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Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 24882
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So apparently I managed to get malware or spyware or some shit on my computer. Here are the current problems I am having:
1. Constant warnings from a system tray thing that my computer is not secure.
2. My desktop had been replaced with a similar message and a link to buy Spystorm 2008
3. I can't access task manager. The system tells me the administrator has disabled it. I'm the fucking administrator!
4. I have run fully updated versions of adaware and avg7 to no avail.
5. My Internet currently won't connect either.
6. Since my net doesn't seem to be working anyway, I unplugged my router as a safety precaution. The bullshit system tray thing still tells me that people are attacking my computer from the Internet and I should buy spyware protection, even though it impossible for such attacks to currently occur.
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scamrock
Title: Space Bastard
Joined: Jan 26 2008
Location: Planet Druidia
Posts: 2392
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I had this sort of problem before on my last computer. I took it three different places to get it fixed, installed all sorts of programs to fix it and everything I could think of. I ended up just saving my important stuff to disks and reformating my hard drive. Then it was fine.
The fact that somebody would make adware/malware/spyware that fucks up your computer and then advertises spyware remover makes me want to kill people. I wouldn't think the creators of the software would be behind it, because that would be a little to obvious and they would have been sued or killed by now. But I can't understand why that sort of thing happens.
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erock
Title: likes to party
Joined: Dec 21 2007
Location: Phoenix. its hot outside
Posts: 1219
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the same thing happened to me. I ran spybot ad aware norton avg Ccleaner and hijack this and it seemed to clear up.
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crookshow
Title: Donkey Kong Savage
Joined: Mar 29 2008
Location: bay area, CA
Posts: 573
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My dad seems to manage to get these problems on his computer every now and then, and I'm the one that always has to deal with it. I favor formatting over running 20 different apps and hoping one of them fixes the problem. Plus, you never know if you truly got rid of it or something nasty is still lingering around, waiting to unleash more hell down the road. Formatting may be a bitch, depending on what your backup situation is like (external drives are pretty damn cheap nowadays though), but it always feels good to get a fresh start. I like to keep my C:\ partition limited to like 15 gigs and only install the OS and programs there, keeping everything else on other drives. That way I can easily format the OS, without worrying about losing anything important
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erock
Title: likes to party
Joined: Dec 21 2007
Location: Phoenix. its hot outside
Posts: 1219
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If your set up for future reformats then thats a great idea. but the problem syd has makes it extremely hard to use the computer for basic purposes. i googled the problem and ran into various tech help forums and the solutions they gave were extremely helpful.
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crookshow
Title: Donkey Kong Savage
Joined: Mar 29 2008
Location: bay area, CA
Posts: 573
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Word. Google groups is an excellent resource if you're going to go that route. Just enter in the symptoms you're having and there's bound to be another poor soul who has already gone through the same thing and posted a fix. I view this as more of a temporary solution though, as it still could leave bits and pieces of malicious code on your system, despite the fact the problem seemed to go away...
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erock
Title: likes to party
Joined: Dec 21 2007
Location: Phoenix. its hot outside
Posts: 1219
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Most hijack this lost show the exact root in the registry that the bug or malware puts itself into. Most people with basic common pc knowledge can just follow the examples and fix it themselves without referring to a wipe all, especially if your not set up for one.
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Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 24882
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I'm not set up for a reformat and I wouldn't anyway. I find it to be an extreme solution that should only be used as a last resort. If someone could provide a link, that would be sweet. My primary Internet source right now is my phone.
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Blackout
Title: Captain Oblivious
Joined: Sep 01 2007
Location: That Rainy State
Posts: 10376
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Let's round up a posse and lynch whoever made the crap that messed up Syd's computer! 
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erock
Title: likes to party
Joined: Dec 21 2007
Location: Phoenix. its hot outside
Posts: 1219
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Burt Reynolds
Title: Bentley Bear
Joined: Apr 07 2008
Location: California
Posts: 1399
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I usually log on as admin in safe mode. Safe mode only loads the minimum processes to operate windows, so a lot of times if you run AVG or Ad-Aware, or whatever in this environment it will delete the files that normally "trick" your computer into thinking they are necessary system files. Sometimes a reformat is the only way to go, but sometimes this method works pretty well for pesky spyware. Also, use firefox and if your downloading porn, make sure its 80+mb in size 
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Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 24882
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ha ha, it wasn't porn. I made the mistake of opening a lyrics site in IE and I was fucking bombarded with shit.
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Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 24882
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also this is embarassing but how do I restart in safe mode? My last computer had it as a shutdown option. The closest thing I know how to do is Diagnostic Startup via MSCONFIG...
