Computer help needed

[marcus300]

My computer keeps sending out emails to everyone in my address book with a link to some pharm company (spam), Ive ran Malwarebytes which deleted around 20 malware/spyware virus's on my computer, ive also ran my anti-virus but it still keeps sending out emails from my AOL account every 2-3 days.... is there anything I can do to stop this?

[marcus300]

Ive also changed my password,
Ran anti-virus in safe mode,

[D7M]

I got that email

Sorry can't help with the spam issue....

[marcus300]

haha did you? it isnt me

[Brewster]

Reformat your computer

[marcus300]

Is that the only way because i havent got any disk's to input my software again or windows.

[Brewster]

I had that problem a while back. My internet service actually got cut off by my provider.

I ran anti-virus software among others. I reformated my cpu.

Try this program: It might work
http://download.cnet.com/Spybot-Sear...-10122137.html

[marcus300]

Ive something very similar, is there anything else i can do@

[D7M]

Ask DSM...he's always helped me with computer questions.

[marcus300]

Yes, ive been in contact with him since its been happening, he as helped me out loads but now he wants to come round and mess with my unit........phewwwwww

[D7M]

hahhahaha

I feel left out now...he always helped me, and never wanted to touch my junk!

[marcus300]

He's helped me loads and probably cured it but I am just seeing if there is anything else I can do.....

[zimmy]

question is what are you scanning your computer wtih?

this is my fav mal ware scanner..
http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebyte...-10804572.html

[marcus300]

That's the one I scanned with,

[Times Roman]

this is a pain in the arse! I had this one that kept popping up telling my system was infected (no shiit!), and to order their antiviral software. Had a buddy come over. We had to use the recovery disc. Everything else didn't seem to work/.

[Bryan2]

http://www.bitdefender.com/scanner/online/free.html

http://usa.kaspersky.com/downloads/f...als/anti-virus

Use bitdefenders online scanner and there is also trendmicros online scanner, they are both free and you dont have to install anything. Trend micro isnt all that great though.

Here is also a link to download a free trial of kaspersky, install and update it and then run a scan with it, After running these scanners they should pick up what ever virus you have.

If these dont work PM me and ill walk you through cleaning up your system, I manage one of the geeksquads for a living

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

[marcus300]

Thanks I will try these , much appreciated,

[lovbyts]

Let us know if those help. Every computer I have TRIED to revive from especially the fake virus scanner one I have had to re format to fix it. Every other fix didnt last more than a day or two at best and I have tried most ever trick. I spent several years as Help desk, systems Admin, Network Admin, network design etc so I have a fair amount of experience working these little buggers but that one stupid fake scanner is the worst. Worms are easy for the most part.

Im sure you did all the system restore and above mentioned scanners. If all else fails format. It's always good to do a system format about 1x a year anyways just to clean things up.

[marcus300]

Let us know if those help. Every computer I have TRIED to revive from especially the fake virus scanner one I have had to re format to fix it. Every other fix didnt last more than a day or two at best and I have tried most ever trick. I spent several years as Help desk, systems Admin, Network Admin, network design etc so I have a fair amount of experience working these little buggers but that one stupid fake scanner is the worst. Worms are easy for the most part.

Im sure you did all the system restore and above mentioned scanners. If all else fails format. It's always good to do a system format about 1x a year anyways just to clean things up.

I dont have any disk's to restore all my programs though!!

[lovbyts]

Hmmm that can be a problem. Is your computer a standard system build like Dell, Toshiba, etc? A lot of the time you can purchase a backup recovery CD/DVD for $15 from the company even if you are not the original owner. There are also places you can find them online cheap. I bought one not long ago for my Toshiba for around $15 and it had the Full OS and all the software that came pre loaded.

Make a list of what software you use and see how much of it is shareware, online for free. Usually after time your system will slow way down even without any virus or spyware just due to your registry getting hosed by so many programs.

I just did a google search for recovery CD for my system to find mine. If you need help I will try to see who I got mine from, it worded perfect and is 100% registered.

[marcus300]

I think if it carrys on i will just go with Apple next time

Its seems quicker now ive got rid of a load of malware but will wait and see about the email virus

[lovbyts]

You have done a system restore back past the point this all started havent you? If not, go back about a week or more before it started. Run the system restore. They will NOT put the malware stuff back in, dont worry.
After you run the system restore first thing is to update your virus software again, run a full scan. Run all your usual scanners, spybot, malware etc. Turn off the system restore so all the other restore points are gone and it cant re infect you. After you are as sure as you can be that it's gone create a new system restore point turning it back on.

Let me know if you decide you want/need a system restore disk if it's a standard build and I will see what I can do to help.

[marcus300]

ok, i will wait and see if it comes back first then restore it back to a date when i didnt have it, thanks

[Bryan2]

Most viruses inject themselves into previous system restore points so if you try this you might reinfect. If you not having any symptoms your good to go I wouldn't bother trying a restore point due to potential issues.


Go for a mac next round, trust me you will NEVER go back to a pc, they are so legit!

If you want to stay with a pc buy an external hard drive and a program called acronis, it will stay a full snap shop 'image' of your system with programs installed and all every week, if something bad happens than you can restore everything back to when you didn't have issues a week ago.

[marcus300]

Thanks a lot good info

[djchicago73]

I've had plenty of clients call me with this problem and from my experience I wouldn't bother with a reformat/reinstall of your pc as more than likely it was only your online account that was compromised. This could have happened in many ways but most likely they ran automated guesses at the password and were eventually successful. Do the virus and/or malware scan in safe mode (more than likely nothing will be found), be sure that your new password does not resemble the old password in any way, make the password complex (at least alpha numeric) and never choose the option in your browser to save passwords. Hopefully this will solve the issue.

[lestat88]

MAC do have more exploits than people are aware, just because Apple suggest there is no viruses, doesn't mean there is no exploits. MacOSX is built on BSD, which is Unix and there is that many exploits for Unix it's not funny. It also depends on services that are also running on your Mac.

As for the actual PC issue, maybe some screenshots of the information thats in your startup tab in msconfig (ie goto start>run>msconfig)

Also it's probably best to have a task list, so goto start>run>cmd and type in
cd C:\Windows
tasklist > a.txt
a.txt

It should open in notepad, just paste the contents

[Scabtree]

Many times malware will inject itself into a legit windows service / app. One way to verify each system file is Open Command Prompt; then run sfc /scannow

After that I would run Autoruns from sysinternals (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb963902.aspx) This will list each program, service or driver that is starting with windows. Be weary of ones that do not have verified code signatures; this could mean it's the virus... but a search online should tell you for sure.

[Sicko]

this is a pain in the arse! I had this one that kept popping up telling my system was infected (no shiit!), and to order their antiviral software. Had a buddy come over. We had to use the recovery disc. Everything else didn't seem to work/.

That is because that particular issue is a trojan horse virus that is waiting for you to open your antiviral app. so it can do its work at the heart of your computer. once in there it is unstoppable. Had that very one in my computer last year.Had to uninstall everything and start over...Frikkin sucked balls!!!