Malware removal programs (1 Viewer)

[Jenn]

My sis brought me her computer the other day because it was running slow, it had something like 4300 issues according to the AVG scan. Now there is malware that AVG isn't removing and was wondering what would be a good tool to get to remove them. Or is the hard drive trashed?

 

[willy]

If it's that wanked out Jenn..I would FDisk and reinstall Windows.

You can get the Microsoft tool here:

Malicious Software Removal Tool

 

[HEMI6point1]

Here are 4 specialized tools and the 1 great spyware scanner:

1. Antipuper: AntiPuper - Removal Tools for Trojan.Puper Trojan.Zlob Trojan.Puper Trojan.Alemod W32.Smitfraud

2. Smitfraudfix: SmitFraudFix

3. SDFix: Using SDFix - MajorGeeks Support Forums

4. Vundofix: VundoFix.exe - www.atribune.org

5. CounterSpy: Best Anti-Spyware - Remove Spyware with Free Trial

For CounterSpy you'll have to install/update it in normal mode, but run the scan in safe mode. For the others, run them all in safe mode to begin with.

Forgot to add: Does it have Norton or McAfee on it? If so, remove them as they were probably damaged by the malware or expired.

 

[willy]

I only do free stuff.

The Microsoft tool is free.

For spyware SpyBot Search is free and 1 of the best. But if it's malware..it's different..could be a Trojan, etc.

I will not install trial version of anything. They'll run the scan..show you what's wrong..and when you purchase the product..you can then fix it..I hate that.

I'd wipe it out..start over..you won't believe how much quicker things would be.

 

[HEMI6point1]

David.... I use CounterSpy in my client's PCs all the time, the trial is fully functional.

 

[Jenn]

I've installed the program that David recommended on a secondary profile on the computer. I couldn't get the other profile to ever load after it rebooted from the file scan. When I went on the second admin profile, IE worked properly so I did the windows scan on it, AVG isn't showing on the secondary profile. Not sure what's up with that?!

Can I delete the profile and solve some problems?

Samual, I uninstalled Norton and installed AVG's Trial until I trusted the computer enough to run a credit card through it.

 

[HEMI6point1]

I've installed the program that David recommended on a secondary profile on the computer. I couldn't get the other profile to ever load after it rebooted from the file scan. When I went on the second admin profile, IE worked properly so I did the windows scan on it, AVG isn't showing on the secondary profile. Not sure what's up with that?!

Can I delete the profile and solve some problems?

Samual, I uninstalled Norton and installed AVG's Trial until I trusted the computer enough to run a credit card through it.

Go into the admin account in safe mode, create a new user account, move as many files from the old one as you can and then delete the old account.

And by the way, I wouldn't trust any removal tool Micro$oft puts out with a 10 foot poll. Why? In an effort to make things easy to use for the average user, they tend to dumb things down to where it's crap. Windows Defender (aka Windows DefenceLESS) is a good example.

Back to the issue at hand: If you run all the specialized removers I listed and CounterSpy and the unit still infested, format and reload the damn thing.

There is a reason why I like CounterSpy more than any other threat scanner: The parent company, Sunbelt, refuses to "cave" to malware vendors to declassify their junk. Ever wonder why popular apps like Spysweeper and Ad-aware no longer list things like MyWebSearch and WinAntiVirus in their scan results? The reason is because the vendors of these softwares plus many others whined and cried that by having their products (junk) listed as spyware their reputation was being ruined! So instead of standing their ground, the parent companies of many antispyware apps basically bent over and said, "Okay, we'll take you off our list of malware." Sunbelt, however, would have none of it and thus the program finds many things others miss.

 

[Jenn]

Go into the admin account in safe mode, create a new user account, move as many files from the old one as you can and then delete the old account.

And by the way, I wouldn't trust any removal tool Micro$oft puts out with a 10 foot poll. Why? In an effort to make things easy to use for the average user, they tend to dumb things down to where it's crap. Windows Defender (aka Windows DefenceLESS) is a good example.

Back to the issue at hand: If you run all the specialized removers I listed and CounterSpy and the unit still infested, format and reload the damn thing.

There is a reason why I like CounterSpy more than any other threat scanner: The parent company, Sunbelt, refuses to "cave" to malware vendors to declassify their junk. Ever wonder why popular apps like Spysweeper and Ad-aware no longer list things like MyWebSearch and WinAntiVirus in their scan results? The reason is because the vendors of these softwares plus many others whined and cried that by having their products (junk) listed as spyware their reputation was being ruined! So instead of standing their ground, the parent companies of many antispyware apps basically bent over and said, "Okay, we'll take you off our list of malware." Sunbelt, however, would have none of it and thus the program finds many things others miss.

That CounterSpy program, I downloaded it and when it said "run it in safe mode" thought it meant to switch to safe mode and then run it but now I can't find it in safe. Was I supposed to download it, hit run, let it instal or something and then move over to Safe?

Because I was in safe and didn't know what else to do, I ran AVG again and found another 500 threats.

I dont' know how to wipe out the drive and can I burn CDs on a safe mode to save her files? I thought about getting a portable hard drive, moving them to there and then reinstalling them on the laptop but i don't know if I'd infect the hard drive or reinfect it once I reinstalled.

 

[HEMI6point1]

You install and update the program and THEN boot to safe mode and run the actual scan there.

 

[Jenn]

You install and update the program and THEN boot to safe mode and run the actual scan there.

Did that, came back with 43 threats. Now AVG's not running in normal mode. I want to purchase the full version for her computer but not sure if that's wise if the computer is going to need to be wiped out. Of course when I did AVG on my laptop, they sent me a disk to back up too...still undecided.

 

[Nitrohaulic]

I run Lavasoft's free SE Personal program to scan and remove adware that AVG doesn't remove. First time I ran it I removed something like 500 items! Those two helped my computers a lot! Thanks for the tip on the latter, Samuel. Here's Lavasoft's link.

Ad-Aware @ Lavasoft - The Original Anti-Spyware Company - Lavasoft