Laptop with suspected malware

Discussion in 'Malware Help (A Specialist Will Reply)' started by SWario, Mar 20, 2011.

  1. SWario

    SWario Sergeant

    I was given a laptop by a family member with complaints of "It's slow" and "I think it might have a virus".

    Compaq Presario C502US
    OS: Windows Vista Home Basic
    CPU: 1.86GHz Celeron M
    RAM: 512MB

    Yes, the computer completely lacks any service packs. Yes, the computer doesn't have enough memory. Yes, the computer has no antivirus currently installed - I uninstalled AVG 7.5 prior to running scans (7.5 is horribly outdated, so I thought to replace it after completing the scans).

    Ran SAS with no problems. Nothing turned up.
    Ran MBAM with no problems. Nothing turned up.
    Ran ComboFix with no problems. Afterwards, I got the dreaded "Illegal operation attempted on a registry key that has been marked for deletion." error message. I searched and found a few threads regarding this, and it seemed that the common recommendation was to restart the computer, so I did. The error message seemed to go away.
    Tried to run RootRepeal unsuccessfully. Error message attached.
    Ran MGtools with no problems.

    All requested log files attached. Recommendations for the "Illegal operation attempted on a registry key that has been marked for deletion." error message usually included running "sfc /scannow", but I wanted to request advice before potentially making things worse or being counterproductive.
     

    Attached Files:

  2. SWario

    SWario Sergeant

    Adding last log file. Thanks in advance for your assistance!
     

    Attached Files:

  3. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Code:
    Total Physical Memory    501.50 MB    
    Available Physical Memory    75.21 MB
    Yes, this will make it slow!! Vista really likes having at least 2gigs of RAM. I am not seeing any malware on your system. I suggest you upgrade your RAM ( you can check it by going to crucial.com ) and install the service packs.

    If you are not having any other malware problems, it is time to do our final steps:

    1. We recommend you keep SUPERAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for scanning/removal of malware. Unless you purchase them, they provide no real time protection. They do not use any significant amount of resources ( except a little disk space ) until you run a scan.We recommend them for doing backup scans when you suspect a malware infection.
    2. If we had you use ComboFix, uninstall ComboFix (This uninstall will only work as written if you installed ComboFix on your Desktop like we requested.)
      • Click START then RUN and enter the below into the run box and then click OK. Note the quotes are required
      • "%userprofile%\Desktop\combofix" /uninstall
        • Notes: The space between the combofix" and the /uninstall, it must be there.
        • This will uninstall ComboFix and also reset hidden files and folders settings back to Windows defaults.


    3. Go back to step 6 of the READ ME and renable your Disk Emulation software with Defogger if you had disabled it.
    4. Any other miscellaneous tools we may have had you install or download can be uninstalled and deleted.
    5. If we had you download any registry patches like fixme.reg or fixWLK.reg (or any others), you can delete these files now.
    6. If running Vista, it is time to make sure you have reenabled UAC by double clicking on the C:\MGtools\enableUAC.reg file and allowing it to be added to the registry.
    7. Go to add/remove programs and uninstall HijackThis.
    8. Goto the C:\MGtools folder and find the MGclean.bat file. Double click on this file to run this cleanup program that will remove files and folders related to MGtools and some other items from our cleaning procedures.
    9. If you are running Win 7, Vista, Windows XP or Windows ME, do the below:
      • Refer to the cleaning procedures pointed to by step 7 of the READ ME
        for your Window version and see the instructions to Disable System Restore which will flush your Restore Points.
      • Then reboot and Enable System Restore to create a new clean Restore Point.

    10. After doing the above, you should work thru the below link:


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  4. SWario

    SWario Sergeant

    Worked through the final steps, except #10. I was considering setting up the computer with Microsoft Security Essentials. Any opinions on this?

    Should I worry about why RootRepeal wouldn't run, or is it not important?

    Thanks!
     
  5. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    MSE is a good light weight program. I use it myself on one of my system. And don't worry about RootRepeal, it fails on about half the systems that try to run it.
     

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