Malware, gr, argh!

[Circe]

Okay, y'all - any idea how to get malware off my machine? Yesterday night, I opened (ironically enough) a jewelry website, and my browser promptly crashed and my screen started flashing a warning from the lower right toolbar. It keeps telling me that I'm infected with w32/Blaster.worm, and that I should run malware protection immediately.

Handily, a little icon titled "Malware Protection" has popped up in the newest icon slot on my machine. It's shaped like a trustworthy looking 4 colored shield, and when I click on it, it tells me 58 threats have been detected! And I should activate full protection now!

None of the files it lists are files on my C drive. It sort of scares me that spam is being written with the default assumption most people will presumably panic and download whatever the hell pops up on their machine and offers to make it all go away. I assume if I click anything positive, it WILL download further malware, and open the door to much badness. So, uh ... what are my alternatives?

So far, I have tried:

- closing the window; no luck, it pops up like the machine has the hiccups.

- rebooting, both as a restart, and as a hard reboot: it turns back on, but it won't let my computer do ANYTHING else, not starting the programs that usually get running at startup (chat programs, SpyBot, etc.)

- running Avast, which it will allow ... but Avast says everything is fine (liar!)

- running SpyBot, but it won't LET SpyBot open.

ARGH. I am a LUDDITE, I am not MEANT to deal with this sort of thing. Pout.

Any of y'all who are more 'net-savvy than I am (read: any three-year olds who read PS) got any suggestions?

 

[monarch64]

You have to shut down your computer and re-start it in "safe" mode. Then you can go in and run whatever programs to get rid of the pesky malware.

 

[Circe]

Okay, awesome, I will do that. Only question is ... how?

 

[arjunajane]

Hi Circe -
I had the same problem a couple years back, I know how painful it is.

I had found Walwarebytes very effective - the trick is downloading it, as I know what you mean - the walware stops you from doing much of anything.

As monarch said, you then need to turn off your computer, and restart in safe mode (I'm assuming you're using windows - just before the usual windows welcome screen pops up after you've booted up your computer, and the screen is just black with white script running over it, you need to hit a command to begin safe mode, then run walwarebytes).

I'm sorry I can't be more specific, I've been on mac for about a year now and can't recall exactly how to do it.
If you still need help, I had a thread at the time asking for anyone's help, and strmrdr walked me through it...I'm just heading out but can try and find it for you later.

eta: here Circe, I hope Strm's advice can help you too. My best advice is change to Mac, I don't know any Mac users who get virus issues, and we've been blissfully virus-free since the change..

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/more-computer-problems-help-strm-are-you-out-there.113458/?hilit=help']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/more-computer-problems-help-strm-are-you-out-there.113458/?hilit=help[/URL]
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/computer-problems-help.106134/?hilit=help']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/computer-problems-help.106134/?hilit=help[/URL]
http://www.malwarebytes.org/

 

[jstarfireb]

Malwarebytes and HitMan Pro are 2 free programs that are really great at clearing out malware. They get the ones the regular antivirus programs leave behind. Also, I think you're supposed to disable System Restore while you're running these, because some viruses escape removal by hiding out in your restore points (or something like that!).

 

[pixies]

I haven't had a virus in many moons but from time to time I have hard drive issues that lead to needing a system restore.

I used Puppy Linux (Linux Live CD)this last time. It's a small OS (operating system) that runs off a cd (or thumb drive). Not installs from, runs off of! I wish I would have discovered this years ago, it could have saved me much heart ache. I was able to go in and save everything to my external hard drive before wiping my system.

Since your OS is not cooperating, maybe you can give Puppy Linux a shot. You just download it and burn the image (ISO file) onto a disk. Restart your computer, change the boot order to cd-rom first, and it will run the alternative operating system. You can run this OS any time you want and on multiple computers. Since you will have access to your heard drive, you may have better luck finding the infected file or dealing with the problem. Even if you use another fix for this problem, I think this is a good thing to remember for any future computer issues.

I've also been using this OS on an older, slow laptop that I had retired. It's quite zippy now!

Let me know if you need more specifics. The website has an excellent walk through.

EDIT: a link might help
http://puppylinux.org/main/Overview and Getting Started.htm

 

[monarch64]

Okay, awesome, I will do that. Only question is ... how?

Shut down, restart, and hit F8 and hold it down (if you have a Windows OS). I sent you a msg on another site...
I went through this same thing like 1.5 years ago, Strm was a big help, I think I even had a thread about it here but that was before the changeover to PS 2.0. Anyway, hope you've got things worked out. If not, msg me. We'll figure it out!

 

[Circe]

Thanks so much, guys! I did the safe restart, and even though I couldn't OPEN the computer (apparently, in safe restart mode, only an admin can - work computer), it killed the virus.

Looked it up once I had internet access again: it was this; http://deletemalware.blogspot.com/2011/05/how-to-remove-malware-protection.html. So, if you ever spot something like that - beware!