ACK!!!!

Well last night I set my adaware to do a full scan on my pc like i do once a week along with all other system scans, defrags and what-nots. I woke this morning to find my pc with 500+ explorer windows open and bugs crawling on myscreen. Well not sure what to think or say other than WTF. I restarted my comp and tried to get on the net to research the problem. Internet was diabled...again..WTF...So i desided i would just have to reformat my hard drive..no proplem..just back up file to a cd and save them...CD -dvd DISABLED...WTF...now i cant back-up nothing...oh..system retore point is disbled also...now im just pissed. So it seems i have been hacked. The last thing i downloaded was the GUI_PATCHER...for the UI in-game from curse. It turns out i have a malware trojan. Dont know how this happened ..i use 2 firewalls and 2 spyware blockers. im just baffeled now..and very upset....When I reformat "if this is my only option" i will loose so much stuff..which will cost me hundreds.

Any Ideas out there to resolve this?

This is just terrible! I am so sorry to hear about this. I cannot offer you any advice on the issue, but know that you have my deepest sympathy and hope that everything gets fixed soon.

well, this does belong in a diff section, however i have a few sugestions for you:

1. restart in crippled/ i mean safe mode. if you are unsure how to do this, just restart the pc and repeatedly hit the f8 key.

2. see if things are funcional, if so i would first backup anything important by burning it to a dvd or at least getting it off the system and onto an external hard drive if possible, some how get the important stuff safe and off of the machine or at least copied, however bear in mind that those files could be corrupted as well so choose your options carefully.

3. attempt any backup or re install process that seems best to you.

4. spend the 50 bones a year on http://www.carbonite.com/ online backup service, if your running your art buisness or what not and have invaluable stuff i would deff look into it, its cheap and reliable.

Go Ahead and move please ash...wasnt thinking when i posted....


I did forget about safe mode though...funny to know so much about comps and to forget the simple stuff...ill have to wait til i get home to see if it will let me...im just amazed how thought out this virus is...it wouldnt suprise me if safe mode is fubar as well.

Oh its not the art business that worries me...If you know anything about Sport Fishing...I just got a program to log all my gps and loran spots. I have a book i keep them in....but i have scrap pices of paper everywhere of numbers of fishing spots...and i put them on my pc the other day...threw away the scrap paper ones. An I just spent tons on artificial reefs ...dropped them last week ...wrote numbers down...put them in my pc...threw away paper...i use a sheader btw.

yikes man that blows.

just remember this, data is always salvagable from a working hard drive, the real question becomes then, how much will it cost

if i were to take a hd to my local best buy and purchase a wd mybook for example, i could pay them to dump it on there, might be outrageous but i know i have that option.

Is there anyway to run "hijackthis" via usb or some other media? If you can run it, save the log and get it posted I, and possibly others, could try and spot some entries to remove. That should at least regain some or most functionality. Tougher bugs sometimes require targeted removal programs but the log should give clues to what exactly you have.

It can be found here,
http://www.download.com/Trend-Micro-HijackThis/3000-8022_4-10227353.html

Edre wrote:Is there anyway to run "hijackthis" via usb or some other media? If you can run it, save the log and get it posted I, and possibly others, could try and spot some entries to remove. That should at least regain some or most functionality. Tougher bugs sometimes require targeted removal programs but the log should give clues to what exactly you have.

It can be found here,
[url=http://www.download.com/Trend-Micro-HijackThis/3000-8022_4-10227353.html

http://www.download.com/Trend-Micro-HijackThis/3000-8022_4-10227353.html[/quote[/url]]



Im sure i could...but remember...i cant use the internet on that pc...or the cd-dvd drive. Im on my laptop at the boat atm...that comp is 6 hours away....i left this morning to go to the boat and retrieve my gps unit to dig for my numbers. ill be leaving in a bit to head back home in Ga...yeah i drove to fla in panic to see if my gps numbers just happened to still be on the unit...which seems to be ok so far...downloading them to the labtop now as we speak...and making an extra copy as well.

Damn that sucks homeslice. What version of windows are you running? You might be able to do a new install of vista, and it will put all of your old files into a folder called Windows Old, then you can run a scan on it once you are done reinstalling. Once you have cleaned it, you can open it up and copy any files you need.

Taltos I got a sure fire fix for your backup woes!

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

Build whats called a PE disk or Pre environment disk. Its a bootable mini operating system disk that will enable you to at the very least boot into your pc and then its just a matter of browsing to your HDD then backing up via any means you have available.

I back up to a 500 gig external HDD via the above method.

I have older version of above software so I cant remember if you can burn cd's from this OS or not. Its fun to mess with none the less. Great recovery tool !!!

evilash wrote:well, this does belong in a diff section, however i have a few sugestions for you:

1. restart in crippled/ i mean safe mode. if you are unsure how to do this, just restart the pc and repeatedly hit the f8 key.

2. see if things are funcional, if so i would first backup anything important by burning it to a dvd or at least getting it off the system and onto an external hard drive if possible, some how get the important stuff safe and off of the machine or at least copied, however bear in mind that those files could be corrupted as well so choose your options carefully.

3. attempt any backup or re install process that seems best to you.

4. spend the 50 bones a year on http://www.carbonite.com/ online backup service, if your running your art buisness or what not and have invaluable stuff i would deff look into it, its cheap and reliable.

Agreed, I would try and use the built in windows system restore to revert the computer back to the last known working date. Otherwise, I am pretty good at cleaning up dirty systems using free programs. I could walk you through the removal process over vent sometime, or log into your computer remotely if you feel comfortable with that. Otherwise I would just wipe the system if the previous three options don't appeal to you. Clean up process usually takes about 5-6 hours.

Also, what Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware programs are you currently running?

Also are you running Vista or XP?

Has there been any word yet on if the auto update for the UI was the problem? Because I downloaded it and although I havent had any problems, I am pretty nervous right now.

Thats horrible man. I really hope that things work out for you. Wish I could provide some information besides try safe mode but sadly, I have nothing.

thanks for all the advice....i reformatted ...was up all night reinstalling lots of stuff....i was able to save my numbers...I was able to open the program ..so i just wrote them all down again...you wouldnt think writing down 9-10 numbers 3000+ times would take long...it did.