So my laptop is infected with vista anti-virus... virus. It pretends to be spyware and asks you to pay them money to get rid of fake malware while restricting use of your computer including the internet. Using my blackberry I found a registration key that was supposed to uninstall it (skip the part where you point out my mistake) and now I can use the internet but the virus is most definatly still on my laptop. In safe mode I cannot reset my harddrive to a earlier date and I am now freakishly paranoid of anything I see online telling me how to get rid of the program.
Help me. Please.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
Wish I could. I ended up reformatting.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
Start by getting Avast. Hopefully you can goad your computer into a boot cleaning. Then, once you've done that, get Malwarebytes and do another sweep.
If stuff like that doesn't work, go to a certified expert and have them sit down with the computer.
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
Im afraid of using my card information while Vista is active.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
I'm pretty sure those are both free.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
this is a link to the free Avast download.
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
Yeah, I found it. Thanks, Im doing it right now.
Posted by Geraine (Member # 9913) on :
My suggestion:
Back up all of your must save data (photos, videos, etx), and reformat.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
there's also most likely going to be a direct fix for it out there somewhere but I don't know which ones are valid. I could ask around, or some of the nerdier than thous here will know
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
Okay so aro 2011 just finished taking care of 100 errors and vista is still on my bottom tool bar.
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
I gotta work tonight this problem will have to wait, thanks in advance for any help anyone can give.
Posted by deerpark27 (Member # 2787) on :
I would like to suggest that the way we now need to think so that we can think clearly about viruses (e.g., 'whether' or 'if' something is or isn't one) spells the beginning of a new rhetorical mode.
AJFleck37@yahoo.com foryesterday I was flipping through the channels this was an instant sense of relief I learned it quickly http://j.mp/eLdqVy its helped me overcome so many hardships hope you make the right choice
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
Open up Task manager and make sure you're on admin so you can see all the processes, find all the exe's the vista virus is using, and find their actual position on the computer like C:\Program Files, here's the tricky part cause you have to be quick, right click the file(s) in task manager and end them, as fast as you can before they start up again RENAME the files and make sure to remove the .exe, however that's not all yet, it will still run, what you need to do then is restart the computer and then delete the no longer working exe's..... ----- These steps will remove the malware, but not the things it may have put on your computer, your internet should work now, unless the exe changed your registry around or some other complicated stuff that's beyond me (without seeing for myself), if it isn't figure it out, if it is I recommend Threatfire - fairly decent protection even if you're using it free Malwarebytes- Absolutely awesome, it's free and works amazing... AVG- Simple and works free too
[ April 20, 2011, 07:29 PM: Message edited by: Rawrain ]
Posted by theresa51282 (Member # 8037) on :
I got the same virus last week when the baby managed to click on some adware with his foot. Malwarebites was able to remove it for me. Unfortunately it was after they hacked my email and got my account shut down for spam. I had a long few days working with my email provider to get it restored. Make sure you change all your passwords. If you used a credit card at all, call the company and put on a fraud alert was advice I got from IT staff.
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
Im pretty sure that I got it from a lyrics website, thats when everything got wonky. I have used my card before but I wont until this is gone and I wont check my account either.
Task Manager is not there, safe mode wont let me reset.
I think Im gonna just reformat, I dont use my laptop for anything but personal entertainment and can easily fit anything I want to save on an eight gig flash drive and re-download anything I want back. Thanks everyone, and I do plan to get some protective software that I didnt think necessary before.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
yeah, uh, if you opt to go the reformat route.
install all the protective software and scan the flash drive before you put anything back on your nice new clean computer.
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
Definatly, Im glad that I havent connected my blackberry or mp3 player to the laptop since this happened.
Posted by airmanfour (Member # 6111) on :
Avast should have killed it after a reboot.
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
Nope, it said it took care of 100 bad programs but I would have to pay for full service. I just reformatted and I think Im good.
Posted by Stone_Wolf_ (Member # 8299) on :
Both are 100% free and very good programs.
Posted by Magson (Member # 2300) on :
User at work caught it a couple of days ago. Malwarebytes took care of it just fine.
Posted by Rawrain (Member # 12414) on :
He cannot use internet, but he might be able to use thumb drives or cd's, so you will need another computers help to get an anti-virus program... ---
Achilles run task manager manually >__> ctrl+alt+del was really buggy for me when I had vista either try Run>Taskmgr.exe Or double click on C:\Windows\System32\taskmgr.exe If it opens up now, do my steps from above! Also if it doesn't work, you could always hazardaguess the file that's thrashing your laptop, and do the steps mentioned above as well .__.
If your computer has nothing valuable I recommend reformatting, but fixing it up afterwords is painstaking /: