Virus Stops Anti-Virus Software & Crashes Computer?

I'm soooo frustrated!

Reviewing my website hits, I found that someone has been able to hijack part of my site and add to the URL, loading huge files over top of the web page. I contacted the site hosting company and asked what I should do to stop this. They said that I must have a virus or some malware on my desktop PC, so scan everything to get rid of it, then change all my passwords, etc.

That sounds like good advice, so I've been trying to do it but everything I try inevitably makes the PC die.

I run Avast anti-virus software. It caused the computer to shut down three times in a row, which has never happened before. I switched over to Spybot Search and Destroy and ran a "quick scan." After about half an hour, when it had scanned about half of my hard drive, the computer crashed again.

I wasn't running any other software at all during any of these attempted scans. My intuition is that the virus, bot or malware fights the scan and cuts the connection. I could be completely wrong, though! I've never had this problem before.

I'm running Windows XP on a computer I've had for four years.

Does anyone have any ideas or recommendations?

I'm soooo frustrated!

 

Reviewing my website hits, I found that someone has been able to hijack part of my site and add to the URL, loading huge files over top of the web page. I contacted the site hosting company and asked what I should do to stop this. They said that I must have a virus or some malware on my desktop PC, so scan everything to get rid of it, then change all my passwords, etc.

 

That sounds like good advice, so I've been trying to do it but everything I try inevitably makes the PC die.

 

I run Avast anti-virus software. It caused the computer to shut down three times in a row, which has never happened before. I switched over to Spybot Search and Destroy and ran a "quick scan." After about half an hour, when it had scanned about half of my hard drive, the computer crashed again.

 

I wasn't running any other software at all during any of these attempted scans. My intuition is that the virus, bot or malware fights the scan and cuts the connection. I could be completely wrong, though! I've never had this problem before.

 

I'm running Windows XP on a computer I've had for four years.

 

Does anyone have any ideas or recommendations?

I would suggest making a Anti-virus recovery disc such from either AVG or Kaspersky.

Basically, you download the image then burn it to a cd. Place the cd in your computer and when the prompt comes up, boot from the cd. Then follow the instructions and it will run and search for any viruses. This way your computer isn't running from your harddrive and therefore any viruses, trojans, ect. won't be able to run.

http://www.avg.com/ie-en/avg-rescue-cd

http://support.kaspersky.com/viruses/rescuedisk

same thing happened to my computer. it was nasty. i tried to launch any *.exe and it would fail. It took control of my administrator password and basically lock me out. I was able to burn any important files off my computer and reformat the hard drive. I tried for hours trying to get a grip on it and failed. I had to disconnect from the internet as there was allot of traffic for no reason.

its really nasty -- did you get the pop-up saying that your computer was infected and that you should purchase a virus scanning product to remove it ..

There were trojans, keyloogers, maleware etc.. you name it I had it all and it was all installed in about 3 minutes once it was able to get it. I lost total control of my computer ..

Careful with your passwords and try to back up your files before reformat your hard drive.

Good luck !

Thanks, guys. I'm downloading the AVG recovery disc now and will run it. I hope I won't have to re-format my hard drive--that would be... awful.

I'll let you know what happens!

I know this doesn't help now Samantha, but simply switch to the Mac OS. I switched from a PC to the MacBook Pro, and regret not having switched years earlier. All I have turned on is the firewall. I have no anti-virus program running and things have been smooth for a year and a half.

Adam

Thanks, Adam. But you're right: it doesn't help. Besides I've been a PC user since they came over on the ark as a box of parts!

I have tried creating a rescue disk with AVG. I had to download AVG and install it, as well. Doing all of this took two and a half hours last night. Finally, I had the rescue disk scan my computer. I went to bed and left it running. At some point, the computer crashed.

This morning, the rescue disk doesn't work. I get an error message and can't scan anything on my system.

So, I've downloaded Kaspersky and will try again. First, though, I have to uninstall AVG, which is likely going to take at least an hour--I'm watching the progress bar slowly, slowly fill up. I remember now that the reason I don't run AVG is that it slows my PC down to the point of being almost impossible to use. Anyway....

If Kaspersky doesn't work... I have a friend who has a chainsaw.....

