My computer has some bad spyware on it. It changed my background to a warning message , it is running all sorts of pop up apps. It keeps scanning things and saying my comp is infected all over. I cannot access my antivirus software either, it keeps saying that it is infected too. What do I do, I need help bad.
serious computer help needed please
- Thread starter NA97GT
- Start date
google malewarebytes.org
download it and run it
download it and run it
Back up your files and reformat. Hopefully someone will have a better option, but I wouldn't get my hopes up.
And for the love of Odin, that's malwarebytes, without the first e. The misspelling is a squatter and could make things worse.
And for the love of Odin, that's malwarebytes, without the first e. The misspelling is a squatter and could make things worse.
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boot in safe mode by starting up your computer and when its booting up rapidly tap F8 until a menu pops up.. select safe mode and run any anti virus or spyware remover you have. I use AVG, Adware, and spybot which can all be downloaded at download.com. They all work really well.
If that doesn't work try doing a system restore and restore it to a few weeks ago.
If you cant get the spyware off your going to have to wipe your hard drive. So back up all your music, pictures and anything else that is important on to a DVD now in case your computer crashes or gets the blue screen.
If that doesn't work try doing a system restore and restore it to a few weeks ago.
If you cant get the spyware off your going to have to wipe your hard drive. So back up all your music, pictures and anything else that is important on to a DVD now in case your computer crashes or gets the blue screen.
Open up the Task Manager.
Do you have a process running called reader_s.exe?
Do you have a process running called reader_s.exe?
Your machine is compromised and shouldn't be trusted. You'll never be certain that you've gotten rid of it all and odds are good that you won't. Back up your data, reformat and reinstall. Your personal information is at risk if you don't.
try a system restore first...i've had limited success with that in the past. not guaranteed, but might be worth a shot.
format C:\
download and install Vista Eternal x64, Firefox/Chrome and no other bullshittery. Or Windows7 (aka Vista Lite/SP2) but youll have to actually buy it when the times comes, unless theres a crack for it (im sure there will be).
Last time i got a virus it was packed inside an install file for some b-rate PC game. Oh Noes! I reformated and in an hour i was back to where i was originally. I keep all my games on one drive (the image files to reinstall) and movies/media on another. Nothing but the OS/Firefox/Etc get installed on my main drive.
I have been spyware/adware/trojan/malware/etc free for years otherwise.
download and install Vista Eternal x64, Firefox/Chrome and no other bullshittery. Or Windows7 (aka Vista Lite/SP2) but youll have to actually buy it when the times comes, unless theres a crack for it (im sure there will be).
Last time i got a virus it was packed inside an install file for some b-rate PC game. Oh Noes! I reformated and in an hour i was back to where i was originally. I keep all my games on one drive (the image files to reinstall) and movies/media on another. Nothing but the OS/Firefox/Etc get installed on my main drive.
I have been spyware/adware/trojan/malware/etc free for years otherwise.
If you have access to another computer, remove the hard drive and install it as a Slave in the other computer, then virus scan and spyware scan that drive from the second computer. After it is finished replace the drive in the original computer and run another virus scan and spware scan just to be safe.
The first scan should remove any infections and their associated files, the second scan with the drive back in the original computer will take care of the registry entries and other leftovers.
The first scan should remove any infections and their associated files, the second scan with the drive back in the original computer will take care of the registry entries and other leftovers.
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Take your computer off the internet now and turn it off. Copy this URL and have a friend download and burn a CD for you to boot to. http://www.freedrweb.com/livecd/
Indeed, but back up your data first. I've had a system restore go south on me once, and while all of the data will still be there you won't have a working OS and will need to put the drive in a machine with a bootable drive to get the data off of it, obviously a PITA.
Fdisk
pretty kewl. Bookmarked for future occurrences.
Not necessarily. You can get Ubuntu live CD and it mounts NTFS drives automatically from what I've seen. Hook up an external hard drive to copy all your data that way. I'm still an Ubuntu newbie so not sure it can burn CD's in livecd mode.
You would need two optical drives on the machine, but yeah. And... Crap! I wish I'd known about that when I was fixing my host's computer in Scotland. Oh well, I got her data back...
None of the solutions suggested are going to completely remove the adware/spyware/viruses. After 10+ years dealing with IT security on a professional level, I can tell you that the programmers who wrote this stuff are very smart and their products show amazing resilience against virus scanners, spyware scanners, etc once they're entrenched on your machine. The removal products cannot locate and fix all the issues that malware creates. Even if you do manage to get rid of all the tendrils of malware, it often leaves your files damaged and your machine limping like it got a leg amputated.
You may think you got it, but I guarantee you that you didn't and you'll be dealing with it again in the very near future. In the meantime, your personal data is being compromised and you're probably participating in a botnet that is distributing spam or is launching distributed attacks against other networks. You can't trust your machine ever again unless you reformat and reload everything.
The best way to deal with this issue is to not let it get a toehold in the first place. Get a reputable virus scanner and a firewall. Keep up to date on your security patches. Don't click on everything you see. You can't ignore computer security with all the crap out there.
You may think you got it, but I guarantee you that you didn't and you'll be dealing with it again in the very near future. In the meantime, your personal data is being compromised and you're probably participating in a botnet that is distributing spam or is launching distributed attacks against other networks. You can't trust your machine ever again unless you reformat and reload everything.
The best way to deal with this issue is to not let it get a toehold in the first place. Get a reputable virus scanner and a firewall. Keep up to date on your security patches. Don't click on everything you see. You can't ignore computer security with all the crap out there.
ttt, i want the op to get helped out.
but yeah, op, if you have that reader_s.exe process running... well, you're ****ed
reader_s is a strain of virut, which infects your executables. (.exe, .rar, .zip, etc) it can also infect flash drives as well! so basically if you get this virus, you must format and reinstall. it sucks, this virus got me a month or so ago.
if this is your problem, back up everything but the executable files
and if your flash drives are infected, insert them into a computer that has an antivirus software with a resident scanner (so it detects the virut when you insert it) so you can clean it out.
also, again, if this is the case: if you used any credit cards or whatever recently, call up your cc company and tell them you may be a victim of identity theft!! virut opens backdoors that allows people to steal your financial and personal data.
i hope this isn't the case for you, because this virus is one of the most dangerous out there and my comp recently got it as i said before. but good luck op, i hope you get your computer back in shape!
but yeah, op, if you have that reader_s.exe process running... well, you're ****ed
reader_s is a strain of virut, which infects your executables. (.exe, .rar, .zip, etc) it can also infect flash drives as well! so basically if you get this virus, you must format and reinstall. it sucks, this virus got me a month or so ago.
if this is your problem, back up everything but the executable files
and if your flash drives are infected, insert them into a computer that has an antivirus software with a resident scanner (so it detects the virut when you insert it) so you can clean it out.
also, again, if this is the case: if you used any credit cards or whatever recently, call up your cc company and tell them you may be a victim of identity theft!! virut opens backdoors that allows people to steal your financial and personal data.
i hope this isn't the case for you, because this virus is one of the most dangerous out there and my comp recently got it as i said before. but good luck op, i hope you get your computer back in shape!
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