14 Rootkits, Removal Help Needed

Ok so, to start this, I have an ASUS K53SV-B1 Laptop, whose specs. are these:

Intel Core i7 2630QM
Nvidia GT540M
6GB RAM
5'400RPM HDD, 640GB
15.6" Inch Screen
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

The problem is, today I felt curious, and ran a scan with Avast! Free Antivirus to detect 14 rootkits in my "winsx" folder. Me, being paranoid over my laptop (because of what it costed) run a boot-time scan, and here I am, waiting at 96% for results.

What happened? Well, yesterday my Microsoft Office trial decided to give up on me, and my dad decided he'd buy today the full student version. I put the laptop away, knowing it won't be exactly safe…

After school, I receive the laptop with a "I tried to get Microsoft Office free, but couldn't. Will try tomorrow". I immediately think *So he may have had used unsafe websites and stuff? Damn…*

I boot the laptop, run a scan immediately (As said before, Avast) to stop at 24% because it "had found 14 rootkits"… I panicked. As Avast said, I am running a boot-time scan to eliminate the rootkits now, and well, I haven't found a single one of them. Not even ONE. A few corrupted ZIP files I always find in there, but nothing. No malware.

Now, I am going even more paranoid with this. Is there anything I can do?

1.) Will System Restore go back to a week before, when laptop was normally operating?
2.) If system restore fails, shall a Factory Reset be?
3.) As my paranoia has taken me this far already, I have no idea what to do. Really, I don't. Could you help, please?

14 rootkits?

Save what you can and punt "reformat" the Op system, I'd never trust that Op system again and I mean not for anything.

chev65 said:

14 rootkits?

Save what you can and punt "reformat" the Op system, I'd never trust that Op system again and I mean not for anything.

Will a factory reset work? Eliminating the rootkits? By the way, lol, right now it isn't really slow, I haven't noticed anything, but whenever I go to Avast, and then Scan Logs, I find the one saying "Infected" and whenever I place "Delete" it says "[5] Access Denied".

Boot-time scan didn't detect anything.

Windows Defender quick scan didn't detect anything.

I have +19 Windows Updates to do, had zero yesterday. This is freaking me out. I suppose I'll just update them and well, try scanning again…

Please, just answer this.


Will a factory reset delete the rootkits? I have never ever poked the "D:" partition, so I don't know why it wouldn't work.

I also have a few discs containing:

- My Library (not very useful)
- 4 DVD's Containing **FACTORY RESET STATE HDD**
- System Recovery Disk!


I'd really prefer to use the built-in factory reset though.


By the way, I haven't noticed but my PC hasn't slowed down… maybe a little, due to updates, but I have not seen any proof of a malware currently existing, except the Avast scan, which any scan I do now will not show me any malware…

I have no important files. I only care about the laptop and the software for it to work, not for info it has, as it has nothing :3. I am basically only caring about the money invested in laptop xD, as I store my things on an USB drive safely each week, but didn't do it last week…


Will I care about a factory restore? Maybe, will feel like I have no other option but to do that each time I get a rootkit (each eon probably, will just keep my laptop to myself and stay with my safe browsing).

Will I care about information lost? Meh, a bit, as it's probably lost forever but, I had nothing worth money there. All school assignments, handed in. All class notes, somewhere else.

I haven't run any scan yet, but oddly, I have not seen, after boot-time scans and full scans, plus quick scans, any trace of the rootkits. Should I just stay like it is?