Windows 7: [Q] Alureon.A: Causes and removal

Recently I exchanged some data with my friend via his pendrive. A day after transferring the data, Microsoft Security Essentials caught a trojan named Alureon.A. Though MSE detected the trojan, neither could it remove it nor quarantine it. Worse was that my laptop was couldn't even stay on for even 2 minutes, it would simply reboot.

Somehow after a lot of research I download TSDD Killer from Kaspersky, the system rebooted, and then I ran it's scan and cured the trojan.



Just wanted to know whether it is completely gone or may come back too. Some forum posts on some other websites say that the problem gets completely cured by TSDD Killer while some say that a format and re-installing of Windows is necessary.

Can someone please give me a clear view about it? And I would also like to know the actual cause(s) for this trojan, Alureon.A.

This is a virus that resides in the boot record and can't be fixed while the operating system is running. It has to be fixed by performing a fix of the mbr and boot by dos command prompt bootrec /fixboot and bootrec /fixmbr.

By the way this is very risky and you could lose your data so beware and save your important data and back it up!!!

If you don't no what you doing don't do it and use Microsoft System Sweeper instead that would be my first approach. Just google for it.

Since you seem to have fixed it here's a little of what it is and does:

The system driver detected as Virus:Win32/Alureon.A is infected by the addition of code, whose function is to load a part of the Alureon rootkit. The Alureon rootkit is a component that gives Alureon the ability to avoid detection; it is created by the same Alureon trojan that infects the system driver.

The rootkit loaded by Virus:Win32/Alureon.A has the ability to avoid behavior blockers, which allows it to perform its malicious routines uninterrupted. It can also hide files and disk sectors.

More here Encyclopedia entry: Trojan:Win32/Alureon.A - Learn more about malware - Microsoft Malware Protection Center

"Use caution when opening attachments and accepting file transfers"

I'll do a scan by MSSS!