Question

Program Posing as Virus check took over my computer

Asked by: ralphwalkerdj

I have an IBM laptop with Windows XP Pro

I was hit by a virus (or whatever) that poses as a virus cleaner.  It says I have all these trojans, worms, etc, then blanks out my desktop.  It pretty much takes over the computer.  Then it asks me to buy it.  

I know it's a scam, but how do I remove it?  I pulled the HD and put it on a usb external.  I've run several virus checks and have only found some tracking cookies from Ad-Aware.  But I don't think these are causing it.

Does the HD have to be the bootable drive for these programs to find the culprit?  I'm running AVG, Threatfire, Malwarebytes, SuperAntiSpyware.


I plan on moving all important files to another HD then just sweeping the corrupted drive.  However, it's just curious that nothing has shown up.

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Asked On
2009-10-23 at 08:53:25ID24838330
Topic

Anti-Virus

Participating Experts
4
Points
500
Comments
8

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Answers

 

by: iWinSolveBustPosted on 2009-10-23 at 08:55:36ID: 25645649

What's the name of this "virus cleaner"? You can try Googling that name..maybe there is an article on how to remove it.

 

by: NelsonTorresPosted on 2009-10-23 at 09:12:19ID: 25645812

 

by: NelsonTorresPosted on 2009-10-23 at 09:13:27ID: 25645823

and yes these will scan an external drive but only find the hard drive artifacts.  For it to find proce3sses you need to install the drive again and boot it

 

by: ralphwalkerdjPosted on 2009-10-23 at 10:01:35ID: 25646300

That's the problem, though.  The virus is so virulent that I can't install any anti-virus programs on it.

 

by: ralphwalkerdjPosted on 2009-10-23 at 10:11:17ID: 25646374

Is it possible to "externally install" an anti-virus program?   By this, I mean putting a program such as AVG on the corrupted HD while it's connected via the usb cable and, thus, is not the c: drive.  Like I said, the other program will not even allow me to install programs such as avg.

 

by: NelsonTorresPosted on 2009-10-23 at 10:15:16ID: 25646396

Yeah install the first 2 programs I suggested on a computer then use them to scan the external drive.

 

by: CraftyDeluxePosted on 2009-10-24 at 01:48:41ID: 25651326

Ya , id also say,   1. Run combofix   2. Run Roguefix  3. Malwarebytes and finally use Advanced system care or CCcleaner to clean temp files etc . If you still have problems , or cant delete some of the infected files use FILE ASSASIN to force delete them.  After that , if you dont want to pay, install free Anti Virus, like Avira Antivir  ,  update and do full scan.  Also go --> start ---> Run ---> type "msconfig"  , click on startup tab and disable anything that looks funny or doesnt make sense. be esspecially weary of .exe files in the startup.

:)

 

by: splaitPosted on 2009-10-25 at 05:10:40ID: 25656375

You haven't told us the name of the "virus cleaner".  If you do that, we can be more specific.

Just in case you have Internet Security 2009 or 2010 (or some variant thereof - it has many names), I have written a blog post on how to remove it.

http://blog.plaitsolutions.com/2009/09/25/update-to-previous-post-on-emails-that-are-bogus.aspx

Compare the window in the post to the one you saw when this first happened.  If they are the same or very similar, follow the instructions to get rid of it.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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