Very Urgent Malware Problem

danielw94 · Sep 7, 2009

I recently downloaded a file from the internet that I obviously should not have because it did not look legitimate. Anyway, this file dissapeared upon downloading and i then realized that I had been infected, the first hint being that pop-ups of internet explorer would show up even though I was using firefox. I am running avast and for some reason the malware was not detected. I found out that I was infected with the msa virus. I ended the process and deleted any traces of files that I could find relating to msa. More problems started to occur. When I tried scanning with malware bytes anti malware it started then suddenly closed and then when I tried to open again it gave me "windows could not access the specified device, path or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access them." Same thing with ccleaner and hijack this. Now various small settings are being changed on my computer. I don't know what to do please help me asap It is very important that this computer is virus-free.

Thanks very much,
Daniel

danielw94 · Sep 7, 2009

I seemed to have solved my problem by doing a system restore. I think it's fixed although I am not positive.

chaslang · Sep 11, 2009

Welcome to Major Geeks!

Just an FYI for the future. If you think you have malware problems, the below is the required procedure to follow.

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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Very Urgent Malware Problem

danielw94 Private E-2

danielw94 Private E-2

chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member