Worms.... HDD/computer RIP

[Royall]

in the computer. My laptop got infected yesterday. Need help as soon as possible to get it back up and running. I'm on my back up 'puter in the shop and will check in every so often to see if this message gets any replies!

Thanks

Royall

[rbakker]

Worms, or viruses? How do you know? What are the symptoms?
What sort of operating system, Windows 7?
Do you have an anti-virus pogram installed? Which?

Whatever you do, don't believe any messages on your laptop saying you have to pay!

You may want to change the title of this thread to "Computer virus" to get more expert input.

[melo1112]

windows XP or 7 ...
Start windows in Safe Mode press F5 key many times after bios screen
Brings up a menu , choose Safe Mode alone (no recovery console or networking )
It will ask for administrator password ..If you get to desktop click on Help and Support ,click search & enter System Restore ,Choose System Restore in Safe Mode,follow directions , if system restore has been turned on it will bring up a calendar ,pick the most recent date that the computer worked properly.
If this does not work we will have to use a couple of other programs ...2 that I have had much success with are Combofix & Malwarebytes..let us know if system restore does not work & we will walk you through the next step.

[birdmove]

Kind of related. I recently had someone get into my email account (Yahoo) and copy my email addresses (or some of them), and then send out spam emails to those addresses. They use my full name as a heading to try to get people to open them,but use nothing in the subject line.They don't actually originate from my Yahoo email, because I looked in my sent email and they aren't there. It looks like they are going to send out this spam once a week at the same time. One was for some drug/pharmaceutical company.Since my wife's email address was on my list, she recieves them

I have Windows Security Essentials and Adaware (free version).I have since deleted my Yahoo email list and opened a Gmail account.Someone told me Gmail is much more secure. I would l;ove to pay a visit to the bottomfeeder that did this, but I guess I can only dream about that.

Jon

Jon in Puyallup, Wa.

[pslamont]

I have a MACBook Pro and it's gone nuts for two days. It simply would not boot up. Totally black screen and the battery area got really hot. I left it to sit all day yesterday and it booted up but was really REALLY slow to respond. I closed it to carry t another room, and back to no screen. Totally black. I just picked itup this morning and it came right up. I have no idea what all this means but if it continues I guess I ma making a trip t the Mac shop in Hilo where I will spen a gazillion dollars.... unless someone here has an idea for me.

So, Help if you can.

Pam

[TrevorKane]

@Royall - if your machine is doing anything identifiably weird (like bogus prompts on the screen or whatever) you can usually use Google to search for the weirdness you are seeing and find a page (or three) that tell you how to clean the virus/worm - at least that has worked for me for my last 3 infections...

About the hot MacBook - sorry, that does sound expensive, at least a new battery, maybe worse. My 2006 vintage MBP is mostly useless due to GPU overheating issues that would cost almost $1000 to fix.

[Royall]

OK, this is how things went down and what was on the screen.

I was looking for some auto parts and happen to "click" on something that was on the screen by accident. I don't know what it was as I don't pay attention to adds. Next thing I know the browser(Firefox)closed down and a window that looks like a Micosoft anti-virus program pops up and does a "scan" and says there is a "W32-worm". Symptoms now. I can't start any programs what so ever, and now this morning I can't get the computer to go beyond the opening screen where you would click on your user name.

Computer: Dell Inspiron 6000 (almost 6 years old)
Ram: 2 gigs
HDD: 40 gigs
OS: Windows XP Home
Anti-virus: McAffy(spl?)

If anyone out there knows what to do, please call me at 982 8950. I think I'll be home all day.
If you charge for repairs let me know and I'll get some cash ready. In the mean time I think I'm going to pull the HDD out and plug it into my desktop unit to see if I can start pulling some of the stuff off I haven't backed up for a while. This is the first time I've ever had to face this kind of thing and I'm a bit Pissed off to say the least!!

Royall

[Royall]

Well the HDD is DEAD..... RIP. Now I have to get my old Desktop up to speed to take it's place for a while. The one program I need is an old version of Microsoft Money. If anyone has a copy I could borrow/buy I'd really appreciate it. I know MS Money is no longer supported but I still use it because I know it well and don't feel like having to learn another program.

Thanks,

Royall

[DoryGray]

I just got rid of the "System Tool" virus. It downloaded when I clicked on my Java program update bubble. It takes over your desktop, shuts off your virus detector & starts a false scan program which "finds" numerous virus's on your computer. The only fix is to buy THEIR program. I fooled around trying to fix it, but finally succeeded by doing a system restore. I uninstalled all Java, updated & scanned w/ AVG, Malwarebytes & MS OneCare. Comp. & me all happy now.

[pslamont]

Hubby's computer just did the same thing DG. Ugh.....

I want to be the kind of woman that, when my feet
hit the floor each morning, the devil says

"Oh Crap, She's up!"