[An hour later]

I can't uninstall AVG, now. The uninstaller just hangs... does nothing. And I can't install Kaspersky as long as AVG is running. This is madness!

That chainsaw looks more and more reasonable!

Thanks, Adam. But you're right: it doesn't help. Besides I've been a PC user since they came over on the ark as a box of parts!

 

I have tried creating a rescue disk with AVG. I had to download AVG and install it, as well. Doing all of this took two and a half hours last night. Finally, I had the rescue disk scan my computer. I went to bed and left it running. At some point, the computer crashed.

 

This morning, the rescue disk doesn't work. I get an error message and can't scan anything on my system.

 

So, I've downloaded Kaspersky and will try again. First, though, I have to uninstall AVG, which is likely going to take at least an hour--I'm watching the progress bar slowly, slowly fill up. I remember now that the reason I don't run AVG is that it slows my PC down to the point of being almost impossible to use. Anyway....

 

If Kaspersky doesn't work... I have a friend who has a chainsaw.....

 

[An hour later]

I can't uninstall AVG, now. The uninstaller just hangs... does nothing. And I can't install Kaspersky as long as AVG is running. This is madness!

 

That chainsaw looks more and more reasonable!

There is no need to install AVG or Kaspersky. All you do is download the cd image and burn it to a cd.

There is no need to install AVG or Kaspersky. All you do is download the cd image and burn it to a cd.

That's what I thought, too, Sid. AVG said that it couldn't run in the presence of another anti-virus program and that, as part of the rescue disk scan, it needed to update the AVG files that had to be on my computer. So, I uninstalled Avast, installed AVG, and then the rescue disk did something for awhile before crashing and reporting that it couldn't run when I tried to use it to reboot the computer again.

Apparently AVG's software is very difficult to remove, but their website does provide a remover for when their uninstaller doesn't work. So, I've got rid of AVG. I downloaded and installed Kaspersky and am now downloading the ISO file on the laptop. When I tried to download it on the desktop, it got about half-way and then crashed the computer.

I may have to take the computer somewhere to get it cleaned up if this doesn't work. I'm not sure where to do that, though. Computer repair guys are everywhere!

Basically once the virus/trojan (Etc) is in your system your screwed. Antivirus can not be a after thought.

You need to back up all your photos and format the computer then reinstall your OS. It's the only 100% sure way to move forward. First thing you install after all your drivers is your anivirus. Make sure it is up to day and then install programs.

In addition to the Mod's advise, I recommend disconnecting your ethernet cable before re-installing windows XP (having a clean copy of the latest service pack on hand is very useful). I found in the past there was an exploit in windows that as soon as I re-installed my computer was compromised again. I unplugged from the network and re-installed, patched and re-connected and was fine.

This may be less of a concern if you are behind a firewall.

Also, I've found it more effective to boot into safe mode before running a scan. Most of the virus' I have encountered relied on the system loading something in the background (namely drivers). This avoided them being loaded and gave the system a chance to detect them.

I am a little foggy on how they clean. I suspect most viruses are not cleaned, but (as the software seems to suggest) renamed and placed into a "vault". This may be cause for system instability over time and may require a system fix, or better yet a reformat.

Regardless, Windows appears to function better when re-installed on occasion. You may wish to check how much space you have free on your hard drive. When running less then a gig your sure to have sever system degradation.

That's all I got.

That's what I thought, too, Sid. AVG said that it couldn't run in the presence of another anti-virus program and that, as part of the rescue disk scan, it needed to update the AVG files that had to be on my computer. So, I uninstalled Avast, installed AVG, and then the rescue disk did something for awhile before crashing and reporting that it couldn't run when I tried to use it to reboot the computer again.

 

Apparently AVG's software is very difficult to remove, but their website does provide a remover for when their uninstaller doesn't work. So, I've got rid of AVG. I downloaded and installed Kaspersky and am now downloading the ISO file on the laptop. When I tried to download it on the desktop, it got about half-way and then crashed the computer.

 

I may have to take the computer somewhere to get it cleaned up if this doesn't work. I'm not sure where to do that, though. Computer repair guys are everywhere!

It sounds to me like you didn't boot from the cd. It may be best just to do what the Mod suggested.

