Computer Help... I got a virus :(

Community Forums/General Help/Computer Help... I got a virus :(

GIB3D(Posted 2009) [#1]
I went on yoyogames.com to see what all is going on with Game Maker these days and saw you could play games made with Game Maker, on the website. I tried out a few of the games and my computer got a virus. A Windows Protection thing popped up and started scanning. I'd never seen it before in my life so I opened up my ZoneAlarm virus scanner and started scanning. Both my scanner and the other scanner were scanning and were seeing viruses and trojans. ZoneAlarm kept popping up a message that some weird named program was wanting to run so I kept pressing the Deny button. After I restarted my computer, it goes to the desktop but there are no icons or taskbar. There is only the desktop image and the cursor. Ctrl+Alt+Delete doesn't do anything. I've tried running in Safe Mode and it won't let me. I can't use the Windows XP disc to repair anything because it gives me Blue Screen Of Death. Does anyone know how I can fix this?


markcw(Posted 2009) [#2]
If you have another PC you can pull out the infected drive, plug it in to the other PC as a second drive which, I think, should be auto-recognized. You should then be able to scan it with anti-virus software like AVG, malwarebytes, hijackthis, etc.


TaskMaster(Posted 2009) [#3]
You need to run MalWare Bytes against your drive. The free version will work.

That is a common (but vicious) virus, the Windows Protection thing that popped up was the actual virus looking like it was scanning.


DavidDC(Posted 2009) [#4]
Yes that one can be nasty. If you can log onto the computer as a different user with admin privileges you might get a free go at it - without it already running. That and Malware Bytes is how I cleared one of our work computers with this.


GIB3D(Posted 2009) [#5]
If you have another PC you can pull out the infected drive, plug it in to the other PC as a second drive


:) That's exactly what I'm thinking of doing. I'm using my Laptop because I can't use my computer at all. I'm hoping I don't lose all of my work on my game. What I'm going to do is put my files on a USB flash/thumb drive (whatever it's called) just in case. Then I'll see what I can get off my other hard drive and scan it if I need to too.


GIB3D(Posted 2009) [#6]
Wow I just found something out that just totally screwed up my plan... my hard drive is a newer and I can't plug it into an external thing to plug it into my laptop because the ports are completely different.


TaskMaster(Posted 2009) [#7]
Your new drive is SATA. You will need to get a USB Sata adapter. You can get them for 20 or less.


xlsior(Posted 2009) [#8]
There are SATA external enclosures to hook up a SATa drive to USB...

Another option: Ultimate Boot CD for windows.
http://www.ubcd4win.com/

It's a program that you can install on your laptop. When you run it, it asks for a windows XP setup disk. based on that, it then creates an image for a CD containing windows plus a whole bunch of rescue/troubleshooting tools.
When you burn that disc image, you can tell your desktop to boot straight from the CD, which will give you a (read only) XP environment -- but it can see the harddrive present in your desktop. It comes bundled with spybot, some antivirus tools, etc. but you can also run others from a flashdrive or something (flashdrive may need to be plugged in upon booting for it to recognize it properly, plug-and-play is a bit flakey)

Alternatively, you can download Ubuntu 9.04 and boot from that CD. In addition to installing the OS on your harddrive, you also have the 'LiveCD' option where you can run it straight from CD, without touching your drive... But you can still see the drive, and at least rescue your important files to flashdrive or something.


GIB3D(Posted 2009) [#9]
My Desktop computer is the one infected, but I'm using my laptop to get help. Luckily, my dad has a computer that has the SATA plugs so I'll see if I can scan it from there. All I have to do is download a virus scanner.


GIB3D(Posted 2009) [#10]
;) Scanning the hard drive, yay.


