Help---Adaware crashed our internet!
 

Our Windows 7 laptop has a big problem!

Hubby went to do an Adware scan, and it goes online and downloads new data, before it scans. Then he hit scan...and poof...internet gone, many icons don't work...but some do.
My documents, my pictures and Word work...but any of the antivirus software won't start. Avast won't start.

We thought two solutions:

Uninstall Adaware
or
Restore to 2 days ago.

We are afraid to do anything without some input. Our son is out of town, but on the phone he suggested the restore. (there is nothing we will lose by this because nothing was saved in those 2 days.

Any other thoughts? It must have been a poor download or corrupted download creating a conflict?

He does not go to dangerous places and does not download games or other stuff.

Restore will not work. He gets a flag saying an antivirus software is still running! Yet he cannot click on anything to turn it off. None of the icons work!

Rebooting for the second time.

Do you know how to do the CTRL/ALT/DEL combo buttons to open the task manager?

then click on processes to see what is running on the system?

then if anything looks overly suspicious google that process name to see what it might be.

this is a safe link for looking up processes-
http://www.processlibrary.com/

If the AV is showing as running and you recognize the name - you can end that operation by highlighting and clicking the End Process button at the bottom of the task manager page.

I'll check back later -working on the barn project...before rains hit

Nothing running in desk top on the Win 7. I had to go to bed early since we did alot of yard work, and I am stressed out about Oreo.

Son called to say move Malewarebytes onto a flash and try running it on Win7.....didn't work, wouldn't open.

Hubby is trying safe mode now, to remove Ad-aware.
Ad-aware reupdates itself on the net before scanning. This is where the problem comes from we think since the scan had been ending after 5 minutes sometimes.

He is also going to remove McAffe which we don't use anymore and just don't open.

I guess it is the GeekSquad next! I hate having some strange person in our system. Son comes home from Calif Tues night.
We may go there Weds and see if he can fix it.

I rarely use that laptop...I hate Win 7.
At least my stuff is safe for now...knock on wood.

Today is the big Vet appt for Oreo...she is not a happy kitty being fasted and cannot go outside! This is very stressful for me..too.. I really hope it is not bad news for her.

Thanks Jo... we could still use your input... if you have any other ideas?

I won't be back until after noon from the vet.

I should have mentioned the Hijack this for you also.

you can download it from cnet or other safe sites
or here-
http://free.antivirus.com/hijackthis/

just run the scan and see what shows as running - there is an info section near the bottom to highlight each thing & check it - or I open a browser and google them if I don't get enough info.

also there's a Hijack this forum where you can learn more and/or share your list if you want to.
many of the top pc security sites have various free prgms to scan/clean etc..

a few -
http://support.kaspersky.com/viruses
http://www.bitdefender.com/freetools/
http://www.comodo.com/business-secur...essentials.php

We cannot get on the internet with our crash. Whatever this problem is is blocking the internet completely.

Can we download Hijack and run it from a flash drive?

I'm pretty sure you can use it that way.

Is it wireless or plugged in for internet?

If wireless I wonder if the wireless driver got scrambled or removed. if you have a cable to plug in to the modem or router you could try that option to check.

We'll try that! Good idea.

Son is coming on Sunday with a rescue disc he made from a Microsoft website. He called to find out if it is 32 bit or 64 bit etc today.

He is almost positive it is a virus--blocking access to the net and to all the scanning programs. He knows a way to get around it and open things and hopefully remove it.:confused:

I have stopped using all the adaware etc and only use the free Microsoft Security Essentials now, which has everything needed all in one (Firewall, anti ad/malware and antivirus etc etc)
Computer has been running better than ever!

sure hope you manage to get all restored. It does sound like a virus got in somewhere...I actually got one once from a Norton automatic update!!

ugh, how awful. Hope you get it sorted fast.

[I use a mobile broadband USB Modem for internet connection. I have had to get two new sim cards during the past couple of years for my modem as during some computer issues they totally stopped functioning.]

The Microsoft rescue disk found 4 severe threats:

Exploit: Java/CVE-2010-0840.DW , .EW , .BF , .DZ

He removed them with the Essentials disk, and all showed "severe". Appears it came off a website using Java.

However, all .exe programs are still not working, and Restore will not go.

We are still looking for answers, but may have to reformat the drive and reinstall Windows and use the system restore discs which we made, and restore files with the Backup.

Last attempt is an AVG download to CD ... still scanning with that.
If it fails to find the culprit that sneaked in with java... it will be a full system wipe and restore. :(

The Windows firewall comes bundled with the Windows Operating System and using it isn't dependent on having Security Essentials installed.

There's a freeware frontend to the firewall called Windows 7 Firewall Control that works with Windows 7 and XP put out by Sphinx Software that gives you added control over what programs can and cannot have incoming and outgoing access to the internet that I like.

Google Sphinx Software Windows 7 Firewall Control if you're interested.

It doesn't hurt to run another program like MalwareBytes to double check to make sure MSE doesn't miss anything.


mrsD, you might as well reformat and be done with it. That way you have a clean start with a clean machine.

+1, malware often masquerades as legitimate system files, making manual removal difficult and risky.

