Great stupid viruses may have just cost me my whole god dang laptop

Title says it all. I somehow got a massive virus that completely killed internet explorer, since then random crap has automatically been installed like a dang calculator. Now google chrome has failed, settings have been changed, almost all games are now blocked where i cant open them, pop ups have been through the roof, so 1 virus has multiplied to over 500 viruses so now i may have to get a new laptop cause mines screwed up bad 

I cannot even open my pictures folder (literally) without my laptop crashing,  the ONLY thing i can open on my laptop is minecraft. I cannot open the internet anymore so if i seem to be online less often then it would mean my computer would be in the garbage so yeah.


All i can say is i hope that my friend can clean it up without wiping to much data so heres hoping the damage can be undone if not then i will be using minechat till i get a new one

sounds like adware. I suggest malwarebytes to get rid off it.

mickdude2 wrote:sounds like adware. I suggest malwarebytes to get rid off it.

Its actually good to use Malwarebytes on a regular basis, not just when you know theres a problem. Personally, my computer is like, 10 years old and has been behaving like a child for months and it seems that Malwarebytes is the only way I can get on it for a prolonged amount of time. After exams I think Ima clean the crap out of it, then maybe I can finally use the damn thing.

I had malware bytes installed 5 months ago and it has done nothing to help and since it was installed the problems got worse

I will try that but i was told mot to delete it but if you think it will help i will delete it

I definitely wouldn't replace the laptop over this, if it's in really bad shape you might want to reinstall windows but unless you were going to upgrade anyways I wouldn't spend a ton of money replacing the computer. If you have the material/ documentation the computer came with you probably have a windows install disk and key, if not you can pick up a copy of win7 for around $70.

What laptop is it??

Used to have mw-bytes, been using Avast for a while. Common Sense is great and all, but other people use my computer sometimes and it doesn't block everything.

Worse case scenario, could dig up your restore disk and try restoring the computer to factory conditions, but you'd need to reinstall the games and programs you want that didn't come with it. I had to do that a few times on my vista laptop... stupid profile corruption errors...

I don't have a nice desktop, so I tend to run my laptops into the ground using them constantly. Dad, on the other hand, bought a freaking spaceship-sized one for himself (2ftx3ft screen aprox) and won't let us use it. After griping about buying my brother a tiny cheap-ass laptop for school. He wont even let me breathe near it without throwing a fit.
Thanks Dad.
and he only uses it to check ebay I could take a brick to his head

thats why i use either mac or ubuntu (on my chromebook which i hacked, it should play minecraft)

Helthmagazine wrote:thats why i use either mac or ubuntu (on my chromebook which i hacked, it should play minecraft)

Thing with ubuntu is the most useful thing you can get on there is a windows emulator. As far as gaming goes, you're pretty limited- Minecraft works, but most other games don't bother with it.

And macs? Really dude? Macs may have less viruses coded for them (they are by no means impervious to viruses) but Windows computers can recover from just about any software problem with a boot drive. I won't even get into the pricing of one...

Always keep a spare boot drive. I keep mine with my birth certificate, SS card, and passport, to give you an idea of how important it is to me :P

Malwarebytes probably didn't help prevent the infections because it's the free version. Either way, run it in safe mode. I also suggest Spybot 2.0. Also get Microsoft Security Essentials (assuming you dont have Windows 8) and Safety Scanner. Wouldn't hurt to run Trend Micro's tools as well: House Call, Hijack This, Rootkit Buster

Run them ALL in safe mode. Everything they detect select to either quarantine or delete.

To get into safe mode:
Windows 7 and older: Reboot your computer and spam the F8 key before the 'Windows' logo appears. If it does then you waited too long to spam F8, try again. If successful, use the arrow keys to select 'Safe Mode' - do NOT use 'Safe Mode With Networking' or other options. Hit enter.

Windows 8: Read Here. Use 'Minimal'. Same process is required to get out of Safe Mode- just uncheck Safe Boot.

EDIT: also, once the viruses and such are gone; CHANGE ALL YOUR ONLINE PASSWORDS

raidenraccoon wrote:Malwarebytes probably didn't help prevent the infections because it's the free version. Either way, run it in safe mode. I also suggest Spybot 2.0. Also get Microsoft Security Essentials (assuming you dont have Windows 8) and Safety Scanner. Wouldn't hurt to run Trend Micro's tools as well: House Call, Hijack This, Rootkit Buster

Run them ALL in safe mode. Everything they detect select to either quarantine or delete.

To get into safe mode:
Windows 7 and older: Reboot your computer and spam the F8 key before the 'Windows' logo appears. If it does then you waited too long to spam F8, try again. If successful, use the arrow keys to select 'Safe Mode' - do NOT use 'Safe Mode With Networking' or other options. Hit enter.

Windows 8: Read Here. Use 'Minimal'. Same process is required to get out of Safe Mode- just uncheck Safe Boot.

EDIT: also, once the viruses and such are gone; CHANGE ALL YOUR ONLINE PASSWORDS

English would help im not s computer wizzard so i dont know all these programs

ThunderTheW0lf wrote:
English would help im not s computer wizzard so i dont know all these programs

All the programs Raccoon mentioned are free to use and will help remove the virus from your system. The process he wrote up is very similar to the one I used at school for our help desk. It is very effective and if you follow it to the letter, it should help with your laptop. Go and download them (assuming your laptop can still get into safe mode) and run each program.

