More computer problems..

[TheGame]

So, tonight I decided to defragment my hard drive. Later on in the evening I happen to go on a website that has some virus attached. Normally when something like that happens I try to do a system restore, but since I defragmented it won't allow me to do so...

Whatever the virus is, the scanner only detected it at first, and deleted half of it. But when I scan for a spy or a virus it finds nothing now. But I know something is wrong because no matter what website I go to I get completely unrelated pop ups, and on fire fox I constantly get the message that I'm sending info under an unencrypted line even when I'm putting in no info.

I'm running two pop up blockers, yet whatever this virus or unwanted add on is, it breaks through that to do pop ups.

Have any of you had this problem before? And if so, besides doing a system restore, how have you gone about fixing it?

[GameMaster]

Was it pr0n website?

[TheGame]

Was it pr0n website?

Nope, http://www.surfthechannel.com

[Happydude]

wow, surf the channel never gave me any problems :unsure:

anyhoo, what are the pop-ups for? what do they advertise?

[BreakABone]

Nope, http://www.surfthechannel.com

Huge fan of the site as well.

But I'm sure you can find porn on it. :p

[Jason1]

Ive had these types of problems before, and my advice for you would be to go to a forum that offers free virus help, such as this one:

http://virusvault.co.uk/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/35/

Do what they say in this topic, then post your Hijackthis log and someone should be able to help you. Good luck.

[GameMaster]

In order to diagnose the problem, you should probably tell us what show it was that you were watching and the time you were watching it at.

[KillerGremlin]

First off, pop up blockers suck. If you are using firefox (which you should be because if you aren't you suck) download two cool plugins:

Ad-Block Plus (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865)
No Script (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/722)

I also recommend Flashblock (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/433)

That's for FUTURE PREVENTION. The script block will prevent unwanted scripts from launching viruses and shit. It's a pain to use at first, but I have found that it is BY FAR the best firefox plugin. Especially if you like porn. Flashblock isn't helpful but it prevents annoying flash sites. And ad-block plus is by far the best ad blocker on the webz.

NOW: you need to do a few things.

One: download AVG (http://free.avg.com/download?prd=afe)
this is probably the best (or one of the better) free virus scanners

Two: download Malwarebytes (http://www.download.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html)

Three: Download Ad-Aware (http://www.lavasoft.com/single/trialpay.php)

Four: Download Ccleaner (http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/)

(I assume you are running XP?)

1. Boot into Windows, install AVG. This requires you to uninstall whatever virus scanner you currently have. Some people don't want to do that. If you have Nod32 or Kaspersky you can keep those. If you have Norton or McAfee you are an idiot and should uninstall them.
-uninstall current vscanner
-install AVG
-reboot

2. Install Malwarebytes, Ad-Aware, CCleaner, reboot

3. Start Windows up. Run AVG. Delete whatever comes up. Run Malwarebytes. Delete whatever comes up. Run Ad-Aware. Delete whatever comes up. Run CCleaners registry cleanup. Delete whatever comes up.

REBOOT.

Upon reboot push "F8" in the bios screen. Boot into SAFE MODE.

Once you are in safe mode run AVG. Delete whatever you find. Run Malwarebytes. Delete whatever you find. Run Ad-Aware. Delete whatever you find. Run CCleaner. Run whatever you find.

REBOOT.

I'm OCD. Personally, I'd go back into safemood and run AVG one more time. But that's me.

Reboot into normal windows. See what happens.

It sounds like you have a trojan that hijacked your we browser. Those are bitches. Those require extra work. If the above does not work your choices include

-manually going through the registry
-running a search for folders created/modified since your computer has been acting weird (and then looking for suspect folders)
-running a search for suspect files created since your computer has been acting weird
-manually going through your system32 and web browser directories
-checking your system processes through Task Manager)

and finally, if all else fails you can reformat.

good luck, post if you have any inquiries.

[Bube]

http://www.hijackthis.de/

Download program, scan, and post the log file in their help forum. Somebody will definitely tell you what your problem is.

[TheGame]

Thanks for all the tips guys, I'm buying a new computer regardless, so I played around with a little of everything. KillerGremlin, extra thanks to you, I followed what you said step by step, and it seemed to work.

For a full follow up though... whatever virus I had managed to disable my computer's auto updates. That's when I knew the computer was screwed. But after running the virus scanners, deleting 50+ Trojans (AVG found 32 alone), and multiple infected things... My computer seems to be running as normal again.

In fact, my auto updates because magically re enabled which goes into what Jason1's link said, I finally updated to service pack 3. Lol

This is actually my first test on firefox, I'm debating if I should even try internet explorer.

[TheGame]

Quick update: Messed around with internet explorer, the biggest annoyance I had with it before was the first page would forward me to an ad every time I opened it. But this time it didn't. All known signs of the virus I got is gone for now.

[KillerGremlin]

yay! back door trojans are the new thing. my roommate has picked up this go.google virus TWICE now, and it's doing something to his computer that is preventing me from installing programs.

manual deletion = super pain

I hate how shady the Internet is. Seemingly benign websites often have pop-ups or nasty ads that try to run backdoor trojans.

I miss the HTML only days of the Internet, back before Java and Flash raped the Internet.

[manasecret]

1. Boot into Windows, install AVG. This requires you to uninstall whatever virus scanner you currently have. Some people don't want to do that. If you have Nod32 or Kaspersky you can keep those. If you have Norton or McAfee you are an idiot and should uninstall them.

You forgot BitDefender in the list of excellent paid antivirus software.

And here I thought you knew everything. :p

[TheGame]

Hmm, every sign of every virus I had is gone.. There's just one little thing that has been happening that disturbs me a tad. Whenever I go afk and let the computer get to the point where the screen is asleep (but to the point where if I press one button the screen will come right back), AVG finds an infected file.. When I tell it to quarantine it, it says the file doesn't exist.

I've only let it happen 3 times since I got the virus scanners, but AVG detects it every time. Should I be worried about this?

[KillerGremlin]

Hmm, every sign of every virus I had is gone.. There's just one little thing that has been happening that disturbs me a tad. Whenever I go afk and let the computer get to the point where the screen is asleep (but to the point where if I press one button the screen will come right back), AVG finds an infected file.. When I tell it to quarantine it, it says the file doesn't exist.

I've only let it happen 3 times since I got the virus scanners, but AVG detects it every time. Should I be worried about this?

hmmm...yeah that is weird. do you have a screensaver enabled?

[TheGame]

hmmm...yeah that is weird. do you have a screensaver enabled?

Nope, but since then it's stopped. It kept finding an infection in the System Volume information folder.

[KillerGremlin]

Nope, but since then it's stopped. It kept finding an infection in the System Volume information folder.

Virus scanners have been known to be over-zealous. There's a chance that it's just pissed that a system file looks threatening. I dunno. Just roll with it, as long as your computer doesn't start smoking you'll be okay.