Virus!!! please help?

Question

i just got a virus by downloading a bad torrent.. i cant even access my c and d drive!! i have no adminstrative powers.. how do i get rid of it??? thanks so much!!

Answer 1

You dont have to worry so much, there is a good way to clean your system completely and FREE!

There is no way to delete the virus completely having the the windows logged on. If you want to clean the virus completely from your system then you have to run the scan without logging into windows. This can be done by making rescue CD.

Three simple steps for deleting the virus.

Step 1.

Download Avira Anti-Virus Free Edition (the best antivirus! of highest signature detection rate! 99.6%)  from http://www.download.com/Avira-AntiVir-Pe... from some another computer (2nd computer is necessary). After downloading the file from some another computer you have to be a little bit more cautious. Save it to some portable media like USB Drive or External HDD something like that and make the file as Read-Only so that it cannot be infected. I would suggest you to write the file into CD-ROM and then install the antivirus from CD as some viruses can change file attributes.

After installing Avira, create rescue CD, and then perform a thorough virus scan without entering into windows.(rescue disk is necessary for this). For that just load the CD at boot time, and give priority to your CD-ROM from your motherboard (press DEL when your computer finishes POST). Run the scan, virus gone!.

Step 2

After cleaning, if the virus has corrupted some operating system files and system registries then you have to do one thing more, insert your windows CD-ROM at boot time just like the rescue CD, and repair or update the windows. (DO NOT clean install as you might loose data!!)

Step 3

(Dont perform this step unless and until you very sure about the speed of your PC)

By this step most of the problems of the systems should be gone. Finally, if you think that your computer is performing at a slower speed, however it should not, then install CCleaner and run a registry scan to delete invalid entries in the registry. You can download it from here http://www.download.com/CCleaner/3000-21... (freeware and one of the best!). Download from another computer (idea is to stay offline). Dont try to remove junk files from the software(important) instead run Disk Cleanup from "%SystemRoot%\system32\cleanmgr.exe" and then perform cleanup.

Answer 2

You may be infected with some kind of spyware or Trojans...

Go to http://www.pcthreat.com and download the software. It will scan Your computer and You will see if You have anything.

Answer 3

I would try AVG, if that doesnt help then checkout http://www.nicklockard.com for more help

Answer 4

Use an anti spyware. You can find information and reviews on anti spywares at the link below.

Answer 5

try restoring your system to an earlier time...

try running some good antivirus programs.

it would be more helpful to you if you can add more information about your problem.. and explain it.. so that ppl here can understand exactly what happened..  

Answer 6

O.K. Here we go. First of all this is meant to answer the most commonly asked questions. Such as. 1) Why is my computer acting funny and what is malware,spyware,trojans,etc?  2)How can I tell if I am really infected? 3)How do I fix the problem? 4)Are there free utilities that I can use and if so which ones are best? 5)What is the best security software.

Your computer is most likely to act up as a result of MALWARE.  Malware, also known as Malicious Software, is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner's informed consent. Malware includes computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, most rootkits, spyware, dishonest adware, and other malicious and unwanted software.

There are a couple of good Free online scans to verify the presence of an intrusion. Trend micro Housecall and Kaspersky. Housecall will also remove malware while Kaspersky offers a Free 30day FULL VERSION TRIAL.

Fixing the problem is only half the equasion. First is to attempt to prevent this from happening in the first place. To do this you must employ several tools together. A firewall. An anti-spyware utility. An anti-virus utility. And in some cases a popup blocker. Next is to remove any intrusions that happen to get through.*Note* The stronger your utilities and the more often they update their detection protocols the less likely something will get through.

The proper way to remove malware is to turn off your system restore. (malware hides a copy of itself there quite often) Then re boot into safe mode. (keep pressing f8 when you power up and select safe mode) Then run your anti virus / anti spyware-trojan utilities. Then re-boot with your internet connection disabled and re-run your scans. then turn your restore back on and set a new restore point.

Lets face it. You usually get what you pay for.There are some rather fine Freeware utilities out there but none of them are as strong as the ones you pay for. Of the pay ones Norton / Symantec is almost as big a joke as McAffee.Which is just marginally better than the c**p that microsoft packs with windows. Google the anti virus certifying bodies that rate these companies. Use what the pros use. Of the freeware out there my personal preferences are: For Anti-Virus) Avira Antivir, AVG, Avast, Cyber Defender.

For Anti-Spyware) Ad Aware, Panda, SpywareTerminator, SuperAntiSpyware, Spybot S&D.  Firewalls) Agnitum outpost, **COMODO PRO**, ZoneAlarm.

As for the paid for utilities There is something that needs saying. Running seperate utilities is more resource intensive on a system. It will use more of your processor as well as more of your RAM. Most GOOD security utilities are Suites which not only use less system resource but include such things as firewall, privacy protection, file anti-vir, mail anti-vir, web anti-vir, Anti-spam, parental control, and a little thing called a "Proactive defense" which monitors your computer for ANY unauthorized changes to its configuration. By the way I am a typical guy and surf p**n like the rest of you. (DON'T FRONT) I also operate and download in hostile environments. The reason I'm saying this is to tell you that a GOOD QUALITY SUITE (like Kaspersky or TrendMicro) is capable of really protecting the average user.

Here are some download links for the above mentioned software. And finally. Here is a review by PC Authority magazine of 47 products rated by price, performance,ease of use, etc.

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Search/Def...

http://www.free-av.com/

http://lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_fr...

http://www.spywareterminator.com/

http://www.agnitum.com/products/outpostf...

http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/

http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner

http://usa.kaspersky.com/trials/home-use...

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/