2 PC's simultaneously affected!Is this malware or are my machines bust?Please help!

Discussion in 'Malware Help - MG (A Specialist Will Reply)' started by litespeed, May 29, 2011.

  1. litespeed

    litespeed Private E-2

    Can someone please cast their professional opinion over a seemingly big problem we have with both of our laptop machines?

    They are both connected wirelessly to a netgear router on a Virgin Modem internet connection.

    We are unsure whether our problem is malware/virus based or due to a severe hardware fault - both machines are behaving exactly the same.

    We took both machines to our local laptop repair shop who claim they reinstalled Windows 7(not sure if that means formatted first or not)however the problems were there before and have not changed since.

    Both machines can connect to the internet although not 100% ie 'errors on page' script running error messages, pages blank, pages displayed in webcode.
    On pages requiring Java or Flashplayer the page requests we install latest versions to view pages/sites - Either the download crashes or error messages are displayed stating files are corrupted

    Assuming we had a malware problem the first thing we did was read through your concise method of removal for machines running Windows 7. Everything is fine as we work through the list until:

    Every program can be installed & saved but when we attempt to run any of them the following array of error messages pop up:

    Windows found a problem with this file (no digital signature)
    the setup files are corrupted - please obtain new copy from author
    file is corrupt
    windows cannot complete the extraction - the destination file could not be created
    Installer integrity check has failed - common causes include damaged media

    I can't download a new browser (Firefox) it just says file is corrupt
    I can't install any updates through Microsoft - The Internet Security OEM disk I bought took me a few attempts at installing - It scans but finds nothing. It keeps prompting me to install windows critical updates but these fail each time I click to download.


    I have no idea whether this is hardware, software or Internet based that is at fault

    Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated - In the meantime I will continue to read through the forum for other users experiencing similar issues....Thanks in advance
     
    litespeed, May 29, 2011
    #1
  2. Kestrel13!

    Kestrel13! Super Malware Fighter - Major Dilemma Staff Member

    Re: 2 PC's simultaneously affected!Is this malware or are my machines bust?Please hel

    Can they be run after doing this?

    Please download and run the below tool named Rkill (courtesy of BleepingComputer.com) which may help allow other programs to run.
    There are 4 different versions. If one of them won't run then download and try to run the other one.

    Vista and Win7 users need to right click and choose Run as Administrator

    You only need to get one of them to run, not all of them. You may get warnings from your antivirus about this tool, ignore them or shutdown your antivirus.
    1. Rkill.exe
    2. Rkill.com
    3. Rkill.scr
    4. Rkill.pif
    Once you've gotten one of them to run then try to immediately run the following.


    Download and save the below to your PC (save it anywhere you can find it. The Desktop is fine). Then double click on it to run it.

    AVPFind.bat

    It should take a couple minutes to run. You will see a black command prompt window while it is running and it should close when it is finished. Once it finishes, attach the c:\avplog.txt file that is will hopefully create as long as the malware does not block the batch file from running. (See: HOW TO: Attach Items To Your Post )


    Now download and Run exeHelper
    • Please download exeHelper to your desktop.
    • Double-click on exeHelper.com to run the fix.
    • A black window should pop up, press any key to close once the fix is completed.
    • A log file named log.txt will be created in the directory where you ran exeHelper.com
    • Attach the log.txt file to your next message.
    Note: If the window shows a message that says "Error deleting file", please re-run the program before posting a log - and post the two logs together (they will both be in the one file).
     
    Kestrel13!, May 29, 2011
    #2
  3. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    Re: 2 PC's simultaneously affected!Is this malware or are my machines bust?Please hel

    I don't believe this is a problem with running of executables to be disabled. See the error messages. ;) This seems more like an issue with digital signature recognition. Sometimes when the time and date on the PC is not correct, this can happen. Also sounds like it could be a Digital Rights Management issue.

    Is the time and date set correctly and does it remain thru a reboot?
     
    chaslang, May 29, 2011
    #3
  4. litespeed

    litespeed Private E-2

    Re: 2 PC's simultaneously affected!Is this malware or are my machines bust?Please hel

    thanks to both of you for your speedy reply

    I have tried to download each of the 4 variants listed in your post and clicked run as administrator when possible. This is what happens in each case:

    Rkill.exe - some installation files are corrupt download a new copy
    Rkill.com - same as above
    Rkill.scr - screensaver settings window pops up then:

    Files that help describe the problem:
    C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Temp\WERB04D.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml
    C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Temp\WERCDAD.tmp.appcompat.txt
    C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Temp\WERCDEC.tmp.mdmp

    Read our privacy statement online:
    http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=104288&clcid=0x0409

    If the online privacy statement is not available, please read our privacy statement offline:
    C:\Windows\system32\en-US\erofflps.txt

    and finally...

    Rkill.pif - blank page error http 404 not found
     
    litespeed, May 29, 2011
    #4
  5. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    Re: 2 PC's simultaneously affected!Is this malware or are my machines bust?Please hel

    Open Internet Explorer and click Tools, Internet Options:
    • Then select the Security tab and click the Reset all zones to default level at the bottom of the form
    • Then click the Advanced tab and click the Reset... button to Reset Internet Explorer settings
    • Now reboot your PC
    Did that help?
     
    chaslang, May 29, 2011
    #5
  6. litespeed

    litespeed Private E-2

    Re: 2 PC's simultaneously affected!Is this malware or are my machines bust?Please hel

    Hi there
    Thanks for any help however daft though this is I unplugged my ethernet from the modem & plugged it straight into laptop.....Voila!!It seems our router has a problem and every single download was corrupt in someway!Apologies for our lack of common sense but for future reference anything relating to the prevention of Malware we will find on this site - Thanks
     
    litespeed, May 30, 2011
    #6
  7. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    Re: 2 PC's simultaneously affected!Is this malware or are my machines bust?Please hel

    You're welcome.
    Try resetting your router back to factory defaults to see if that corrects it. Also check to see if there is a update available for the firmware that you can reprogram. Sometimes this will correct problems.
     
    chaslang, May 30, 2011
    #7

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