more PC issues

Fro · Post by **Fro** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 6:18 pm

On top of the virus I cant get rid of, I cant run defrag. I try to and it tells me to run chkdsk or scandisk. CHKDSK does not do anything and scandisk is nowhere to be found. I have restored to an earlier date and nothing helps. Any suggestions?

TMT MEDAL OF HONOR MODDING · Post by **ViPER** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 7:17 pm

Uber uses this - its free

http://avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html

Also - you have spybot right? be sure to use spybot.

ViP

Fro · Post by **Fro** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 8:26 pm

I use both of them. Avast just tells me a virus has been detected and when I move it to the chest, it comes back in a few minutes... Also after about 15 minutes online, I have to log off Windows because the internet refuses to work. bad lag in MOH and all around slow performance... I really dont want to reboot. I have a lot of stuff I dont want to lose and I dont want to keep the viruses through saved files.

TMT MEDAL OF HONOR MODDING · Post by **ViPER** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 9:02 pm

Maybe one of our experts can get on TS and help you. Uber, Race or Drifter. Can you post some times your available and hopefully someone can do that.

For now i suggest you go ahead and back up on cd - you can deal with contaiment later after you figure out how to get rid of it. What ever you dont want to loose back it up before it gets worse and before you dont have a choice.

Private_Lapdance · Post by **Private_Lapdance** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 11:17 am

Removing virii is tedious and a bit of an adventure but with the right gear and knowledge you can be successful and save your data. You can kill 50% of virus infection by simply running the disk clean up utility and dumping all the junk that windows stores as well as deleting cookies. Cookies can do serious harm to a computer when used for malicious purposes, so dump them often.
My first suggestion is a visit to www.antivirus.com which will redirect to trendmicro's website. Here you would do 2 things: Run the free scan called Housecall and download the evaluation version of their AV software. This is the best antivirus bar none and will detect and remove virii, trojans and spyware about 95% of the time just using the Housecall utility. The problem with a lot of the free AV programs is that they fail to identify the "carrier" file that contains the original delivery mechanism, allowing you to reinfect. PcCillin(trendmicro's product) does a good job of locating the infected carrier file and isolating it, as well as removing the current infection.

If you are unable to actually run the Housecall utility, try again in safe mode(with networking). I have had instances where the virus has crippled the webbrowser to the point where it wouldn't allow the utility to run in either mode( the scanner has 2 modes, try both). If this is the case DL and install the actual trial version of their software. Pay attention to the names of the virus detected and research the name of it at trendmicro.com. This will provide you with information that will help you determine how to be sure the virus has been removed properly.

You can also identify most running virii by running Windows Task Manager and viewing the processes that are runnning. Write them down and google each one to see what it does. Processes such as svchost.exe and lsass.exe are 2 windows files that virii will hide as by closley mimicing the name. For example, lsass.exe may appear twice once as LSASS.exe and once as lsass.exe. If it does appear more than once in the process list, you most likely have the SASSER trojan, which trendmicro should easily detect and isolate. svchost.exe is going to be running several instances on any computer but check the spelling, svchost.exe is a legitimate process but scvhost.exe is not. Once the illegal processes have been identified, you can find and delete it using windows explorer( not to be confused with internet explorer) and its "find" utility.

If all of this doesn't solve your virus problem, My best solution would be take your PC to a professional and pay to have it done. It takes a lot of study and practice to learn all this crap and therefore its good value to the user. Then invest in real AV protection like Trendmicro's PcCillin security suite.

not so fun fact: Virtually every PC I have serviced for Virus removal in the last 3 years had either no AV protection or had a free scanner such as AVG or Avast! .

TMT MEDAL OF HONOR MODDING · Post by **ViPER** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 11:32 am

Nice post. I think which ever AV and/or AW you choose the most important thing is that you are using it to it's full capability. Just loading it isnt good enough.

Felony · Post by **Felony** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 11:44 am

Fro wrote:Avast just tells me a virus has been detected and when I move it to the chest, it comes back in a few minutes...

Avast is an EXTREMELY usefull FULL antivirus that I have ussed for about 4 years now and have had NO probelms what so ever. I was even using this at the Casino I was working at here. That is where I heard about it and starting using it. On Avast install it asks you if you want to have a scan on the next reboot. This is highly recommended!!! This proforms a low level scan and WILL identify and romove any viruses found. If you have it installed and opted not to do a rebot scan, you can still do it anytime.

1.)Right click the little "A" Avast icon in the taskbar, then "Start Avast Antivirus".
2.)Click on the top left corner of the open avast screen (Looks like a CD eject button) and scoll down and select "Schedule Boot Time Scan".

I've been dealing and removing viruses in the IT field for about 10 years now and Avast is the only AV that has successfully removed ALL of the viruses detected. Norton, McAfee, Macro Virus, Panda, AVG the names go on and on. This is by far the best AV FULL free scanner out there! I'm not oging to fill you with a bunch of technical mumbo jumbo that 9 times out of 10 the end user doesn't know about anyway. I 'm just giving you tha facts. As you can tell from my sscreen shots I haven't even done a full scan yet, Avast detects the viruses BEFORE they infect the PC ands removes them!!

I forgot to mention that Avast also has "Residence Protection" software. Click HERE to read about the Residence Protection it's to much info to put in a post! If you don't have MS Word, download the viewer HERE.
Good luck!!

Private_Lapdance · Post by **Private_Lapdance** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 11:45 am

Sorry I almost forgot: run defrag from safe mode. CHKDSK is only meant to check file integrity and the HDD surface for defects so be glad it does nothing. It is really only important to run CHKDSK prior to formating or defragging.
Defrag fails because there is a process accessing the HDD during the process, most likely your virus. running in safe mode will USUALLY stop the virus from loading. Running Defrag before actually removing the virus could cause a cascade of file structure problems, so I recommend hunting down and killing the virus first. :hitman:

Ouch · Post by **Ouch** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 4:06 pm

holy mother of god.. what ? i read and reread.. lmao dam i;m just gonna pay someone...you got a car.. i can fix that.. if it has an engine i can repair it.. but these things? not much chance..lol my head hurts from trying to understand tech talk.. aug!.. but very happy to know we have some super smart pc folks in the clan... if i was like smarter i'd pik ur brains...lol

Fro · Post by **Fro** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 6:41 pm

I ran chkdsk in Safe mode last night and defragged as well. It took about 3 hours to do both. PC was much faster and smoother. but still could not stay online. After that, I read what PVT. Lapdance wrote and here is what happened.
Following the advice of Lapdance, I installed the new AV which required me to remove spybot and Avast. After 4 hours of scanning and removing God knows what, my PC is free from all that has ailed it. Thanks Lapdance... I am nominating you for a medal for helping me out.