Recovery from Nasty Malware Issues on XP

Hi,

Having now cleaned my system of a nasty infection a series of new problems has arisen in terms of my normal computer operations. I have several programs that were compromised inclusive of my Windows XP in that certain add/remove software is uneffective, other programs will not run. Within the add/remove software some programs are just missing and or they are listed but the volume of bytes they occupy is blank and links to accessing them are broken. I am at a loss as to where to go form this point. I have gone through all the Microsoft upgrades from as far back as I could to get to this point. Some basic issues have been recovered but many continue to plague me.

Any suggestion/s will be appreciated.

Many thanks in advance!

M

 

Stuff happens, regardless of how hard you try to prevent it. That's why most professionals will advocate that you make periodic backups of your entire C: drive, preferably to another hard drive. Then when one of these "Awchitz" happens, you just boot up with your recovery disk, do a restore and in just a few minutes you're back in business, no harm, no foul.

For the quick fixes, you have "System Restore" available in every OS since XP.
For Shame, if you've turned it off. It's your first line of defense against some piece of ratty software making a mess of your PC. I have to use that feature at least once a week to fix something that's gone awry with some POC software that I'm testing.
I rely so much on my System Restore points that I force a new one to be created every time I boot up my PC. I put a little script into my 'Startup' folder to do that.

I share that script with almost all of my Computer customers. It makes recovery from some of the dumb things they do, a piece of cake.

Good Luck to you,
Shadow :cool

 

Shadow,

Thank you for your good wishes,

I do/did have major back-ups or so I thought and when I tried to restore them, they too became infected I believe, as well the complete programs I do not believe were backed up. It seems that only certain portions of code were effected and that those pieces were not apart of my back-ups. How weird is that? Anyway, thanks for the moral support and suggestion/s.

M

 

When I say "Backups" I don't mean just a few files. OH, I do copy my entire My Documents folder to my backup drive daily, using a simple batch file, , , but what I mean by "Backup" is doing a complete backup of your entire C: drive, using a program like Norton's Ghost or Acronis True Image.
I have both, but am partial to Ghost, since I've been using that since 1997 when it first came out and before Symantec bought it.

I can store many backup image files on my 500gig Storage Drive. At least once a month I make a backup to a DVD and Ghost puts itself on the DVD, making it bootable.
Then that DVD goes into a fireproof vault about 20 miles away. The best backup is the one NOT on your PC.

Many titles of Backup software can be had for FREE, if a person will just look around.
I'm talking completely LEGAL copies here, not the funny stuff.

Cheers!
Shadow

 

It's all good! sorta

I'm learning the hard way, nothing like the school of hard knocks.

M

 

Well, I've learned most of what I know that way,,,,,,but I''ve been at it for thirty years now, so I've learned more than most........

If you need any more help give me a holla......

Shadow

 

@ marus: there are utilities available for clearing up your add/remove list, cleaners for removing stubborn files, and, if you'll list what programs will not run, we can probably help with those, too...

 

Wow!

Thank you both for the offer of assiatance.

Quite the shopping list......

I know that every time I try to load or reload Windows SP3 service package as well as run the COMODO scan the entire system at some point just cuts off and the system is dead, off; not frozen, rather shut down... boom!

Based on what I know at this time the following programs are not operational

Trader WorkStation (TWS) which originally said that it could not find the JAVAW.exe from Oracle. So I went and relaoded TWS from it source and it shows in the add remove software list but there is no size next to it in term of MB as well as when I look in the 'programs' icon from the start menu it is not shown there. However when I boot the system the automatic check for updates returns that I am running the current version.

Quickbooks is out and says that it won't load due to administration rights and it as well has no volume size listed in the add remove programs but it does show in the 'programs' menu when entered through the start menu.


Other programs haveing the same earmark as no volume in the add remove program page and likely not working include:

Adobe Flash Player 10 ActiveX
Agere systems AC'97 Modem (Modem for Faxing)
ATI display Driver
CTRIO Workbench 2
HP OfficeJet 6200 Series (my printer)
Itunes (missing some link, can't remove it in order to reload it)
Logitech SetPoint (has and is showing properly but now have to start the program to change the mouse settings in order to have the wireless keyboard function fully at each reboot)
Macromedia Shockwave Player (don't know that I use it)
MicroSoft .NET Framework 1.1
Microsoft Compression Client Pack 1.0 for Windows XP
Microsoft User-Mode Driver Framework Feature Pack 1.7
MSN Music Assistant
QuickBooks
RealUpgrade 1.0
Windows Internet Explorer 7 (seems to be working fine)
Windows Search 4.0
Windows Service Pack 3

My guess is that if the windows products were to be repairable that the rest of my issues might fall into line.. or not : )

Thanks again for looking at the possibilities for me.

Yours,

M

 

I just read through your Malware threads: obviously, heavy duty operations were performed, so I'd guess it's likely that some good programs may have been damaged in the process. You might check out the major programs' own websites for any specific help forums they may be running. Also, you might download/install Revo Uninstaller - try to remove/reinstall some of those problem programs.

Do you have an XP disk? Have you tried to run the SP3 install and/or Comodo in Safe Mode?

I'm not familiar with Oracle, TWS, etc., but I'm sure some of the gurus here will tune in shortly.

Also, not familiar with the 'no volume size' symptom - I gotta look at that...

 

Hello Caliban,

I will go and look at the 'Revo Uninstaller' and choose carefully where to begin.

Thank you for the suggestion/s.

So far as the disc's for the XP go I do have the original 'Application Recovery CD, Driver Recovery CD & the Operating System CD'.

Gratefully,

M

 

Hello,

Tried running the COMODO in safe mode as suggested and did get an error messsage: 'Error Code 0x80004002 no such interface supported'.

I'd seen this error message before, not sure which program it appeared within.

Thank you,

M

 

Yelp! Not much response to my issue/s. Will listen to all advice and likely follow most if not all.

Not much progress for me in the last week.

Should yopu feel so inclined, I'd be appreciative.

M

 

WOW! What a mess.
If "System Restore" couldn't fix it, I'd dig out my last known good Ghost Backup Image File and do a Ghost Restore.
That would put the whole C: drive back the way it was when I did the backup.

Obviously, this won't help you right now, but it's something you should consider in the future.

Good Luck,
Shadow :cool

 

Marus, you stated that you have the Application Recovery CD, Driver Recovery CD & the Operating System CD - when you used those disks, did you format your root drive? And, is Comodo included in the OEM software?