A question for the computer geeks

[Bustertheclown]

Since there are plenty of techie IT folks on this forum, I have a question for you:

I got hit with a nasty little bit of code the other day, which hijacks Google and Yahoo result links, blocks pages to antivirus websites, blocks use of Spybot S&D, AdAware doesn't catch it, and it seems to even block system restore functions. It slows any and all online connections to a crawl, and sometimes freezes the browsers. It's attached itself to Firefox, IE, and even effects my connections to Everquest. As far as I can tell, it might be associated with a Vundo trojan, or was brought in by a Vundo popup that I didn't catch. In my search for a solution, I've come across word of a program called Malwarebytes, which makes a lot of claims about catching malware that causes these symptoms. I figured I might give it a try before just wiping XP, and starting fresh. So, anyone willing to recommend Malwarebytes, or should I just stay away?

Thanks for the advice.

[Levi-chan]

Personally, I think this is all you need, and maybe some cleaning of C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts, but the one you had sounded vaguely intruiging. Good reviews too. Hmm.

[Kirb]

I'm going to have to say what I say to most people whose computers I've had to disinfect: just wipe the drive.

Typically, trojans and viruses ingrain themselves so much into the registry and inner functions that it will be very difficult to get them out without damaging the kernel and other things. Then your machine will limp away like a crippled dog hoping for a mercy death. (Or not, but it's somewhat rare, and over time you'll notice a performance difference anyway.)

Back up all of your necessary files, put'm on an external or separate drive, and format away. It's not worth the extensive time, money and headache, believe me.


edit: Hijackthis is pretty awesome though.

[Keffria]

My parents have that program on their PC (I'm a Mac user, so I'm filled with a false sense of security >_> ), and for what it's worth, they haven't had any malware-related issues since their tech guy stuck it on there. This is impressive when you consider that two out of the three people that use the machine search obsessively for various pirated things and tend to click "yes" without thinking.

Still, I'm going to second Kirb's recommendation: once you pick up a trojan or virus, it's far easier to just back up your important files, wipe the drive, and then install something like Malwarebytes as a preventative measure.

edit: I am not a computer geek. :<

[War]

Use Malwarebytes and superantispyware to get rid of it.

[MattRo]

I use AVG with Ad-Aware and they both typically get everything out of my system when something goes wrong. And they're both free.

However, if those don't work I find the best solution is to throw the computer out of the window and if the fall doesn't break it up, take a hammer to it.

Also, keep a look out for any "Antivirus date" thing. The ones I know of are Antivirus 2008, Antivirus 2009 and Antivirus 2010. They will really screw up your computer. A warning sign for those is, your browser will instantly go to a page for one of those "products" saying a harmful virus has been found on your system and this product is going to clean it out for free. It will automatically start "cleaning" which I think is when it's putting it's garbage onto your system. Just red x it and all popups after it. Don't click close or no or anything, just red x it. If you catch it in time you shouldn't have to worry, but still do some scans with your own actual virus cleaning stuff for safe measure.

[Rkolter]

I've been pleasantly surprised by how effective MalwareBytes can be at getting rid of stuff AdAware can't see.

[Bustertheclown]

Well, I just did the quick scan option on Malwarebytes, and it looks like it might've worked. Very cool stuff.