Just promise you won't bring your laptop to Geek Squad or some other BS computer repair service. They will charge you a ton of money and they probably will just reinstall windows.

If you want, I can make a YouTube video on how to do manual virus scans. It might help. I'll upload the video later tonight/tomorrow. I'll use the process that Raiden mentioned above.

I agree 9000% with you on that Mad. Avoid GeekSquad at all costs. They DO NOT know what they are doing. I can tell you some horror stories about them...

Anyway, Thunder, download and install at the very least the 1st 4 programs mentioned (okay, don't think Microsoft's Safety Scanner can be installed, so skip that for now, but DO download it). If you can't install them due to the infections, Malwarebytes can be installed in safe mode (it's the 'big gun') Not sure about the others, but at least malwarebytes will clean up most of the stuff and you can install them later.

EDIT: if you cant even download the programs, you can boot into Safe Mode with Networking to, at the very least, download, install & update Malwarebytes. However, if you can avoid this, please do. With connection to the internet, the infection(s) only have more freedom to wreak havoc.

Install what you can and boot into safe mode:

IF YOU HAVE WINDOWS 8 (also works on Windows 7):

• Press the Windows key (at the bottom of all keyboards, has the Windows symbol) and press the R key at the same time.
  
• Type msconfig and either hit the Enter key or click 'run'
  
• Once the dialog box opens, go to the 'Boot' tab.
  

• Check 'Safe Boot' and make sure 'Minimal' is the one selected.
  
• Hit 'OK' or 'Apply'. It will ask to restart your computer. Hit 'Yes' or 'OK'
  
• FOR THE ABOVE 'EDIT': check 'Network' instead of Minimal. Avoid this if you can. We want to 'disable' the infection(s) as much as possible
  

(To get out of Safe Mode with this method, repeat the process, but uncheck 'Safe Boot')

IF YOU HAVE WINDOWS 7 OR OLDER:

• Restart your laptop
  
• Immediately start rapidly pressing the F8 key (at the top of your keyboard) once windows fully shuts down
  
• -if the 'Windows' logo/Starting Windows screen appears, it didn't work, try again.
  

• If successful your screen should look like this:
  

• Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to go down by 1 and select 'Safe Mode' (do not select any other options unless you have to do download malwarebytes!) and hit the Enter key. You will now load into safe mode.
  
• For the above 'EDIT', to download, install & update Malwarebytes, select 'Safe Mode with Networking. Once installed and updated, restart your computer, repeat the process to get to the above screen and select just "safe Mode'
  
  

To exit out of safe mode in this method, simply restart your laptop.


ONCE IN SAFE MODE
If you couldn't install any programs:
install malwarebytes.
Once installed, run it and go to the 'Scan' tab up at the top. Preferably, run a Full scan.

If you were able to install everything:

• Run Microsoft Safety Scanner- this is one of the 2 faster scans. Follow the on screen instructions (tbh idk if this will run in Safe Mode)
  
• Run Spybot- this is the 2nd faster scan. Click 'System Scan'. What ever it finds, make sure it's selected and hit 'Fix Selected' or 'Remove Selected'. Cant remember what it says XP
  
• Run Malwarebytes. Go to the Scan tab. Run the Scan. Check/Select what ever it finds afterwards and hit 'Remove Selected'
  
• Finally, run Microsoft Security Essentials and hit 'Scan Now'. It really shouldn't find anything because Malwarebyte's should have found everything else, but if it does, remove/quarantine them.
  

Once that is done:
Restart your laptop normally, update Spybot, Malwarebytes & Security Essentials and re-run the scans while loaded into Windows normally. The updates will ensure the programs can detect the latest viruses, etc. Set Security Essentials to run a scan once a week (go to the 'Settings' tab and check 'Run a scheduled scan on my PC')

It will update with Windows Updates and run a scan weekly automatically.

Update Spybot & Malwarebytes once a week and run full system scans once a month.

To further automate your protection, purchase a yearly license for Malwarebytes Premium. It acts like Security Essentials in that it updates automatically, actively protects your system during normal activities and you can set scheduled scans. The license is $25 a year for up to 3 PCs/Laptops.

Sorry if I sound like an ad or what ever, I'm just very serious about virus/malware protection. And Malwarebytes is one of the best out there.

EDIT: Imma be honest with all of you. Aside from hunting down & removing virus files manually if necessary, this is pretty much exactly what we technicians do when you bring in your infected computer/laptop to get the virus or whatever it's infected with removed. Save yourself a ton of cash and keep those programs I mentioned in mind (or better yet, just install them already) and follow what I mentioned in this post.

Well thing is one of my dad's friends is a big computer technician (he's even worked on one of the control panels for NASA) he knows exactly how to fix this and so i will see if he can fix it otherwise if he cant I'm out of a laptop. I will be unable to perform any of this software fixes ,since i am like a 2 year old baby trying to do calculus, when it comes to computers