Always have personal files backed up off the computer and preferably off-site. I have all my family pictures backed up on a 32GB USB drive, which I leave off-site in my locker @work. That way, if my house burns down, at least it won't get that copy of irreplaceable files. ;)

Update:

Well... this Win7 computer has a partition on the very large harddrive....that is hidden. Because of it, the restore system discs would not run. I guess those are for new harddrive installation.

During the discussion with our son on the phone, they discovered this hidden spot, and used "image restore" from it, and now the computer is totally wiped. This must be a "reformat" feature? McAffe is now running again (it expired and we had avast on it) so next task is to do something with the virus protection. I want him to try the Microsoft Essentials Chemar recommends, but he found on Consumer Reports, that AVG was the best they tested. :Dunno:

Anyway my partition is gone. All the icons are gone except for 6 or 8 of them. The default wallpaper is on it. And it will connect now to the internet. He had no success with restore to a "date" prior to the crash. But neither he or my son understood this "image restore".

I know I sound incredibly dense about this, but does this mean everything is truly gone? Or is it lurking in the background, or partitioned off in the harddrive someplace?

Next task is to restore some programs. We have discs for my stuff but we don't know if Word was lost, yet. Word came already installed. So hubby is going to futz with the backup and see what comes back. He thinks he made a clone in the beginning. But he seems relieved that at least he got on the net.

I guess when this computer --the old Dell tower/desktop "goes" to cyber heaven, I will get a new one JUST FOR ME! I don't think I'll ever understand Win 7 or by the time I do it, Win 8. Maybe I should get a MAC like my son nags me to do? :o:p :Dunno:

I think the hidden partition is for restoring, but they usually want you to make a back up of those files in case the whole hard drive or main board goes bad and you can't access those files at all..
since the drive was OK, then using the files to restore is the way to do it.

The are free file recovery programs that can even find files after a format- as long as it wasn't a multi secure format/encryption kind.
I usually look on cnet.com for many prgms. you can choose free, then editor ratings , user ratings... and many have reviews at the bottom of the page.

http://download.cnet.com/1770-20_4-0...tsTile;navForm


That's why it is important to not do a regular generic format on a drive and sell it, give it away or donate it.
keep old drive, destroy them- magnets/hammer:rolleyes: or do heavy secure multi encrypted wipes. then try a recovery pgm to see if you can access any old info.

Thanks, Jo. Hubby is going to look there.

I don't have much on that computer, if anything. I have a copy of my main file that I use on the net, but I rarely use that computer so no new things have been added to it. My original is on this machine and my own back up. I really don't like using that Win7 so I avoid it. It should be easy for him to do. The only thing he seems to have lost unless it is on the backup upstairs are is YouTube videos he likes to watch.

What a battle... Now I have to look for old Java files, that a reference site said to get rid of. The Exploit virus uses them to work itself. The MS advice site said to get rid of old java scripts...but I'll have our son look that over.

http://www.microsoft.com/security/po...VE-2010-0840.W

Removing old Java updates:
 

Here from the Java website:

http://www.java.com/en/download/faq/...erversions.xml

This is important to prevent EXPLOIT virus/trojans from invading your machine. They may bypass your antivirus...they did ours!

I looked in my desktop and I have over TEN of them!

The newest version is Java 27. I don't have that one yet. My last one is 26, but since this machine is OLD, I have so so many here!

When I clicked on the Java security link I posted above, it had a subdivision, which I clicked, and it read my cookies and told me what to delete! How nice is that?

So I have no qualms now about doing so. Also before this popped up, I did update to version 6 update 27. Maybe that is how they knew what I had? duh?

This is the link with directions to XP and Vista/Win 7
http://www.java.com/en/download/uninstall.jsp

edit: Okay I did it... removed all that were suggested. This left 3 others and the new version 27 I just downloaded,-- I checked. By going to Java it was pretty straightforward. It would be nice if we KNEW this had to be done! duh? :rolleyes: BTW you have to reboot completely to get the uninstalled files to totally go away. That is done too.

Install malewarebytes also for your spyware removal. ITs free and its better then some of the other ones like adware.

Thank you, yes, I agree and we do use malwarebytes on all 3 of our machines weekly..... we had Spybot, Avast, Adaware and malwarebytes on that Win 7 laptop and hubby scanned every weekend. When the lock up hit it was right after the Adaware download update!...we could not access any scan ware, or icons or get on the net. Putting malwarebytes on a disk or flash would not work. Sometimes we do a trendmicro Housecall maybe once a month, but couldn't do IT because you need the internet for it.:confused:
We found the Exploit intrusion using a rescue Windows disc my son made off the net. Windows was still working, so it ran off the CD drive. Even after removal of the 4 Exploits using it, the computer was frozen... because exploit carries other things along with it...and these were invisible to scans.

Now that hubby has restored it we decided to remove spybot and adaware from all our computers. I don't think either one was doing much of anything, anyway. This is the first virus we have ever had... in a decade! Our son said, sometimes if a website is being attacked at the same time you visit it (even if it is a safe one) you can pick up that virus at that time. I don't know how true that is however.