Posted on 12/11/2010 8:29:26 PM PST by TexasBarak
Need some Freeper help here- I've seen this kind of thing mentioned on here before. My computer has become infected with a virus that tells me I have a "hard disk" problem, that can only be cured by registering their software (six or seven different versions, it would appear).
This happened to my wife a couple of months ago with her laptop- she went in under "safe" mode, downloaded and installed Malware Bytes, and the problem was solved. We did the same tonight with my computer, but it did no good. does anyone have any ideas?
Thanks in advance!
I got hit with one of those redirctors TWICE last week. Combofix was the only way I could get rid of it. I don’t do “porn sites” and “free music download” sites. I’ve got a suspicion that I was picking it up at a popular news site. I’m not mentioning any names but I stopped visiting that site. So far, so good. I’ve used Combofix twice and am keeping it handy. Those redirectors are a real PITA.
And the worst thing is that other lesser measures to clear up the problem only work for about a day. If they didn’t work immediately it would have been more desirable as you could remember what measures you tried earlier. Ones I tried was to add those URLs I was redirected to by the junkware as Restricted Sites in the Security tab under Internet Options. I then tried adding those sites to a host file which worked for good but it was only about 60% effective.
Get Ubuntu.
You should probably mention that it’s usually best to download and burn bootable recovery/cleaning CD’s from a CLEAN SYSTEM!
Otherwise you run the risk of the virus transferring.
See if you can run Combofix or Kaspersky rescue disk, followed by a Malwarebytes or IObit 360 security scan.
I’m pretty sure Spybot has fallen by the wayside in that space.
“This happens for primarily two reasons:
1. You visited a porno site.
2. You visited a site to grab free music, games or software that normally folks pay for.”
Not necessarily. The sites of both our local daily newspapers were infected with variants of this virus. They got into the adware the papers were running, and from there downloaded themselves into your computer if you were unfortunate enough to open the site when an infected ad was running.
Both our daily newspapers are now out of business, I would like to think partly because of this problem.
The first entry is the fix for your problem
1. You visited a porno site.
2. You visited a site to grab free music, games or software that normally folks pay for.
Correct. I almost never get a virus on my computer because I avoid those sites like the plague. However, a month or so ago, I made the mistake of going to a site that offered a "free" MP3 of a song I was looking for (but was not available on iTunes).
I ended up with the "Think Point" virus, which is very similar to what is described here. It took me a while but I finally removed it by following the instructions already posted here above. (It also involved going into the Registry so if you are uncomfortable doing that, find somebody that is.)
Stay away from porn and "free music" sites!
Thanks! I’m working on this right now! I’m betting that your advice will be helpful to a number of others, as well.
Thanks for the suggestions, everybody! I’m sure this will help others besides myself!
“primarily”
Pay attention...
=8-)
Yes, people should download and burn from a clean computer, but I have yet to hear of a virus that can embed itself in a data image in a form that could ever be executed.
Remember, the .IMG file is a huge non-executable of random bits until it’s booted.
You gotta prove intent. Back in the days of punch cards (Assembler, FORTRAN, COBOL, BASIC), a guy I met had taken down (erased) a whole partition of a university mainframe (their accounting and records array)--but he claimed stupidity rather than malice. In the absence of proof, he was suspended from the University for a year. It took them almost that long to straighten things out.
I ended up doing a system restore (twice!), and that finally worked- for now. Thanks for the help, everybody!
If you’re creating a bootable disk, and if a virus vector is via the boot sector, and if you’re creating that bootable disk from such an infected machine...
Sure we can pay the probabilities of all such variables being true, but it’s just better practice to have a disk created from a known clean machine. That helps to remove nagging doubts. Users creating such a disk, just once a year, will cover it.
My $0.02
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.