Need Help Cleaning My Laptop of Malware and possible viruses

Discussion in 'Malware Help - MG (A Specialist Will Reply)' started by exiledone1, Mar 9, 2009.

  1. exiledone1

    exiledone1 Private E-2

    Hello Everyone,

    I'm pretty new to the forums and want to say thank you in advance. First off, I have caught up on some reading and have printed out the neccessary read this first files and steps to clean and remove malware, but before I began and start posting logs I have a question or two which I think needs to be addressed before I receive help.

    First off, I was going off of advice from another forum and lets just say they were wrong and now I'm where I need to be. First mistake by me was I was using Msconfig to keep some things from loading. I have read the recommended reading here and have since switched to normal start up now. Still I believe a few malware or virus files may have been messed with when I ran scans and etc with msconfig holding some of the files back.

    The second mistake and to be honest I'm not clear with is the system restore. Upon advice from my friend I turned off system restore as he said it could be bad to have it on while cleaning. I have since read the material here and still an a little unclear. Should it be turned off as you are working to clean the computer or on while working to clean the computer? I read the forum where it talks about the toggle, but it wasn't clear to me if it should be or off while running all my scans and cleaning. Now here is the problem. I can no longer find system restore in my systems properties area to turn it back on. The tab for system restore has vanished. So don't know how to turn it back on. When I go to system help and stuff and run the wizard to restore it says need to be restarted, but when I do it is still missing.

    The other issue I am cofused upon is do i run all the scans in safe mode or normal mode. as far as the neccessary downloads for cleaning or do I just run the stuff in normal mode and only run something in safe mode if the instructions tell me too. I'm a little confused here.

    So other than this do I need to fix or get any of this stuff taken care of before I begin to work on my system? I will be using this thread to post all logs and neccessary data. Thank you in advance for any help and I am just average with computers. As long as I'm walked through it I can do it 9 times out ten. I am running window xp as well and look forward to learning from all of you. Thank You

    Joshua
     
  2. Kestrel13!

    Kestrel13! Super Malware Fighter - Major Dilemma Staff Member

    Yes---it is not wise to use MSCONFIG or Ccleaner to control start-ups, you would be better advised to use software such as Start-up CPL which is available for download here at Majorgeeks. If you're interested in using this then I will link you a little later on.
    You should not toggle system restore until we have finished the clean up process. A "dirty" restore point is better than having none at all :)


    We can see what happens after we have cleaned your machine (which we cannot do until you attach the requested logs) or you can have a look at this link here and see if it helps you.

    Troubleshooting steps for issues when you try to use the System Restore tool in Windows XP

    Yes--you knocked the nail on the head there---run all the tools/scans in mode unless malware prevents you, in which case then try running in safe mode.

    You need to follow thru the instructions which are written clearly in the Read and Run me First.

    I would like you to run the following:

    • SUPERantispyware
    • MalwareBytes-Anti Malware
    • CombiFix
    • MGTools.exe

    ...and attach logs from each.

    Not a problem -- I'll be here waiting and to answer any questions you may have. :) But I cannot remove malware until I get those logs.

    Thanks
    Kes
     
  3. exiledone1

    exiledone1 Private E-2

    Hi Kestrel13,

    Thank you for your quick respond and your answers. I'm learning a lot quite quickly just being here. I have done a lot since I posted this message and created a new thread located here which we should use from now on. I created this post before you responded so forgive me :)

    http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=184492

    In this file I have updated the situation and posted all logs. I really just posted this message to find out if any of the issues I complained about needed to be fixed before I began the process. I started another thread too by accident but couldn't figure out how to delete it. So any thread by me except for the one listed above can be deleted.

    So to make things simple and easy I think you would agree and lets continue this in this thread: http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=184492

    I have posted all four logs and updates. Look forward to hearing from you

    Josh
     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2009
  4. Kestrel13!

    Kestrel13! Super Malware Fighter - Major Dilemma Staff Member

    Hi Josh. That's fine, I'll get our threads merged together later today when I find a moderator. On my way to download your logs now :) I'll get back to you with a response ASAP and leave a message in your new thread.

    Cheers
    kes
     

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