MSE unable to detect infection on an infected usb flash

zeamann · 31 Jan 2012

I just ran a scan of my wife's infected flash (she gave it to a friend at work to copy her movie) using an up-to-date MSE on Win7 Home Premium 64-bit and it DID NOT detect anything at all. When I opened the flash I see duplicates of its original contents that have their icon's edge sort of blurry so I know the infection is still there so I quickly (just pulled it out) unplug it. I ran a full system scan and "...winmaximizer" was detected as a severe threat and fortunately MSE was able to remove it.

now I am afraid to use this flash again since I am sure it is still infected. i've already tried to remove its infection using MSE again on my HP Vista Home Premium 32-bit and got the same result. i will run a full system scan on my vista laptop later BUT please assist on how to detect and remove infection from potentially infected usb flashes.

many thanks in advance.

Brink · 31 Jan 2012

Hello Zeamann,

You might see if doing a full scan of it and your system, along with any other system it was connected to, with MalwareBytes free may help. However, if there's nothing on the USB flash drive that you must have, formatting it should wipe it clean of malware as well.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Layback Bear · 31 Jan 2012

If you have a infected flash drive wipe the drive is the normal thing to do but when you plug it into a computer to wipe it it can infect your computer in micro seconds. My self I would just bite the bullet and throw it away.It's not worth the trouble to wipe the flash drive and repair the computer you plugged it into.
People who put infection on flash drive don't intend to infect flash drives only; they intend to infect the computers they get plugged into. If it was me I would smash the flash drive and throw it away and then run scans on any computer it was plugged into and what ever network the computer was on.

Golden · 01 Feb 2012

Hi,

Panda will allow you to vacinate your computer prior to plugging in the USB drive. After that, you can use it to vacinate the USB drive to avoid it being infected in the future.

http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeuse...ds/usbvaccine/

Regards,
Golden

zeamann · 01 Feb 2012

thank you all guys for the help and tips. surprisingly, this morning MSE able to find "trojan:win32/otran" and removed it except several shortcuts of original flash content and a few other alien files so i just deleted them. anyways, does having both MSE free and MalwareBytes free running on 1 PC okay? pls respond on this.

tho my wife and i are happy now, i am still curious as to why MSE couldn't detect any infection yesterday. thank you all again and God Bless,

oh, 1 more thing. i've been scanning/cleaning a lots of my friends usb flashes and mp3 players so i'm kinda familiar with worm/trojan names but this one is really new to me. it is the first time i see "otran"

Brink · 01 Feb 2012

That's great news Zeamann.

Yes, it's fine to have both MSE and MalwareBytes running at the same time. :)

There could be a number of reasons why MSE didn't detect it right away. It may not have been included in the MSE definitions until the last update before it was detected, or it just didn't trip any red flags for MSE until then.

zeamann · 02 Feb 2012

thanks a lots again u all and especially you Brink. I will now download MalwareBytes free and have it running on all 6 laptops. thanks again guys and God Bless,

Zeamann.

Layback Bear · 02 Feb 2012

Malwarebytes is a great program. Keep in mind the free version is a stand alone product. It only runs when you tell it to. You have to tell it to update and scan. It doesn't run in the background protecting your computer like MSE does. In order to get live protection you must update to Malwarebytes Anti Malware Pro. IMHO which ever one you choose Malwarebytes is a great program and has saved many computers.

zeamann · 03 Feb 2012

you are right Layback Bear. comparing it with MSE, MalwareBytes was smoothly installed and updated the first time I ran it on a HP Pavilion p6617 PC two days ago while MSE, I tried to update it for almost 4 days earlier to no avail. It was able to get fully updated only after Malwarebytes had cleaned the PC. Running MSE's full scan after updating did not find anything at all.

I believe MSE and MalwareBytes must be married for better protection. thanks again you all and God Bless,

Zeamann.

Night Hawk · 05 Feb 2012

Another program I found effective isn't free however except for the 30 day trial. I use this for everything these without the need for several program. When plugging in any flash drive since I two cases full of them you will immediately be prompted to scan the flash drive itself.

Having used first VIPRE Home Premium av now called VIPRE Internet Security 2012 the program's initial scan found trojans hidden inside zip files downloaded supposedly being older XP Utilities that for some reason were never opened. No other program MS Security Essential, AVG, Malwarebytes, Avast, Spyware Terminator, and several others over a several year period ever detected anything!

VIPRE will scan, quaranteen, and have the option to delete any bugs uncovered as well as any new ones you encounter. I used to have to run 3 or 4 programs for what only one does now. I now never have to worry about passing a bug from one machine to the next when going to transfer files. No need to toss flash drives if you find another program that will do the same.