Posted on 10/31/2008 10:12:07 PM PDT by lowbridge
This is a bit lengthy, so please bear with me.
Damn, but I did something stupid and downloaded something I shouldnt have (no, not porn. get your mind out of the gutter :-)). When I downloaded this virus, the cmd screen came up and showed the following: crack.exe, serial.exe, number.exe, keygen.exe AND readme.bat
I panicked, deleted those things, but it hasnt fixed my problem. It seems to have hijacked my internet explorer browser. When I clicked on the IE icon, it brought up the IE browser for all of a second or two before closing. (So, I used Firefox to browse the web, which is working, thankfully) Oh, the IE browser did appear, that is when one of those pop up advertisements comes up. Which I had NO control over. It came up whenever it felt like it, then it stays open untill I close it. BUT I could not use it to browse the web as there are no buttons, tool bar, address box, etc.
And it seemed to prevent me from running/installing spyware. Oh, I was able to download the applications of some spyware programs, but then when I tried to open the application and run them, the damn virus wont let it! I have run a scan with some freeware spy scanning programs and much to my shock they revealed over 250 problems. worse of which are named "spyware.igmonster", zlob, (also spelled out by one scanning program as zlop (with a "p"), trojan.infostealer.bankers
Some spyware programs seemed to be able to download, but when I ran them, they seem to have failed in getting rid of the viruses. (I am using freeware as I do not have any money to buy a good anti virus program) Some seem to do more harm than good as one such program seems to have made me delete some important windows files (a couple of ".exe" files. The spyware program warned me about deleting such a file because it was in my WINDOWS folder, but I chose to delete them anyways as the spyware told me that they were infected) because when I tried to shut down my computer, it gave me a blue screen and an error message (coooo21a). So I had to manually turn it off, but even sometimes that didnt work, so I have to unplug it.
That isnt the end of it.
It was bad enough getting that error message when I tried to shut down my computer, but after another attempted fix of the viruses, it got worse. Now I get that blue screen with the error message when I turn on my computer and try to boot up! I would get a blue screen with the folllowing message;
STOP: c00021a (Fatal System Error) The Windows Logon Process System process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0x00000000 (0x00000000 0x00000000) The system has been shut down
And the computer wouldnt do anything. It would just sit there with that message staring at me. I would try to shut down the computer by pressing the power button on the tower, but even that wouldnt work! I would have to unplug the computer to get it to shut off!
NOW I'm getting it when I'm trying to start up my computer! I've tried to get around that by starting it in safe mode, but then I just get the above 'fatal error" all over again.
How can I fix this? Can I fix this myself (I'm not computer literate) or do I need the services of a professional (how much do they usuallly charge?)
It may not work with different versions, but it’s worth a try. You won’t be able to install Windows using his CD, because the license won’t work. However, we want to see if we can get past that blue screen, fatal error.
Did you try to start it with your brother’s CD in, after changing boot drive order like I told you to do?
P.S. Only install only ONE anti virus software because if you have two, one will suspect the other.
Dont have the money to buy a new one. I need to do whatever I can to save this one.
stick your XP cd in the drive and set the bios to boot off the drive.
Fair warning: you’re gonna lose everything you had on the disk but at least you’ll have a clean install.
Folks that suggest you use AV to clean it now mean well, but it’s always been best to just clobber the thing, reinstall all software, install AV, and install imaging. Build the image and the next time you goof, just rebuild from the image. It’ll be just like you left it.
“Did you try to start it with your brother’s CD in, after changing boot drive order like I told you to do?”
Havent gotten started yet. Its way too late. I’m trying to drink in all this technical info and advice before I can do anything :-)
Trend does have a good online virus scan, but he won’t be able to get to the net until after he’s gotten it running on Windows.
I dont mind losing everything. I had nothing important on my computer. nothing which I couldnt get back anyways. But what is “AV” and “imaging”?
Had the same problem.Took mine to a repair shop and got reformated for less than 40 bucks.They also loaded a lot of free anti virus stuff.
You should have your own set of CD’s for your OS. If your computer came without them, contact the manufacturer of your computer & ask them to send you some.
Buy one at a garage sale or salvation army or watch during trash pickup day. I just threw out about 15 dell optiplexes last week.
What kind of drives does your computer have. You’ll have at least one hard drive PLUS probably at least one CD. Do you have a drive for a diskette (usually drive A:)?
The guy was asking for help. You are a jerk
Disclaimer, I'm not associated with these vendors.
yeah yer going to have to format. that virus deeply embeds itself so badly, you most likely have many new .exe files in /windows/system32 (if you sorted by date you could spot them) and many new prefetch entries as files and in the registry.
Like many have said here, formatting is your best bet.. I use kaspersky internet security, it asks for permission for any application so if anything looks fishy i deny it access. Setup.exe is fine from the programs install, but 20 .bat files arent’.
Also a handy utility many might want to keep on hand if they can catch this one early is “Combofix”. If you see your pc going into the cmd prompt then it’s almost too late.. bootup into safe mode, run combofix (i’ll usually run it twice to ensure it’s clean) then you should be ok..a lot of virus prog’s don’t even recognize this crazy mother. (Also look into the standalone Vundo fixers)
But, for now you better simply put that windows cd in, do a clean install..
good luck.
Why does the video change?
After I got the viruses, but before I got the fatal error that prevented me from acessing windows I went to Trend, but I got impatient with their long scan. While I was doing their scan, I read one complaint about Trend saying that it told the guy that after a long time scanning it couldnt complete the scan and was stopping. So I stopped my scan.
Problem is that everyone gives scans for free. When you want and need a removal of the viruses they find, thats when they try to charge you something and ask you to pay them over the internet. And I dont have the money. Even if I did, problem with that is their scan reveals that my computer has all sorts of massive spyware, keyboard loggers, password stealers, etc. Like i’m gonna type up and send my credit card info to them over the net with that stuff lodged in my computer!
Brand new Dell Inspirion only $279 or $15/month.
“The guy was asking for help. You are a jerk”
I am helping. He is better off buying a new or used system that works. His time is worth something too.
I have a C drive, I have a 3.5 floppy disc drive (drive A). I have a DVD player (drive E) and a DVD/CD burner
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