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FNJ
2010 SLF Tag Champ
Joined: Jun 07 2006
Posts: 12294
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CONTRAVIRUS!
this is EXACTLY what happened to my mom's PC. I had to start fucking the registry with my dik to get it working.
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FNJ
2010 SLF Tag Champ
Joined: Jun 07 2006
Posts: 12294
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| Syd Lexia wrote: |
| also this is embarassing but how do I restart in safe mode? My last computer had it as a shutdown option. The closest thing I know how to do is Diagnostic Startup via MSCONFIG... |
be lazy and cut hte power, turn it back on, the ncut the power again while windows is tryign to boot.
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Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 24882
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ContraVirus, eh? Now that I have a name, I can google a solution. I hope the fix is a spread gun.
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erock
Title: likes to party
Joined: Dec 21 2007
Location: Phoenix. its hot outside
Posts: 1219
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while its booting you can do the f8 or f10 thingy where you choose how to boot it.
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username
Title: owner of a lonely heart
Joined: Jul 06 2007
Location: phoenix, az usa
Posts: 16127
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my computer is still fucked up as well.
i cant download the latest windows update. it always says failed validation for some reason.
itunes wont work on it. i try downloading it and everytime i try, my connection to the internet gets lost about halfway thru and i have to reconnect, so it has to restart the download. same thing w/some youtube videos. some work well all the way thru while others get disconnected halfway thru.
i had other issues w/it but i cant recall them right now. or i fixed them. or both
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| Klimbatize wrote: |
| I'll eat a turkey sandwich while blowing my load |
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Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 24882
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My computer is now mostly fixed.
Task Manager is still hijacked, but most of the spyware and malware is gone due to AVG, Hijack This, Spy Bot, and Ad-Aware and my internet works again due to LSPFix. The main malware program kept reinstalling the other spyware, but that seems to be done with. But it keeps creating a file in the Windows root directly called poYwf (no file extension). I don't know what this file does, but it can't be good, and it keeps reappearing every time I delete it.
But the annoying security pop-ups are gone, which is good.
On the down side though, my computer currently won't read my second hard drive. I am not sure if this is virus related or not. The hard drive is 7-8 years old and it was in my previous computer. I had problems with it briefly about a year ago where the computer gave me PRIMARY HARD DRIVE 1 FAILED messages, but then it stopped. If it starts working again, I'm definitely buying a second USB drive to transfer all the stuff on it onto.
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Blackout
Title: Captain Oblivious
Joined: Sep 01 2007
Location: That Rainy State
Posts: 10376
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So..... can I still round up a posse? 
I used to have this dell 2400 in storage with a bios password on it, and I fucking forgot the password. Instead of consulting experts I let my step dead tinker around with it, he did somthing to the little lithium battery on the motherboard and it took the password away. But it also erased whatever set of instructions the board followed to boot the OS on the hard drive. Now it just sits there and says DISK DRIVE NOT FOUND, The fucking thing never had a damn disk drive! Dont let your step dad touch your computer.
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Burt Reynolds
Title: Bentley Bear
Joined: Apr 07 2008
Location: California
Posts: 1399
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| Quote: |
| But it also erased whatever set of instructions the board followed to boot the OS on the hard drive. |
It's different for different boards, but the CPU is not lost. Most BIOS will look for a floppy drive first off, you have to go to your BIOS and disable a check for floppy. If it can't find your OS drive, you might have to check the boot order, and HD settings.. might need to find somebody that knows what their doing with this, but nothing should be damaged, you just need to point your BIOS in the right direction again, so to speak. Also tell your stepdad that you can move a little jumper on your board and it does the same thing as taking out the battery, without the slight risk of Damage.
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Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 24882
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Yeah, you can still round up a posse if you want.
But my computer is now at 100%, aside from the damn hard drive.
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Tebor
Moderator
Title: Master of the Universe
Joined: Aug 22 2005
Location: Gotham City
Posts: 6088
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| Syd Lexia wrote: |
| ha ha, it wasn't porn. I made the mistake of opening a lyrics site in IE and I was fucking bombarded with shit. |
I freakin' hate those fake websites. 
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"If you will not tell me, I will hurt people!!!" -Nuclear Man
"Do you hear? The alpha and the omega. Death and rebirth. And as you die, so will I be reborn!" - Skeletor
8341 unread forum updates since I left (2/7/14)... Uh-oh. |
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Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 24882
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The worst part about those sites is that:
1. due to blackhat SEO, they're on top of all the major search engines.
2. despite all the spyware, they actually have the correct song lyrics.
If you run them in Firefox though, they tend not to fuck up your computer.
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Blackout
Title: Captain Oblivious
Joined: Sep 01 2007
Location: That Rainy State
Posts: 10376
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NO DOWNLOADS! NO PLUGINS! FIREFOX ONLY! final destination 
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