Posted on 05/30/2011 9:08:08 AM PDT by Outlaw Woman
Harddrive Failure Start up menu is empty (No outlook express, no list of program files) but still has My Computer on it.
OS XP Home Pentium R D 2 80GHz
you have a greay day too!
let me know if you get stuck but with the brain trust at FR you will be back normal PDQ.
Han Solo agrees.
I made the mistake of clicking on a “Windows alert”, and it installed a nasty virus/malware. How do I know if an “alert” is legit? The computer repairman told me to not trust ANY of those.
Bump for later
It applied hidden and read only attributes to my D E F and G drives, deleted my programs folder and wiped out my windows folder.
The only recovery possible since nothing is left of the windows system and programs folder is to either do a recovery from an already existing backup image or completely formatting the drive and reinstalling windows and all your programs from scratch.
The virus also installed a trojan.
I did have Microsoft security essentials running which told me when the virus and trojan hit but it didn't stop the damage from happening.
For what it's worth, I have been working with computers since 1967 as an operator, programmer, systems analyst, and systems engineer. I own my own consulting company and build my own PCs.
I had Microsoft Security essentials running and it told me when the virus/trojan hit but it didn't stop it.
Those error messages are generated by the virus which also posts a bogus system restore screen trying to make it look like the OS still exists which it doesn't anylonger since all the windows folders and files are gone.
It took me almost two full days to recover since I had just deleted all of my backups prior to doing a defrag on my D or ‘DATA’ hard drive where I store the backups and all my other data including emails.
I normally use Acronis True Image for my backups but didn't use it's secure zone preferring to keep my backups on a regular partition where I could copy them to another computer for dual backup purposes.
It seems like when one stores their Acronis backups on a regular partition and does a defrag on that partition the backups somehow get flagged as ‘corrupted’ even though they really aren't. It doesn't matter, Acronis refuses to use them for recovery or mounting if they were defragged.
My recommendation is to use the Acronis Secure Zone if using Acronis for backup images.
Yep...Daisyjane69 apparently got hit yesterday. I freepmailed her but no reply so I don’t know if she’s back up and running or not.
All files and pics are ‘there’. I did a search and it pulled everything up but there is no desktop. It’s black.
I could really kick myself (reminds me of Liar, Liar where Jim Carrey beats the crap out of...Himself! LOL); I know better but this pop up looked geniune windows to me.
I’m able to access on a very limited basis. Thank you for your suggestions dg. Am able to concentrate on this in about an hour.
After loading that other (SLAVE) machines backup onto my main (MASTER) machine, I was able to boot into ‘SAFE MODE’ delete all the wrong drivers and install the correct drivers.
I am seriously considering purchasing two of the latest and greatest AMD processors and motherboards and keeping both systems in sync both hardware and software wise to make last ditch emergency recoveries like I just did much easier without having to contend with the driver problems.
The only problem is that there are some internal MAC serial numbers, machine names and other identification which appears on the network making a complete and final reload impossible without further tweaking.
The absolute best solution is to make backup image copies and keep them in a secure location. It is best to keep them on a DVD and a special secure partition on the computer they are created on.
Same virus I got, it tells a LOT of lies.
Your hardware is fine, it’s just all the software that’s hosed up.
A complete reload from a backup image or complete reinstall will fix everything.
The hard drive and hardware is OK, it’s just all the software and operating system that’s bad.
Only cure is a reload from a backup image or complete operating system and software reinstall.
Going to try a system restore through safe mode. I can’t get rid of the dang XP Recovery window..it reboots and as soon as it comes back up it starts scanning. Don’t know where I picked this up. Except perhaps drudge?
There is no windows OS existing any longer, just the virus/trojan and it’s substitute program telling a bunch of lies.
That’s the guy. The OS no longer exists, only the Virus/trojan/worm telling a bunch of lies.
I just spent the better part of two days recovering from same since I had just deleted my backup images prior to defragging.
EB..is ‘Crap Cleaner’ a legit program or are you referring to a generic..”it needs to be cleaned” ...
If it is a separate program, do you possibly have a link you could post?
thx
I was running that when the virus/trojan hit. It told me what hit but didn’t stop it from happening. It even identified the culprit.
If you want to obtain personal confirmation of what it is, go visit Orly Taitz’s web site and download her latest PDF regarding the default judgement concerning the birth certificate.
It’s DEFINATELY the trojan/virus and it will never be completely fixed. The ‘fix’ will allow the trojan to remain spying on you and stealing all of your personal data such as passwords, bank accounts, etc.
On my system, both the program files and windows directories were erased. They were not hidden and marked read only like on all my other hard drives, they were totally blown away.
IF, note I said ‘IF’ that happened to you as well, there will be no system recovery as such since neither the recovery program or the recovery files will exist any longer.
I know you are probably busy by now. But if you happen to log on can you explain what chkdsk /f does? Isn’t that a reformat?
Do you have XP. Dear God I hope you’re wrong. Geez just what I need right now.
The old saying ‘ when it rains it pours’ definitely applies.
If you run Malwarebytes in safe mode, a virus will have a hard time ‘hiding’...
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