No programs open, virus diagnosis help

aprilmichelle · Jan 9, 2012

I have a friend's laptop so please excuse me for not being 100% informed about it. He said a pop up opened while surfing and he clicked not knowing what it was. He is unsure what it said except that he thought it was a Windows fix box and it said something about an .exe file. There are no longer any fake Windows fix boxes popping up. I am looking at the computer now and no program will open. I have tried every way I can think of to open any program with no luck. The computer "thinks" about it for a second but then nothing. No browsers, no antivirus, nothing. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

writhziden · Jan 9, 2012

Can you start in http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/69585-safe-mode.html? While in Safe Mode, are you able to open any applications (try the typical Windows applications such as notepad or command prompt)?

If so, we should be able to fix the issue if you can use another computer to download software, put it on a usb drive, and move the software to the infected computer.

aprilmichelle · Jan 9, 2012

I can start notepad, wordpad, etc. in safe mode.

writhziden · Jan 9, 2012

aprilmichelle said:
I can start notepad, wordpad, etc. in safe mode.

Awesome. Alright, can you download the following and put them on USB?

1. VIPRE Rescue - VIPRE Computer Recovery Solution from Sunbelt Software
2. Fakerean removal tool

You want to unzip the first one in safe mode on the infected computer and let it run. That should clean out the virus. You then want to run the second one in safe mode to fix any file system changes done by the virus.

aprilmichelle · Jan 9, 2012

I will try it, thanks for the advice. I'll let you know in a few either way.

writhziden · Jan 9, 2012

aprilmichelle said:
I will try it, thanks for the advice. I'll let you know in a few either way.

No problem. It'll probably take a few hours to run through, but let us know as soon as you have run both and whether the situation is resolved.

aprilmichelle · Jan 9, 2012

Since it sounds like the scan is going to take some time I may finish working on this in the morning and I will let you know the results asap.

JMH · Jan 9, 2012

IF the above method my friend writhziden has suggested fails...

IMHO by far the quickest & neatest way to have that computer up & running would be to do a clean install.

A clean installation consists of removing all data from the hard disk by reformatting & reinstalling the operating system and programs to an empty (clean) hard disk.

This can be less " messy" than disinfecting a computer to try to remove malware.

REMEMBER > change all passwords...

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

writhziden · Jan 9, 2012

JMH said:
IF the above method my friend writhziden has suggested fails...

IMHO by far the quickest & neatest way to have that computer up & running would be to do a clean install.

A clean installation consists of removing all data from the hard disk by reformatting & reinstalling the operating system and programs to an empty (clean) hard disk.

This can be less " messy" than disinfecting a computer to try to remove malware.

REMEMBER > change all passwords...

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

A good suggestion. Just make sure you backup any important data for your friend and get his consent if the clean install is necessary.

aprilmichelle · Jan 10, 2012

I could not even get the VIPRESCUE to open. Thank you guys so much for the advice but I am just going to give it back and tell him to clean install Windows. It is killing me that I can't figure this out though!

writhziden · Jan 10, 2012

aprilmichelle said:
I could not even get the VIPRESCUE to open. Thank you guys so much for the advice but I am just going to give it back and tell him to clean install Windows. It is killing me that I can't figure this out though!

What about the fakerean tool? Could that run?

This may also be of interest to you. http://connect.microsoft.com/systemsweeper as a bootable virus/malware scanner that does not require Windows to run.

Corrine · Jan 13, 2012

Hi, aprilmichelle.

Give the new Microsoft Fix it solution in KB 2656106 a try: When you run an .exe file on a Windows based computer, the file may start a different program.

If that doesn't work, try RKill: Please download RKill from one of the following links and save to your Desktop:

One, Two,Three or Four

Double-click rkill to run.
A command window will open then disappear upon completion, this is normal.
Please leave rkill on the Desktop until otherwise advised.
Do NOT restart your computer after running rkill as the malware program(s) will start again.

Notes:

If you you receive security warnings about rkill, please ignore and allow the download to continue.

After running RKill, do an updated system scan with the onboard anti-malware software.

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