting process to go through my entire bookmarks and re-favorite them.)

Unfortunately bookmarks are usually held in a HTML file, so I wouldn't back it up. It's a bit time consuming, but navigate to each saved page and copy and paste the URL into an ordinary text document

Concerning the rest of the extensions; First, well, most of them I don't know.. So, I don't know what would be the consequences of using a backup-ed program..etc without these files.
Second, is that all? because I use .psd and .veg and not all computer users use them, so I just wanted to make sure.

.psd should be OK, and I've not seen any issues with Vegas files. You'll need to reinstall all your applications again, once you've done that, it should all work OK.

On this thread it's said to backup the e-mail. What do I need to backup it for, isn't it on the internet, not on my computer?

There's two types (basically) of email account. For the first, you use an online email service such as MSN, Hotmail or gmail. The second, you use an email client such as Outlook or Thunderbird. If you use the first type, then you don't need to back up your email, you'll just need your user name and password to log in.

[BonbonRose]

Indeed it's time consuming but as long as it's a safe way, I'm fine.

What if I have a broken CD, which I have ? it's a CD that came with a language book. Fortunately, I installed it before it was broken. But now I don't know what to do with it, I noticed it has .xml files. What to do in this case and in general? Are all these type of files crucial to have?

Thank you for explaining that; It always feels good to know something new


And finally thanks for stepping in on Dakeyras behalf

[azarl]

What if I have a broken CD, which I have ? it's a CD that came with a language book. Fortunately, I installed it before it was broken. But now I don't know what to do with it, I noticed it has .xml files. What to do in this case and in general? Are all these type of files crucial to have?

Unfortunately, not a lot you can do idf it's broken, other than getting a new copy.. Those .xml files are data or text files, similar to this web page.

Thank you for explaining that; It always feels good to know something new

And finally thanks for stepping in on Dakeyras behalf

You're welcome

[BonbonRose]

Can't I put my jpg files in a CD; and when I need them, I log off my internet connection - as a restraining measure? Or maybe upload them to image hosting sites like photobucket or imageshack?

I bet you can sense my desperation. JPGs are the most valuable thing I'm going to lose: my family photos, my work.. I managed to back up them long ago but the new additions... doomed

[azarl]

Unfortunately file infectors can infect compressed files (such as jpgs), so there is a possibility that they could already be infected. If you like I can have go at cleaning off the infection you have. If we're successful you could then copy the pictures to a DVD. It's a complex process and no guarantee of success.

[BonbonRose]

WOW! That's great.. Oh please, I'd really be grateful.

I'm ready for any thing but I hope this works. Does this applies to all kind of files or just JPGs?