rootkit removal never certain?

BobLewiston · Feb 14, 2010

I'm infected with rootkit.gen (specifically: swerftx.sys, unique code IQ1LCWD7) at LBA sector 0 of my MBR. It's a "highly severe" Trojan which can enable a remote computer to take over my computer, among other things. Webroot Security Essentials (incorporating Spy Sweeper) is unable to remove this Trojan, so I assume that most other such programs are also unable to do so. I don't want to pay a Webroot consultant $100 to remove it for me, so I'd like to remove it myself.

However, I'm now reading the following online at the University of Minnesota's Safe Computing website (see http://safecomputing.umn.edu/guides/scan_unhackme.html):

Rootkits are a special kind of malware that are specifically designed to hide the activities of other viruses and worms, and compromise the operating system so that it may not be repaired. If your machine is infected with a rootkit, you will very likely not be able to regain complete control of the system. Reinstallation is highly recommended.

However, there are exceptional cases when you absolutely need to attempt to repair the system. Although no tool can guarantee results for rootkit identification and removal, there is at least one program which has show limited success from time to time in this area. It's called UnHackMe.
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It goes on to say:

Remember that in computer security there's no such thing as a silver bullet, and that you can't be certain which files were compromised by the viruses, worms and trojans on your machine. If you've been infected, you could still have "backdoors" riddled throughout your computer's operating system, and you should think very hard about reinstalling your operating system, and starting over from scratch.
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Does anyone know if you can never really be certain if you've succeeded in completely removing a rootkit? I'll reinstall the system and all my software if I really have to.

Kestrel13! · Feb 15, 2010

I cannot say for sure, but you could follow through the below and we will see how it goes:

Welcome to Major Geeks!

Please read ALL of this message including the notes before doing anything.

Pleases follow the instructions in the below link:

READ & RUN ME FIRST. Malware Removal Guide

and attach the requested logs when you finish these instructions.

**** If something does not run, write down the info to explain to us later but keep on going. ****

Do not assume that because one step does not work that they all will not. MGtools will frequently run even when all other tools will not.

After completing the READ & RUN ME and attaching your logs, make sure that you tell us what problems still remain ( if any still do )!

Helpful Notes:

If you run into problems trying to run the READ & RUN ME or any of the scans in normal boot mode, you can run the steps in safe boot mode but make sure you tell us what you did later when you post logs. See the below if you do not know how to boot in safe mode:

Starting your computer in Safe mode

If you have problems downloading on the problem PC, download the tools and the manual updates for SUPERAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes ( links are given in the READ & RUN ME) onto another PC and then burn to a CD. Then copy them to the problem PC. You will have to skip getting updates if (and only if) your internet connection does not work. Yes you could use a flash drive too but flash drives are writeable and infections can spread to them.

If you cannot seem to login to an infected user account, try using a different user account (if you have one) in either normal or safe boot mode and running only SUPERAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes while logged into this other user account. Then reboot and see if you can log into the problem user account. If you can then run SUPERAntiSpyware, Malwarebytes, ComboFix and MGtools on the infected account as requested in the instructions.

To avoid additional delay in getting a response, it is strongly advised that after completing the READ & RUN ME you also read this sticky:

Don't Bump! It Only Hurts You!!!

Any additional post is a bump which will add more delay. Once you attach the logs, your thread will be in the work queue and as stated our system works the oldest threads FIRST.

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rootkit removal never certain?

BobLewiston Private E-2

Kestrel13! Super Malware Fighter - Major Dilemma Staff Member