In addition to the Mod's advise, I recommend disconnecting your ethernet cable before re-installing windows XP (having a clean copy of the latest service pack on hand is very useful). I found in the past there was an exploit in windows that as soon as I re-installed my computer was compromised again. I unplugged from the network and re-installed, patched and re-connected and was fine.

 

This may be less of a concern if you are behind a firewall.

 

Also, I've found it more effective to boot into safe mode before running a scan. Most of the virus' I have encountered relied on the system loading something in the background (namely drivers). This avoided them being loaded and gave the system a chance to detect them.

 

I am a little foggy on how they clean. I suspect most viruses are not cleaned, but (as the software seems to suggest) renamed and placed into a "vault". This may be cause for system instability over time and may require a system fix, or better yet a reformat.

 

Regardless, Windows appears to function better when re-installed on occasion. You may wish to check how much space you have free on your hard drive. When running less then a gig your sure to have sever system degradation.

 

That's all I got.

If you formatted and got a virus when installing windows then you either (1) have a illegal copy of windows that is compromised or (2) you have more then one partition on your drive or (3) you have a boot block virus but it's been years since I have heard of anyone getting one of those!

Removing the network card would only disable to virus from connecting and downloading additional source code or sending info.

I suspect you had a bad network card that was just causing windows to crap out when you installed it (before you got the real drivers installed for it)

Virus's are only cleaned and "Vaulted" if they are caught BEFORE they get a chance to run. Once they run (these days at least) they randomly create files and alter system files infecting everything. It's really impossible to clean it all out.

STEPS YOU MUST TAKE:

Backup your data (NO Executable files or system files), Completely Format all drives and partitions in the computer, reinstall windows, reinstall all drivers, reinstall antivirus, update antivirus, reconnect your computer to the internet, reinstall your programs (Warez/illegal programs are FULL of nasty stuff so stay away from them). Then you know it's gone. If you don't want to do anything past backing up your files you can pay a computer store to do this for about 75-150 dollars usually.

Once you get your computer sterilized and updated you should create an entire restore of your computer and burn it to dvd. This way you will be able to recover faster and easier than what you are faced with now.

In your control panel / system and maintenance is where you will find the windows backup an restore

Windows Complete PC Backup

When you first set up your computer, you should create a Windows Complete PC Backup image, which is like taking a snapshot of the programs, system settings, and files on your computer. You can use this backup if your computer ever stops working. Although this type of backup includes your personal files, we recommend that you back up your files regularly using the Back Up Files wizard. You should also update the Windows Complete PC Backup image every six months. Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore is included with Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise, and Windows Vista Ultimate.

Thanks Mod, and everyone.

My system can't access the CD drive, so I can't backup most of my data. The most important documents are all in a dropbox in cyberspace. Other important stuff--photos and so on--are still on my hard drive. I'm going to buy more dropbox space and upload those things.

My computer is very old. It may just be better to buy a new one and transfer data files if possible, find the disks for any software I need and start over. So much for a peaceful weekend!

I have no idea where or when I picked up this Trojan. My antivirus software is always up to date, but I suppose things slip by occasionally.

Thanks Mod, and everyone.

 

My system can't access the CD drive, so I can't backup most of my data. The most important documents are all in a dropbox in cyberspace. Other important stuff--photos and so on--are still on my hard drive. I'm going to buy more dropbox space and upload those things.

 

My computer is very old. It may just be better to buy a new one and transfer data files if possible, find the disks for any software I need and start over. So much for a peaceful weekend!

 

I have no idea where or when I picked up this Trojan. My antivirus software is always up to date, but I suppose things slip by occasionally.

If you can't access your cd drive, try using a flash drive to copy your files to.

 

I have no idea where or when I picked up this Trojan. My antivirus software is always up to date, but I suppose things slip by occasionally.

Easily slip by. Many virus's exist and are in the wild that are NOT in the antivirus database yet and with the internet they spread quicker then the antivirus's can be updated (Especially by email and illegal software "Warez") you should NEVER open a email attachment (Even from someone you know as they could have been hacked or infected and sending virus's unknowingly.

Never download a program from a untrusted source.

Use firefox or chrome or something other then IE as IE seams to get more malware as it seams to have exploits more often then the other broswers.