Hotcakes(Posted 2009) [#11]
If your computer doesn't boot to desktop (no icons/taskbar/ctrl-alt-del means no desktop) then it sounds like the virus had enough time to destroy some core Windows files/dlls/services etc. If you can't boot into safe mode and the installation screen bluescreens, I don't think you have a hope in hell of recovery (best to put the drive in another computer (or Ubuntu or anything similar) and back up your important stuff, then scrub it and start over). The ultimate boot cd might be a valid option, though. Never knew such a thing existed.

If you lost anything important, sue Game Maker :)


xlsior(Posted 2009) [#12]
If your computer doesn't boot to desktop (no icons/taskbar/ctrl-alt-del means no desktop) then it sounds like the virus had enough time to destroy some core Windows files/dlls/services etc.


True -- although it *could* also be something specific to the current user profile, I've seen weird things like no taskbar appearing when that happens as well.

If you can't resolve the problem by a virus scan, try this:

under the "c:\documents and settings" folder, there should be a subfolder with your username. Rename that folder to username.old (so you won't actually lose your files etc. which are stored under that directory)

then try starting again, windows should automatically re-create a new user folder for you. If whatever problem was happening is specific to something that got corrupted under your profile, that may allow you to get things working again... You can copy documents, favorites, etc. from the renamed user folder to get those back.


Hotcakes(Posted 2009) [#13]
Interesting tip, shall keep that in mind.


GIB3D(Posted 2009) [#14]
I've formatted, checked for errors, backed up the important stuff first off of the hard drive but the thing still won't let me install Windows XP again :( It gets finished loading the disc and then gives me the blue screen of death.

My dad told me it may be a registry problem but he isn't here to help me and won't be back for awhile. Isn't the registry part of the hard drive? I'm not sure. By the way, even though I formatted, the space in the hard drive is still
73.7/298GB

Edit:
I noticed I get the Blue Screen of Death even when trying do the Windows XP install without the hard drive plugged in.


markcw(Posted 2009) [#15]
Sounds like your windows xp cd has been damaged. Have you got another cd?


GIB3D(Posted 2009) [#16]
Yea, my mom has one ;) That one works. Hopefully I can get my stuff back on my computer and have everything working soon before I turn amish.


GIB3D(Posted 2009) [#17]
Wow this is just problem after problem. It gets past the loading installation thing. But now it says that setup cannot read the disc, or it is not a Windows CD. I tried mine too at that screen but it says the same thing.

Edit:
Luckily, mom had a Compaq Windows XP disc which got me further into the setup. I'm letting it format my hard drive. I know I already formatted but I'll just let the setup do it anyways.

Edit:
I got Windows XP installed and everything is going fine at the moment.

Edit: Gettin everything installed. I'm using my main computer to type this.


xlsior(Posted 2009) [#18]
have everything working soon before I turn Amish


Hehehe.

Good luck with the rebuild, it's always a pain in the neck to get everything 'just right' again after a reinstall. I started keeping a folder with full installation versions of all software (and drivers) I use on my PC, and burn it to DVD(s) every so many months... That way at least I have all programs handy in one place which tremendously speeds up a reinstall on the few occasions where it may be necessary. (Mostly at computer upgrade time, I rarely need to reinstall windows in the mean time)


GIB3D(Posted 2009) [#19]
Well after I got this computer last year, I decided to start organizing folders certain folders. I made a Downloads folder on the desktop and put all the things like updates, installers, etc. I also discovered I could open up the Quick Launch bar (right click) and look through it like folders and found out I could put folders into it. So I started using a neat folder system. There are folders for things like, Games, Internet, Instant Messaging, Music and Video, etc. Those had things like Shortcuts in them. It made it a lot easier for me. This time around I'll be putting the games that I can install, into "C:/Games" instead of "C:/Program Files".

Also not long ago, I decided to back up some of my files on CD. I'm glad I finally did that though.


mtnhome3d(Posted 2009) [#20]
for something cool, look up rocketdock. you can drag folders on there. i rarely use my start menu any more.
www.rocketdock.com
edit, get the stacks docklet as well. look in the addons section.