eCops malware, and Windows Defender Offline updates

Good evening everyone,

This'll be a quick post (I have read the read first file, but simply do not have the time between now and a much-needed nap to follow all the instructions - If you say there is nothing to be done without these steps I'll do them tomorrow first thing after work.)

My laptop has recently become infected by the Belgian equivalent of the eCops ransomware - Federal Computer Crime Unit it's called. It claims Belgian authorities have locked my computer because I've been doing naughty things on it, and will graciously accept payment via Ukash to unlock it. Sure.

Advised by my friendly neighbourhood IT-man who recently fixed a similar case, I downloaded Windows Defender Offline to fix it. Link is here, but it's in Dutch...

polfed-fedpol.be/crim/crim_fccu_ransomware_nl.php

I downloaded the wizard, and installed it on a USB stick. When I boot the infected laptop from that USB stick, the options to do a scan are greyed out, claiming the virus definitions are outdated, and it can't scan. When I try to update the virus-definitions, it gives me an error (0x80072ee7) and says it can't update them.

When I plug the USB stick back into the healthy computer and restart the wizard, it says it's updating the virus-definitions, and appears to be downloading files (some 62 MB). However, when I boot from it a second (and third) time, I'm stuck in the same loop (Scan - can't scan, update - update - can't update).

Am I missing something? Will I be able to do it with WDO at all? Should I just run through the read & run first steps?

Hope you'll be able to help.
When I plug t

 

Welcome to MajorGeeks, Andronicus

What operating system are you on?

I've blogged about this infection before but it was a while ago so I am not sure if there is a newer variant or not. Can you see if it is helpful for you? : Ecops (Ransom Trojan) - 02.25.2012 - Analysis and Removal

Let me know if you need additional help.